robert.magee Posted July 11, 2013 Share Posted July 11, 2013 Side Effects Software is proud to announce the Houdini Engine which allows for deep integration of Houdini technology into a wide variety of Digital Content Creation tools. Now both film and game studios can load Houdini Digital Assets into their go-to applications and build a more integrated procedural pipeline that does not rely on baked-out data. The Houdini Engine is a compact API which extracts Houdini's core technologies into a powerful procedural engine for film and game studios to integrate into proprietary applications. Experimental plug-ins for popular DCC apps such as Autodesk® Maya® and the Unity® game engine are under development at SideFX Labs. Visit the following link to learn more and to sign up to test either of the plug-ins: bit.ly/176yH9y You can also watch an introduction video here: https://vimeo.com/70073569 Robert PS - This is the big news! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skybar Posted July 11, 2013 Share Posted July 11, 2013 Wow, this is really really cool. Can't wait to try it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pcbiajante Posted July 11, 2013 Share Posted July 11, 2013 (edited) ! Very very cool! Edited July 11, 2013 by pcbiajante Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magneto Posted July 11, 2013 Share Posted July 11, 2013 (edited) Anyone knows what languages the API will support? Maya, Max and XSI all have C# APIs, so it would be nice if we could use it in the same manner I assume C++ and Python primarily? EDIT: Also was the presentation done by Robert? If so, great choice. He always does it best and has a great voice that's easy on the ears Edited July 11, 2013 by magneto Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0rr Posted July 11, 2013 Share Posted July 11, 2013 (edited) One of the smartest moves I have seen by any software company I know. Better start bulding assets . I hope there will be some FAQs up soon since this also raises lot of questions. Who will be able to use the Houdini Engine? Every developer for his/her own apps? What about licensing etc. Edited July 11, 2013 by 0rr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thinkinmonkey Posted July 11, 2013 Share Posted July 11, 2013 Congratulations, SideFX, now every company will need houdini artists!!! Just the time to "conquer" Max and Softimage and you'll take the CG world. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandrake0 Posted July 11, 2013 Share Posted July 11, 2013 nice job thank you.... now the new questions are coming... 1. will it be possible to get a library with just some core function(C++/vex nodes) for use in the game engine directly? (on demand custom bulid lib) 2. what type of API is it? it looks like C++ 3. price model (indie , per seat, studio)? 4. when can we play with it? :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abvfx Posted July 11, 2013 Share Posted July 11, 2013 Congratulations, SideFX, now every company will need houdini artists!!! Muhahahahaha!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darric Posted July 11, 2013 Share Posted July 11, 2013 As one of a handful of Houdini artists in a Maya studio ... This. Is. Incredible. My only question is how does Houdini Engine interact with licensing? Is there a separate pricing model? Will it be prohibitively expensive to get, say, 5 or 6 people running Houdini Engine in Maya while I have the sole Houdini license for development? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zarti Posted July 11, 2013 Share Posted July 11, 2013 unpredictably amazzing ! -- not sure if someone from SESI is going to reply to my questions but here they are : - since im a 'solo-hou-artist' and sometimes i need to transfer animations ( now magically Digital-Assets ) to be used and rendered in another 3D-app . from the video presentation i saw , i find this extremely useful . how wd this hou-engine's plugs help me , so to speak ? what is , at least the planned route , this plug wd follow ? - those 'plugs' wd be made and mantained from third parties , host-app devs or SESI ? - what about prices ? im not a programer , but i want to benefit from this : so , what im going to 'Win' ? =) -- ( correct me if i understood something wrong or nothing at all =) .. but this really seems like's going to change a lot of things if not everthing ) .cheers and !congrats SESI Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rafaelfs Posted July 11, 2013 Share Posted July 11, 2013 Can we get a blender-flavored Houdini Engine? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert.magee Posted July 11, 2013 Author Share Posted July 11, 2013 Please keep posting questions. I will not respond to them individually but rather put together an FAQ based on feedback from a number of sources. Robert 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magneto Posted July 11, 2013 Share Posted July 11, 2013 Also how will different type of operators appear in Maya? For example CHOPs, COPs, POPs, VEX SOPs, etc? Will there be an operator table like this?: Another thing that would be useful to talk about is IMO the IO overhead of the Engine. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WesleyE Posted July 11, 2013 Share Posted July 11, 2013 Not at all what I expected, but pretty cool. - How are attributes solved in Maya? Atm it is a pain in the ass to properly get string attributes over to Maya and back into Houdini. - Would you consider building a apprentice non-commercial version so we can use it with the free Unity version? - Would this allow for cooks over the network instead of on the machine the host app is on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
galagast Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 (edited) This is really awesome news! Will the engine also support maybe a built in Network/Vex editor? (I guess this is asking too much haha) In the future, is it also possible to have access to the Houdini Interface within the host app? So instead of converting UI parameters to adapt to the host, you could just pop out a window with controls similar to how the OTL creator intended it to be seen inside Houdini. The advantages might be: - Less time developing UI conversion utilities. - Users from the host app will get familiar with the Houdini UI, which could make future transitions less daunting. - I'm not sure how wiel it would integrate, but I love how easy it is to channel reference parameters. Here something similar to the idea, this is how Vue attaches to 3dsmax. They retained the interface for editing parameters. Here's the closest screen grab I can find on the net:http://www.virtual-l...7_interface.jpg Will it allow input of native data coming from the Host App? Branching off from the sample Fracture Text video, can the asset process geometry (or multiple geometries) from the scene to fracture? Another idea (maybe for the near future).. Coming from 3dsmax, I've always imagined something along the lines of having a Houdini modifier that will process geometry the "Houdini way" and pass the data down (up for 3dsmax) the node stack. The closest idea available is the Thinkbox Genome integration - which more or less probably works like a Vex Sop. http://i1.ytimg.com/...U/hqdefault.jpg Edited July 12, 2013 by galagast Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carstenkolve Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 ok, here some questions: - is there a plan for a commercial /free maya plugin supported by sidefx, of is this an example of what one could do with the api? - are you (or interested parties you are contact with) plans for "official" support for other dcc apps? (katana, nuke, xsi, modo etc) - which platforms are supported? - what does the licensing situation for the tools developed with the api look like? - - does the developer need to acquire a development license? - - is there a specific distribution license for content that uses the api? - - does the end user have to pay for any additional licenses, or is that covered by the developer? - what are the price tags? - how does the data interface between host application and api work? what kind of data can be passed back and forth? - how is the ui interface mapped? - how is gl integration realized? - is it possible to integrate otls only, or also graph editing? - could this be integrated in a rendertime procedural (for example for prman)? - could you have nested procedurals? - is it possible to render in mantra via the api? - is there any restrictions on functionality that can be embedded? - is there simple example code that demonstrates how to intergrate with your own application? - every developer knows the pain of lib dependencies - and synchronizing the ones of the host app and houdini are not always easy - what are the requirements in terms of boost, gcc, tbb etc? cheers, Carsten Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3__ Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 I can see this being great for Unity, especially if the 'baking' includes translation to native functions for runtime interaction For use with the legacy programs (Maya, Max, etc), I'm not seeing what problem this is solving; caching or ninja-comping Mantra elements covers most scenarios... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bandini Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 Look very intriguing. Can't wait to try out the Maya connection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hudson Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 This is just amazing! Thank you SESI for making us houdini-artist more valuable in studios. Now nodes housekeeping and creating assets will feel much more significant Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbond Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 (edited) What about speed comparison - i think it may work slower then in Houdini itself? Edited July 12, 2013 by jbond Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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