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Rendering Particles as Sparks


bonjarry

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I am just beginning to get into rendering in Houdini. I am comfortable doing simulations and working with POP networks (and have programmed various particle systems in the past in C++).

The effect I am working on is an exploding electrical panel (similar to the video below). I can play with the motion of the particles all day long, but when it comes to actually rendering them, I don't know where to start.

I need some glow and some short trails (but the particles will fade out). These will then be composited into a rendered scene from Maya.

If you could just give me a few topics to look into (tutorials, or example files would also be helpful), I would be much appreciative!

Thanks!

(starts exploding around 3:40)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-29URy7UOE&feature=youtu.be&t=3m39s

Edited by jbarry
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You can render them as points, with a certain size, the attribute pscale gives you control over the size. You can also use the age attribute to fade them out over time. mantra picks up all attributes that is stored per particle so You can use them in the render. for the trail I would use a separate obj, with the particle used as input in the trailsop and set it so it creates open polygons connecting the points. a uv texture node set to rows and columns gives you uvs on your polygons

now You can use the u coordinate to modulate the width of the curve during rendering (width attribute on points ). a vopsop is ideal for stuff like that. this is just one way to get started. You should try to add variance to all kind of parameters

size, slight tint ,brightness, speed and duration (and more) of the actual sparks, length and brightness of the trail.

Edited by sanostol
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thanks guys! I had actually seen that before and tried to decipher the hip file. i'm having trouble understanding the vopsop and how that works with the rendering. it seems like they have a pretty broad range of capabilities, so i am having trouble finding the information that pertains to what i want to do.

do you have any tips for how to get started?

thanks again!

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