MikeRhone Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 I'm in the process of getting my head into this pretty bad-ass program, but I am finding time and time again that I miss some workflow related tricks in Maya. For now I have 4 questions that are on my mind: Is there a way to 'mute' and animation channel? By that I mean temporarily freeze an attribute at its current value, ignoring keyframes/expressions etc? For now I've been putting a newValue + 0 * oldValue type expression to hold and tryout values. Is there an easier one-button solution? I love the AutoUpdate/onMouseUp/manual scene updater. Is there a hotkey to toggle between modes? In Maya you middle-mouse on the timeline to move the scene without updating. Isolate select - Is there a way to temporarily hide unselected objects in Houdini? I know I can blast--> delete non selected, but I'm looking for more of a temporary display one-button toggle so I can focus on an area, make my edits and 'unhide all' again. When Im working with component selections and nodes like group/blast/delete etc... Is there an easy way to add that selection to the currently selected node? Failing that, is there a way to copy the current selection to the clipboard? In Maya my practice is to pull that info fro the script editor, but I cant find an output that kind of information in an easily manageable way Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mangi Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 Question 4 Isolate select mangi Isolate select - Is there a way to temporarily hide unselected objects in Houdini? I know I can blast--> delete non selected, but I'm looking for more of a temporary display one-button toggle so I can focus on an area, make my edits and 'unhide all' again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Lewkiw Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 When Im working with component selections and nodes like group/blast/delete etc... Is there an easy way to add that selection to the currently selected node? Failing that, is there a way to copy the current selection to the clipboard? In Maya my practice is to pull that info fro the script editor, but I cant find an output that kind of information in an easily manageable way You mean if your "blast" node has points 1-3 in it, but you want to modify this selection to make it 1-6 for example? Yes, it's not obvious but: - select node in SOPs - mouse in viewport, hit ESC - mouse in viewport, hit ENTER - Hit backtick key (the one top left on a North American keyboard). You will notice your node becoming unwired and turning red. - you can now modify your selection, hit enter to complete 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevenong Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 Hi there, I'm in the process of getting my head into this pretty bad-ass program, but I am finding time and time again that I miss some workflow related tricks in Maya. For now I have 4 questions that are on my mind: Welcome to the forum & Houdini. Is there a way to 'mute' and animation channel? By that I mean temporarily freeze an attribute at its current value, ignoring keyframes/expressions etc? For now I've been putting a newValue + 0 * oldValue type expression to hold and tryout values. Is there an easier one-button solution? Yes, you have to use the Dope Sheet. To access it, either open a Channel Editor window or add a Channel Editor Pane Tab. In the top left corner, just under the "Channels" menu, you'll see three buttons. Third from the left is the Dope Sheet. To disable/mute the channel, just toggle the checkmark next to the name. I love the AutoUpdate/onMouseUp/manual scene updater. Is there a hotkey to toggle between modes? In Maya you middle-mouse on the timeline to move the scene without updating. You can set up hotkeys for them yourself. Go to Edit > Hotkeys... to bring up the Hotkeys Manager. Click on the Search button, type "update" into the Match Action String parameter and click Find. You should see /Houdini/Update Mode 'Always'/'Changes'/'Never'. Just select any one and you'll see them listed in the Action column of the Hotkeys Manager. Select Update Mode 'Always', click in the blank space beside the drop down arrow, click it again and you'll be prompted to press the key you want. If you choose a hotkey that's already in use, you will be prompted. Repeat for the other modes. With regards to middle-mouse on the timeline, it works in Houdini too though maybe not exactly the same as Maya. If you select a node or nodes with keyframes, you'll get ticks on the timeline. Middle-mouse clicking on the timeline will hold the value(s) so you can set a new keyframe with the same value. Note, it will only hold the value of the channel(s) that's scoped (loaded in Channel Editor or timeline). This middle-mouse technique works in the Channel Editor too. Isolate select - Is there a way to temporarily hide unselected objects in Houdini? I know I can blast--> delete non selected, but I'm looking for more of a temporary display one-button toggle so I can focus on an area, make my edits and 'unhide all' again. Are you referring to objects or polygons/points? From what you typed, it sounds like polys/points. After making your selection in the viewport, there is a "Visibility" drop down menu to hide or show your selection. There is also "Show All". This option will create Visibility SOPs in your network but you can just delete them after. When Im working with component selections and nodes like group/blast/delete etc... Is there an easy way to add that selection to the currently selected node? Failing that, is there a way to copy the current selection to the clipboard? In Maya my practice is to pull that info fro the script editor, but I cant find an output that kind of information in an easily manageable way What Mr Lewkiw said above. Hope the above helps in your transistion to this "pretty bad-ass program". Cheers! steven Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevenong Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 Thanks mangi. I didn't know that. Cheers! steven Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeRhone Posted October 4, 2011 Author Share Posted October 4, 2011 Thanks for all the info! Tons of great info from Steven... The mute does do what I was hoping, unfortunately it's a lot more buried than I was hoping for. I'll probably just stick to the newAttr + (0 * oldAttr) method for now. Ill check into making some custom hotkeys for things like the Auto update right away. I was avoiding porting my Maya hotkeys over to Houdini before I got used to the workflow. The backtick trick from Sean is exactly what I was hoping for! No need to chain 10 blast nodes and make mini messes my component more. Also thanks to mangi for the shelf/script. I'll try that and see how it goes. M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevenong Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 Hey Mike, The mute does do what I was hoping, unfortunately it's a lot more buried than I was hoping for. I'll probably just stick to the newAttr + (0 * oldAttr) method for now. There is another way to "mute" the channel through the timeline itself. With the keyframes displayed in the timeline, click & drag with shift+LMB to select the keyframes you want to disable(mute) and type 'd'. To enable them, type 'e'. To clear the selection, type 'q'. RMB the timeline to see more options. Hope the above helps. Cheers! steven Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthonymcgrath Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 On 30/09/2011 at 8:49 PM, lewkiw said: You mean if your "blast" node has points 1-3 in it, but you want to modify this selection to make it 1-6 for example? Yes, it's not obvious but: - select node in SOPs - mouse in viewport, hit ESC - mouse in viewport, hit ENTER - Hit backtick key (the one top left on a North American keyboard). You will notice your node becoming unwired and turning red. - you can now modify your selection, hit enter to complete 5 year old post and still so helpful thankyou !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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