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Siggraph Demo Videos


robert.magee

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We have just posted some of the videos that we showed at SIGGRAPH.

I do hope the other videos that were shown were much more spectacular and reflective of Houdini's capabilities, because this one is incredibly disappointing. I have to say that I find hard to believe that Side Effects has shown this at their booth (and now offer for download) as the official H9 reel.

Where are the heavyweights? Where are the fur jobs from Framestore? Where is Superman, Spiderman? Where are other high end commercials?

While I do appreciate the work shown here on the forum by Miguel and others, it should have been specified on the reel that this is student work (and maybe emphasized this aspect, as a proof of what a single individual is able to do with Houdini), because that's what it is and that's what it looks like. This is not how the reel of the most powerful 3D software should look.

Also, I'm stunned by the low quality of SESI's own demos. Not a single one shows something which could be *only* accomplished by using Houdini. Most of the fluid sims look bad and low resolution. The shattered glass shot is the only one which looks like it could be presented on a reel, yet even that one could be easily done in Maya (or XSI) + RealFlow, so it's really nothing special or Houdini specific about it anyway. The timing of that egg at the beginning of the dragon animation is painful to watch.

To top this, the editing of the video lacks any rhythm and is very boring, and the music has nothing special.

Dragos

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Hey DS,

I respect your opinion but you are taking this demo way out of context.

I think SESI is selling this demo as what individual artist can do with the software without any big studio backing up.

For the first time ever, even self-taught Houdini rookies can work with the software right out of the box. Be productive much faster than ever before.

I believe this demo isn't the SESI yearly released demo.You also need to remember that h9 is still in beta/rc and not final product .

Give it a year and i think you won't be disappointed.

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I think SESI is selling this demo as what individual artist can do with the software without any big studio backing up.

I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere. Anyone seeing it will take it as it is: a reel.

Give it a year and i think you won't be disappointed.

I have no disappointment with Houdini 9. It's a fantastic release. Now if this could be seen from that demo, that's another story.

Dragos

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Where are the heavyweights?

Probably being held up by the studios ( not the production house, but the paying studio in hollywood). It is very rare that you get full clearance from a production studio that paid for the incrediable work done with houdini to be shown. IT is a lot of red tape.

-k

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Probably being held up by the studios ( not the production house, but the paying studio in hollywood).

I have to second this, I know from when I was working at sesi that it was very difficult getting clearance

from the studios.

L

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We have just posted some of the videos that we showed at SIGGRAPH. The artist demo reel, fluid examples and dragon animation are all available from the following location:

http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com...&Itemid=243

Rob, thank you very much for posting these. :)

Are any of these demo scenes for these going to made available? (Like the dough-cutting one and the shattering glass of water and so on?)

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I saw the doughy one on the help files, and a few others are in there too. I'm sure they should still be in there.

Yes, the doughy one is a variation on the sph workflow example. I took it off the conveyor belt, and animated the blade moving instead to try and show it a bit better.

As for the other ones, I'm not sure when/if they will be made available, but I'll do my best to make sure the knowledge gets out there as soon as I can.

I do hope the other videos that...

Unfortunately, I think you may be missing out on the experience of the Siggraph presentation. The student work was heavily presented as such there. All of these other examples were also designed to go with the actual presentation and discussed as proof of concept, as most companies do at Siggraph. I've used Realflow, and yes, the glass of water could potentially be done there, with almost as much ease, but not the same convenience as doing the modeling/sim/shading all in the one package, and the quick fixes/feedback that can be done as a result of keeping it in the same package. Personally, I think it's great that fluids have been introduced in H9. We all need to start somewhere, and I feel the developers have jumped in excellently. I'm sorry the demos I helped create didn't live up to your expectations.

Edited by Allegro
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  • 2 weeks later...
I have to say that I find hard to believe that Side Effects has shown this at their booth (and now offer for download) as the official H9 reel. Where are the heavyweights? Where are the fur jobs from Framestore? Where is Superman, Spiderman? Where are other high end commercials?

At SIGGRAPH, Framestore and Sony spoke about their projects on the floor. It is easier for these studios to get permission to show their own work where it is not being recorded. This means that the audience gets to see things that we would not get permission for on our own reel. Where possible, we do case studies (see recent Spider-Man 3 article) although even these permissions can be hard to come by. What has been fantastic recently is how much our customers have been mentioning their Houdini usage in various articles published by the media. These articles have much wider audiences and it is great to see Houdini being discussed.

While I do appreciate the work shown here on the forum by Miguel and others, it should have been specified on the reel that this is student work (and maybe emphasized this aspect, as a proof of what a single individual is able to do with Houdini), because that's what it is and that's what it looks like. This is not how the reel of the most powerful 3D software should look.

As you suggest our reel this year was focused on what individuals can do with Houdini and how it can be used for more than just visual effects. I have had artists express that Houdini seems to unattainable because we always show feature film work and with Houdini 9 it seemed like a good time to not worry as much Houdini's power.

Also, I'm stunned by the low quality of SESI's own demos. Not a single one shows something which could be *only* accomplished by using Houdini. Most of the fluid sims look bad and low resolution. The shattered glass shot is the only one which looks like it could be presented on a reel, yet even that one could be easily done in Maya (or XSI) + RealFlow, so it's really nothing special or Houdini specific about it anyway.

Thanks for the feedback. The fluid simulations were designed to show that Houdini can accomplish bread and butter fluid work and comparisons to those other solutions is appreciated. Our goal was to emphasize areas where our RBD and fluid solvers could work together and the breaking glass, bathtub and creature in the pool were designed to show this. By using a deforming surface in the creature example the goal was to show how deforming surfaces contribute to these simulations which is an important feature. And with the glass uses RBD glue along with the fluids it was important to emphasize these interconnections.

In the past, only showing work that is more powerful and different has fcoused Houdini's adoption to the high end visual effects. With Houdini 9 a wider range of users can begin to benefit from our node-based workflow and the goal is to make our examples more accessible. Over the next few months through online videos and tutorials we will continue to show off Houdini's features while revealing how easy it is to access the more advanced capabilities.

Robert

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In defense of digitallysane, I must admit I shared his reactions to the video. I'll be the first to admit that I have no idea if it's typically difficult for Autodesk or the XSI guys to use top of the line footage of recent films anymore - of course that's *all* they used to show in the past. Maybe it has become harder, I don't know - wouldn't surprise me. All I know is that the rules are the same for all of us, supplier or end client - always show your best work. Better a short tighter reel than a long mediocre one.

I just felt DS was sort of jumped on for speaking his mind, and listen, we all love this software, we've chosen to use it every day - there's nothing wrong with pointing out honest reactions. IMHO there was material on there that should have been cut, and there should have been something, some sort of title or label or *something*, that indicated what it was supposed to be representing. I completely missed the message.

Cheers,

J.C.

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In defense of digitallysane, I must admit I shared his reactions to the video. I'll be the first to admit that I have no idea if it's typically difficult for Autodesk or the XSI guys to use top of the line footage of recent films anymore - of course that's *all* they used to show in the past. Maybe it has become harder, I don't know - wouldn't surprise me. All I know is that the rules are the same for all of us, supplier or end client - always show your best work. Better a short tighter reel than a long mediocre one.

I just felt DS was sort of jumped on for speaking his mind, and listen, we all love this software, we've chosen to use it every day - there's nothing wrong with pointing out honest reactions. IMHO there was material on there that should have been cut, and there should have been something, some sort of title or label or *something*, that indicated what it was supposed to be representing. I completely missed the message.

Cheers,

J.C.

it's really soo nice (from the second paragraph)

Edited by Rafal123
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  • 3 weeks later...

great presentation...

with that explanation about each clip individualy i can understand a lot more of the reel

i just didnt like the fact that they edited the video and crop off the "solo" artist section in the begining... 2 clips right before mine... lol!

I liked the target of the h9 reel, the fact that you focused in individuals rather than in big productions

Although big productions are the big seller for this kind of products, i think it was a great choice, and even though was on that video i have to admit there is no quality like the one that big studios have in their hands...

Great to have the opportunity to see the faces behind the emails, especially kim that i received a mail from him some time ago... i was so excited

I missed siggraph this year, but next one ill be there.

Edited by EzequielM
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