new poll?

[Marc]

ok I need more options.

1. simulations (cloth, blah blah...)

2. GI

3. ???? theres got to be more that houdini is missing?

[sirogi]

he he he...ok

1- sim

2- GI

3- ADAPTATIVE DEPTHMAP SHADOWS (wohoooo)

(check out the application movie from last sigg, VERY useful)

4-polynomial texture mapping (just putting it down cause it sounds smart )

oh and:

4b- balance my checkbook

4c- candy red apple buttton ( © Ivan de WOlf ) labeled "finish project"

5-"prepare instant noodle" checkbox

6- world peace

[sirogi]

I would have added more more more ploy tools, y'know converting between component selections reliably, strip selection etc, etc....you have a lot in the modelling section......but I figured the lads up north are already working on it, no doubt....

come to think about it, don't you think it would be handy to keep diferent component selection in the viewport instead of automatically converting when you switch selection modes (ala *grin* maya)....I'm sure that's a pretty arguable point though....

phew!

-C.

[TheUsualAlex]

Pose Space Deformation (??)

Edge-loop selection

[AndrewVK]

1. "World" space

2. Array data type

[stevenong]

1. simulations (cloth, blah blah...)

2. GI

3. Arealight(All shapes and sizes, using objects as arealights)

4. Subsurface Light Transport

I think No. 4 has been implemented by DD & A52 but it would be nice to have it in the default shaders.

[miguel m]

1. Object Constraints independent of parenting relations.

At least position, orientation and position limits (bonunding sphere).

This may be doable in chops, but it'd be nice if one could make it from the OBJ level (just like when doing IK chains, necessary chops get nicely laid out automatically) and the constraints stay alive even if the user makes hierarchy changes or whatever.

[danteA]

1. Object Constraints independent of parenting relations.

   At least position, orientation and position limits (bonunding sphere).

The Object CHOP is your friend in this area. You can probably even make it work if you moved the target object around by hacking it with a relative path opparm.

As for bounding sphere limits, couldn't you just use a clamp() expression?

[miguel m]

Thank you Dante, I'll check your suggestions.

At least the way i'm doing it now, I have to use a dummy object in the global center to feed the object chop to measure the transforms and place blend objects everywhere i have a constraint to override the hierarchy transform inheritance. It feels slow like if you needed to manually add every IK chop and assign every effector of your ik chains...

For the position limits constraint, it has to be interactive. the object can be moved around and animated but it hits a "wall" when translated outside the bounding sphere. The limit chop can do this but then you can't animate the object you're exporting the channels to so... more dummy stuff with the object constrained to it, measure the distance with the object chop then limit that channel... don't you think it's a bit too tiring for such common stuff in character animation?

Again, I'm a houdini newbie and probably my workflow isn't optimized at all...

[rarefunk]

1. Something like the IPR in M*** (multithreated), but with the addition to be able to use it in the compositor , so we can do lightning and shading finetuning while seeing the whole composite.

2. More lights, with more interactive handles (eg. attenuation handle, ...)

3. Paint cop

4. Tracker cop

5. Motorfader support to automatically recall midifader positions on project loading

6. Midi learn

7. Add chops to houdini halo

8. Ultimatte and Tinder plugins available for halo

[TheUsualAlex]

Hmm... Should we be starting to write our wishlist for v6 now and may be Jason or Marc will send it to SideFX?

[DaJuice]

Some minor stuff...

Visualize soft selections in viewport (max does this by coloring the vertecies, looks like capture region stuff).

Visualize light radius/falloffs (max does this as well).

The camera should tell you how far it is away from it's focal point or look-at object, so you don't have to guess when using depth of field.

Peace!

[stevenong]

Visualize soft selections in viewport (max does this by coloring the vertecies, looks like capture region stuff).

Do you mind explaining this a little? Soft selections?

Visualize light radius/falloffs (max does this as well).

There's a script that does what you're looking for, though you can 'roll' your own if you want. Look for the light.cmd file in the archive & put it in $HOME/houdini/scripts/obj. Because Houdini reads this file first, the default light.cmd in $HFS is ignored. Please go thru the README.txt & also be aware it might not work the first time.

The camera should tell you how far it is away from it's focal point or look-at object, so you don't have to guess when using depth of field.

You can the Object CHOP to calculate the distance, then export the value to the Depth of Field parameter.

In the archive above, there's a script called measure.rc. Read the README.txt file for more information.

[sirogi]

mmm.....just to be spoiled, a light linker....

I think houdini's way of doing it gives more flexibility, of adding scripting and such into the light mask field.....however, for mundane light linking tasks in a heavy scene, it would be nice to have a simple two-pane window containing objects and lights, ala -sorry guys- M**a...

it would read the viewport's selection and fill in the correct strings in the light mask field....simple but handy stuff

mmm.....then again, just sounds like a Tcl/Tk hack rather than a real built-in feature...

I guess lighting workflow in houdini could afford more niceties, it really feels like lighting in the dark (no pun intended)....so the interactive renderer suggestion and the fancy light handles get my vote (although I suspect you could implement your own IPR with deep rasters and COPS now...but having a default one would attract less technical users)

Hmm... Should we be starting to write our wishlist for v6 now and may be Jason or Marc will send it to SideFX?

ha ha ha...cool.....now it really sounds like a list for santa! ;p

[DaJuice]

I mean soft radius, like when working with Edit, sorry got my terminology mixed up.

Vertecies in max are colored blue, so when you have soft selection turned on in max it'll show the affected area turn colored, with the verts closest to the selection turning red , then to green, and finally fading to blue at the edge of the radius.

Makes it easier to see precisely what geometry is affected by your soft radius.

There's a script that does what you're looking for, though you can 'roll' your own if you want.

This is all good and well, but if sidefx wants to reach a broader audience

that kind of stuff is not gonna fly. The person who just got the apprentice cds in the mail is not gonna know that script is out there.

You can the Object CHOP to calculate the distance, then export the value to the Depth of Field parameter.

Cool, gotta try it, thanks.

[TheUsualAlex]

I mean soft radius, like when working with Edit, sorry got my terminology mixed up.

Vertecies in max are colored blue, so when you have soft selection turned on in max it'll show the affected area turn colored, with the verts closest to the selection turning red , then to green, and finally fading to blue at the edge of the radius.

Makes it easier to see precisely what geometry is affected by your soft radius.

Hmm... Although it's really minor, but I think that is a good idea.

[Stremik]

I would like to see a little feature in L-system SOP that would allow interactive selection between the geometry in the vewport and rule in the Rules tab.

For example.When you select some branch in your L-system in viewport, the part of the rule that is responsible for this branch would be highlited and vice versa.

[Marc]

This is all good and well, but if sidefx wants to reach a broader audience

that kind of stuff is not gonna fly. The person who just got the apprentice cds in the mail is not gonna know that script is out there.

I'm not so sure about that.. The new audience has been weaned on 3DSMax where to do anything cool you need a plugin. Sure houdini doesn't have all the whizbang 'cool' looking features. But its got the power where it needs it, and thats more than you can say about the rest.

Marc.

[Marc]

P.S... hey alex, I'm going to have to start cheating with my post count over here.

Can't let the admin get beaten by a user..

Marc

[DaJuice]

I'm not so sure about that.. The new audience has been weaned on 3DSMax where to do anything cool you need a plugin. Sure houdini doesn't have all the whizbang 'cool' looking features. But its got the power where it needs it, and thats more than you can say about the rest.

Well, that may be true, but I wasn't talking about the cool stuff, but the implementation (or lack thereof) of some bread and butter features.

I know Houdini is geared strictly towards production, which is not a bad thing, but sidefx still has some work to do before the average 3d artist is gonna feel comfy with Houdini.

For example, that little issue I had, getting the Paint Sop to work with vmantra. For someone like Jason who is fluent in the technical side of cg, the solution may have been obvious, but for someone who is new to Houdini and used to traditional 3d apps, it might be tough to figure out.

Doesn't help that many features are often only vaguely documented.

I just think a certain level of automation would be nice IMO, for example:

Have Paint work with mantra out of the box (it's the flagship renderer since H4, right?)

Instead of setting up CHOPs to get the distance between an object and camera, the cam should just tell you (like max )

Instead of having to make a null object to control every light target, the light targets should have handles themselves.

Nothing earth shattering or essential, just things that are "nice", but it's these niceties that make a package like max easier to work with when you just wanna open the program and make some art.

That's all the praise max will get from me. There are limitations, workflow bottlenecks, and just plain stupid bugs and glitches that I don't want to go back to. In fact, I have hardly used max in the last coupe of months, and I'd like to keep it that way.

Go Houdini!