Project setup - pipeline in Houdini Help!

[jasoncartiver]

Hi everyone!

I am a maya user for 5 years and recently I made the switch over to houdini(kinda making it...) as I am studying right now.

However we wasn't taught about setting up projects and how files will be referenced into a scene like for example an animatic scene file.

In the case of Maya project setup, this is how I would usually setup.

I have a environment file which I would put into a folder call reference->environment.( say for example the file name is wetlands_env.ma)

And I have a character file which I would put into a folder call reference->characters.(say for example the file name is johnny_char.ma)

And then I would have an animatic or animation scene file where I would then use referencing to point wetlands_env.ma and johhny_char.ma into the scene file.(say for example the scene file name is call afterburner_shot01.ma)

In this case I can change the character environment files and it would reflect in the animation or animatic scene file.

This is extremely useful in doing the animatic before switching over to the animation scene file. Animators can easily replace the character files and if the controller names are the same the placement of the characters will stay. It is also good to use it as a rough guide to get the size right. There are many more advantages in doing this which I'm sure most people will know too.

So my question is, How can I duplicate this workflow into Houdini?

Any tutorials online I can use to find how to set this up or would there be another different kind of workflow in Houdini?

Any help would be really appreciated!

Thank you!

Jason Phua

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Character Animator /Rigger /Compositor

M: +44 (0) 7402546640

W: http://www.jasoncartiver.com

E: jasoncartiver@jasoncartiver.com, jasoncartiver@gmail.com

[hopbin9]

I'm also interested in seeing a discussion here about effective Houdini pipelines.

My understanding (which is very little at this stage) is that Houdini works with Assets. So rather then reference files. You create and publish these digital Assets, and then use those Assets in other projects. You can then revise those Assets, and I think they are then updated in the other projects.

The advantage of Assets over references is that they can expose properties. So you could develop a lighting asset for doing studio lighting, and then have properties for shadows/colors/etc.. Much more powerful then simply referencing a scene file with lights in it.

This is only my understand, as I haven't actually tried this yet in Houdini.

[clown]

If I understand what you are looking for, then there is a couple ways you can do it.

1) You could add a Null node to the end of your character network. Then in your Main Scene network, you would want to put down an object merge node, and have it load in that null node. Any changes you then want to make to the character go BEFORE the Null node (I colour them black to make it obvious - if you hit C over the network window you get the node colour option). This method updates as you make changes, no need to save and reload geometry. The Object Merge node can use scene and geometry level transformations

2) An alternative would be, at the end of your "character" network you could put a file node down, and save the geometry out to where ever you want. Then in your MainScene network you would add however many file nodes you need loading the different files in. Changes to your character should be made BEFORE the file node (I colour them black to make it obvious), and they would be reflected in your main scene after saving and reloading the geometry from the file node parameters. The file node will use geometry level transformations, but NOT scene level.

For both of these methods, you would want to have the display flag turned on only for your main scene node, and have it turned off for everything else that the main scene loads, otherwise you will get duplicates stacked on top of themselves.

And yes there are also assets, although I don't think that's quite what you were looking for. They also take a little more explaining than a quick forum post. I'm pretty sure the 3d Buzz fundamentals free course has a short video on digital assets if you want more info on them. They are sort of more of a tool building thing, although you can make pretty much anything an asset. I would suggest checking out a few videos on them or the help file tho, because they aren't exactly self explanatory.

Hope I was helpful

Edited November 2, 2010 by clown

[edward]

Offhand, I don't see anything particularyly wrong with using HDAs (Houdini Digital Assets) for this type of workflow. There are pros and cons of course but you really need to understand what are HDAs. The Toon Character and the Autorig are also examples of HDAs and show the power over just plain referencing.

[jasoncartiver]

Thanks for the replies guys. Appreciate it.

I am just wondering, is there a default project settings where the software automatically creates empty folders for you in Houdini just like Max and Maya?

If not, How is everyone's project folders sorting like? I am sorting my stuff like I how I sort my maya stuff(the default folder setup that maya gives).

[hopbin9]

Thanks for the replies guys. Appreciate it.

I am just wondering, is there a default project settings where the software automatically creates empty folders for you in Houdini just like Max and Maya?

If not, How is everyone's project folders sorting like? I am sorting my stuff like I how I sort my maya stuff(the default folder setup that maya gives).

Configuring $HIP

Read that thread.

[hopbin9]

I always have a main folder that holds my .hip file, and then subfolders for Houdini files. Like assets, sims, rendering, etc..

This makes it easier to source those files like this "$HIP/sims/water.sim"

You can now render or solve sims on different machines as long as they share the same subfolder structure. It also makes it easier to Zip everything up.