Particle $LIFE to SHOP

[greene_04]

Hello everyone. I'm new to houdini and the forum. I'm sorry if my question is a little too newbie but I'd rather ask and know the solution for in the future.

I would like to know how to go about passing the $LIFE of a particle on to the VOPs in SHOP to create a shader. I would like to use the life of the particles to control certain aspects of a shader.

I did search of other topics but I was unable to find one with a solution that fit my scenario.

Thanks a lot for any help you guys can give me.

[SpencerL]

you can use a parameter VOP to bring in an attribute, such as $LIFE. But since $LIFE is just a variable, and not actually an attribute, you need create the attribute. Create an attribute SOP called "plife" with a value of "$LIFE". Then create a parameter VOP > float and assign it the name "plife".

[Mario Marengo]

What Spencer said

Just wanted to add that the variable "$LIFE" is actually the result of combining two components of the attribute "life". Namely: $LIFE = life[0]/life[1].

Anyhoo.. here's a quick example to hopefully make it clear:

showLife.hip

[greene_04]

Got it. It seemed so simple a preschooler could probably do it, but it was probably just the very clear instructions you guys gave me.

Thank you guys a lot. I really appreciate your help. Learning Houdini isn't the easiest thing in the world but this forum and its members have really made the process enjoyable and worthwhile. Thanks again.

Edited October 25, 2008 by greene_04