Best example scene for demo

[Netvudu]

Hi there.

Next week I will probably show Houdini to a group of CG artists interested and I wanted to ask which are the scenes that come with Houdini that in your opinion best showcase some of its capabilities.

I

[robert.magee]

Hi there.

Next week I will probably show Houdini to a group of CG artists interested and I wanted to ask which are the scenes that come with Houdini that in your opinion best showcase some of its capabilities.

I

[Jason]

Hi there.

Next week I will probably show Houdini to a group of CG artists interested and I wanted to ask which are the scenes that come with Houdini that in your opinion best showcase some of its capabilities.

I

[RonensArt]

The Cat Scene from "Chumbuk"

is one good impressive piece for Fur tools:

http://forums.odforce.net/index.php?showtopic=8506

Cheers

[chumbuk]

The Cat Scene from "Chumbuk"

I can modify this scene for houdini10, because it is now just under 9. And I still want to complete before the logical end of the bombing,(http://forums.odforce.net/index.php?showtopic=8897) I think that in days 3-4, There are all altered.

Edited May 2, 2009 by chumbuk

[old school]

Just do a boolean between two pieces of manifold geometry that they modelled in their software (file SOPs) and then fracture the result after a fuse then run through an RBD. To ease them in, use the File > Import > Geoemtry for the first object, then do the "7 clicks to add a File SOP" the manual way for the second.

Next subsitute one of the geometry objects with another with a File SOP and you just proved the point.

Then transform one of the pieces and rerun the rbd sim. That's proceduralism.

At that point they are either in denial, suitably impressed or work for a very large company that already has over a million lines of mel code (costing untold millions) and can barely do the above.

Then show Rob and Jason's examples.

The above shows the difference in architectures: "they" work on caches. Houdini works like a node based compositor where each SOP caches the result and passes it on to the next node.

Oh and don't forget to use F8 to toggle between object and geometry (say component mode for the first while if they are Maya artists). The maya artists will get objects-sops right away. Also don't forget to blow away all data from inside an object. Instacrash in Maya.

Another thing you can do is skin a simple surface with curves. Then change one of the curves to NURBS. Explain that a node is just a node. In this case the Skin SOP is programmed to ignore anything but open or closed faces (curves) and will generate a surface of a type the same as the highest order curve. Showcases the architecture.

Oh and finally, tell them that most Houdini users only know about 15-30 SOPs, 5-10 POPs, a couple ROPs, barely knows VOPs and know nothing about CHOPs or COPs yet can still do original killer effects work. Shows the power and flexibility of a node based workflow.

[chumbuk]

modify by houduni10, much could be done differently now, but here it is 90% in the setting rather than in technology, so the left as it was, in contrast to 9, there is something crash illuminance loop in fur surface shader, and so alll work...

cat_hip_textrs.rar

[Netvudu]

thanks everybody! keep hints and scenes coming!

And special thanks to chumbuk for adapting the scene

Jeff hints will really come in handy as well...

[chumbuk]

in scene only need include '"shadow map" in KEY light, he is now off

[RonensArt]

Just do a boolean between two pieces of manifold geometry that they modelled in their software (file SOPs) and then fracture the result after a fuse then run through an RBD. To ease them in, use the File > Import > Geoemtry for the first object, then do the "7 clicks to add a File SOP" the manual way for the second.

Next subsitute one of the geometry objects with another with a File SOP and you just proved the point.

Then transform one of the pieces and rerun the rbd sim. That's proceduralism.

At that point they are either in denial, suitably impressed or work for a very large company that already has over a million lines of mel code (costing untold millions) and can barely do the above.

Then show Rob and Jason's examples.

The above shows the difference in architectures: "they" work on caches. Houdini works like a node based compositor where each SOP caches the result and passes it on to the next node.

Oh and don't forget to use F8 to toggle between object and geometry (say component mode for the first while if they are Maya artists). The maya artists will get objects-sops right away. Also don't forget to blow away all data from inside an object. Instacrash in Maya.

Another thing you can do is skin a simple surface with curves. Then change one of the curves to NURBS. Explain that a node is just a node. In this case the Skin SOP is programmed to ignore anything but open or closed faces (curves) and will generate a surface of a type the same as the highest order curve. Showcases the architecture.

Oh and finally, tell them that most Houdini users only know about 15-30 SOPs, 5-10 POPs, a couple ROPs, barely knows VOPs and know nothing about CHOPs or COPs yet can still do original killer effects work. Shows the power and flexibility of a node based workflow.

The Manual to blow Maya users away

Thanks for converting it for 10.

There is some great VEX work in there, right on!

[anamous]

I gave the guys in our company a Houdini 101 consisting of an ice cube containing water that gets shattered by a hammer falling down on it. Basically the file went all the way from "modelling" a cube to rendering the result with PBR. During the demonstration you stop and realize that due to the procedural nature of things in Houdini, you can show or modify every single step that went into the creation of a complex shot.. That's a magical moment

Also, you could spend months just showing off the point SOP, copy SOP, and VOPSOPs. I've taken an approved particle simulation that needed "more particles with the same behaviour" which would have been complicated due to interaction between the particles, and hooked up a point SOP with a noise CHOP to shift around the particles smoothly but randomly - presto, double the amount of particles in no time. Plus any sort of copy stamping should help create feelings of inadequacy in users of other packages

cheers,

Abdelkareem

[Netvudu]

Even more good ideas. Thanks anamous. As you could imagine a big dose of copy/stamping was already into the recipe... I

Edited May 4, 2009 by Netvudu

[Netvudu]

Just a quick heads up to thank you people again for all the hints.

The presentation went very good. I think many of them were impressed. Almost 30 people attended, and this meant we were a bit crowded in the meeting room but everybody was in a very good mood and eager to learn what this Houdini thing was (they even laughed at my jokes...go figure).

Some of the hightlights were -

a ) the almighty copy/stamping at work. I knew that was a sure hit

b ) I showed a scene I had prepared with rocks crushing against the ground and spurring dust particles. I

Edited May 8, 2009 by Netvudu