J.Santos Posted April 22, 2010 Share Posted April 22, 2010 Hi guys! The best way to learn is by doing, right?! (and reading, and studying and... lot's of other stuff.) So this WIP Thread will serve as a place to throw all the stuff I'm trying to do and (hopefully) get some tips and improve/grow as an Houdini user. This means that this thread will be a mismatch (of attributes, like merge is constantly saying me...)of stuff, from modelling to particles and even python... So to start, here's an image of my latest modelling and more project: Flynn's ride (can you guess what it is?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Santos Posted April 22, 2010 Author Share Posted April 22, 2010 Ok! Another update! I started on this yesterday and finished today, after some scripting and other stuff (non-related). This started when I was going through the example files, in particular the one about modulus and its use in conjunction with frames to drive animation, create groups and so on... I enjoyed the file but at the same time I thought that I could do it in a more dynamic way (of course that the objective of the file was to be easy and a starting point...) So I remade it to be (mostly) user controlled, through a null (that has some parameters available). Since the modulus sometimes cheats me (ok ok... truth is I made a mistake once and it still haunts me today with it...) I made some calculations on paper and then decided to make a Python script to calculate how many times the animation would cicle through the spheres, how many groups would be created based on the modulus and so on... It's all very basic, but if someone wants it, feel free to download and comment/ask something... By the way, I'm thinking about doing a better version of the script but for now that works nicely! The modulus example file: The Python Script: modulusFrames.hipnc groupNumber.rar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Santos Posted April 23, 2010 Author Share Posted April 23, 2010 Hi again! Here's a new pic of "Flynn Ride". It's not perfect, but I must say it served its purpose well. I made several mistakes modelling it, the network is a bit messy but I think that from a certain part I started noticing my errors and thinking how to avoid them in the next project... For the modelling purpose this project is over. But now comes the other fun stuff... Lights, some simple animation and maybe even some wall crumbling as Flynn races to freedom... Let's see! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Santos Posted April 26, 2010 Author Share Posted April 26, 2010 Hi! So that you can see what I pretend with this LightCycle, here's a Storyboard I did yesterday (and colored... I know storyboards are usually b&w but it was a sunny day, birds singing and all... So I had to think in a good reason to say locked at home, in front of the pc!) Here it is: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Santos Posted May 1, 2010 Author Share Posted May 1, 2010 (edited) Hi! After some rendering issues and other general wastes of time, here's the first video of my trail, made with a TRAIL SOP. There are some issues like the "accordeon" effect that I don't know how to solve and the solid color (with a shader this could be tweaked, I guess...) Anyway, I'm still going to test the particle solution and probably will stick to it... Trail test Nevermind lights - they are to be treated in post Camera moves... I'm open to suggestions... and with more cameras and different takes this can be a really cool and full of life animation... Edited May 1, 2010 by J.Santos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Santos Posted May 2, 2010 Author Share Posted May 2, 2010 Hi! So I decided to start a new modelling exercise... Flynn's ride is here to stay until the end, but since I like to model and want to learn how to do it right in Houdini, here's another try... This is a space dome of sorts... I alwways wanted to so one! Here's some images of it. And here you can watch the opening test (video) - click me C&C always welcomed Of course this will have a super-ugly-heavy-whatever wepon on it... I'm already imagining it fireing and making holes in a wall... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Santos Posted May 5, 2010 Author Share Posted May 5, 2010 Hi! Here's the trail in Flynn's Ride done with particles... It's a lot better and now you have the feeling that you can crash against a jetwall... With this you can make some interesting camera shots! Video here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Santos Posted May 12, 2010 Author Share Posted May 12, 2010 (edited) Here I am again! Spent some time modelling with Houdini and I'm starting to feel confident enough with it... I'm at the point to say that Houdini is almost as intuitive as Max in modelling... and in some circunstances it's even MORE pratical then Max... Here's my video of my latest modelling with SDS adventure... I'll post some stills later on (when the development is a bit further...) Video Here Edited May 12, 2010 by J.Santos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Santos Posted May 22, 2010 Author Share Posted May 22, 2010 Hi! Here's a bigger and better update to what I've been doing (with some pauses... this week has been troublesome...) So... a video way closer to the turret then before; Some stills detailing some parts of the turret... the back part of the guns (everything except the barrels) will still be tweaked... alot! I'm going to change some parts, upgrade others and make new ones in the following days, if all goes well! Hope you like it! Here's the video (I still need to improve it, this is NOT the final version or even close to it): -> Video Here <- Now the pics: Closed Turret Foot (?) detail: Gun Side: Gun Muzzle Detail: Lens Detail: Turret front and deployed: That's all folks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted May 24, 2010 Share Posted May 24, 2010 Hey Joaquim Looking good.. . I didn't look at all the videos (Vimeo fails me at work), but it's coming along nicely. Cheers Marc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Santos Posted May 24, 2010 Author Share Posted May 24, 2010 Hi Marc! Thanks for your compliment! I think that in future posts I'll use the same method I used in the last post i.e. video and images... that way if someone can't or don't want to go to vimeo it can quickly see some images of the WIP. Keep checking because this turret and surroundings will suffer some upgrades soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Santos Posted June 8, 2010 Author Share Posted June 8, 2010 Ok! Here's a long needed new update! I've been working/reading/doing lot's of stuff (not all of the Houdini related, I'm afraid ) so the projects suffers a bit... The turret is complete, as far as I'm concerned. I could had a lot more details to it, but to the scene that I have in my mind they probably would not be visible... however, when I start rendering this, if I see that I need to add more detail, I'll do it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Santos Posted June 24, 2010 Author Share Posted June 24, 2010 Well... I'm alive! I've been doing other stuff but also continuing on this, really slowly... I resumed again this week a bit more serious! I've been watching Side Effects videos on UV's and now Peter Quint's so I'll start doing something soon (I mean sometime this year... ) to texture this... I also have some cool ideas about some renders, but let's see how it all unfolds. I'm going to post 2 wires (and one clay plus one wire image), but since the subDivision happens at render time, the wires don't quite match... sorry for that! I've also turned this into a turntable. The terrain (or objects in it) aren't ready yet but will be... As for the turret itself, I added some more details and will had a few more... Lot's of nut's and bolt's! Full Image: Front (menacing...): Back Views - Clay and wire: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Santos Posted June 28, 2010 Author Share Posted June 28, 2010 (edited) Hi all! Here's another small update, some ammo crates to feed this turret and a (sort of) flood light... I'm almost ready to make a decent ammunition feed chain and some "electrical" wirings... Then I just need to work on some stuff to cover the ground with and can start texturing... anyway, this week I expect to start, at least in some proportion, to uv map this... I also noticed that I have some black areas in some renders, but they didn't appear in close-up renders, so I think they're probably shadow artefacts or plain bad lighting Front Image: Flood Light: Ammo crates system: Edited June 28, 2010 by J.Santos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ponge Posted June 28, 2010 Share Posted June 28, 2010 I'd like to see some sort of auto-targetting system on it... Have it so that it rotates and tilts to aim at a null, then animate that null on a curve. Could be very cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Santos Posted June 28, 2010 Author Share Posted June 28, 2010 Hi Ponge! Thanks for the reply and idea! This one will be a still (turntable but with a still turret... I already have some things prepared so it will be a very dynamic still... if that's possible ) However, in the other version that I have (sort of) rigged) you idea can fit very well... But first I need to finish this one! Then I'll do the animation! Thanks for stopping by! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Santos Posted June 30, 2010 Author Share Posted June 30, 2010 Hi again! A bit more detail added to the ammo boxes and a (sort of...) sandbag and Wire... un-barbed wire... I'm facing some trouble with the wire and the deformation of the sandbags (like I posted in a thread in the DOP's section) and will have to make a few experiments... Hopefully the "gummy bear" icon (squishy object) will save me! Hope you guys like it... meanwhile I think I'll be starting on the UV's... Will post soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 Hey there! Keep 'em coming -- I love seeing this type of progress~! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Santos Posted July 1, 2010 Author Share Posted July 1, 2010 Hi Jason! Thanks for the incentive! Now you know why I posted the question regarding deforming sandbags... Stay tuned because I'll post some more updates real soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Santos Posted July 6, 2010 Author Share Posted July 6, 2010 Just a small post to say: My desktop decided to enter in vacations... he refuses to start... I already took it to a repair shop... let's wait and see... And I had already started the UV mapping process! I bet that during this time will happen lot's of stuff and I unable to do anything... Funny thing is that I didn't do any backup so I really hope they don't mess with my hard drive... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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