Things you SHOULD Know about MaterialX and Karma in Houdini 19

So I spent some time fumbling around in MaterialX and Karma, so you don't need to and here's what you MUST know if you are going to use MaterialX and Karma.
By the end of the video, you will understand when to use materialx shaders and when to go back to our beloved vex shaders.
Resources:
Blog post - www.nelsonlim....
Get the FREE Effects Demo Reel Guide here:
www.nelsonlim.c...
Say hi on social:
IG: / iamnelsonlim
FB: / iamnelsonlim
Nelson’s hardware:
🖥️ BenQ PD2700Q Monitor - amzn.to/3iSwtGO
🤔 CPU - AMD Ryzen 9 3950X - amzn.to/2URs382
💨COOLER - Dark Rock Pro 4 ($90) - amzn.to/30SBmbS
✨MOTHERBOARD - Gigabyte X570 AORUS MASTER -amzn.to/2C9FNEC
🧠MEMORY - G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 128GB DDR4 3200
🌈GPU - EVGA GeForce RTX 2070 Super - amzn.to/2YLcekA
✨🏎️ SSD - ADATA XPG SX8100 1TB NVMe SSD - amzn.to/30TqgTY
💽HDD - Toshiba X300 4TB 7200 RPM - amzn.to/2Y8p1hS
📦CASE - NZXT H510 - amzn.to/2YFtjMG
🔌PSU - EVGA Supernova Gold 850W - amzn.to/2zGAgEJ
This description may contain affiliate links that allow you to easily find the items/resources mentioned at no cost to you. If you make use of these links, I make a small commission that supports the work of making these videos and posts available. Thanks!
#CGI #VFX #animation #cgartist #vfxartist #3dart #render #FX #Houdini #Nuke #Blender #Maya #TechnicalArt

[@workflowinmind]

Very nice one thanks Nelson! Subscribed

[@NelsonLim]

You're welcome!

[@axe_fx]

Insanely well explained. Thanks man

[@NelsonLim]

Glad you liked it!

[@FaddyVFX]

That is great. Good job.

[@NelsonLim]

Thanks Faddy!

[@user-hl5zx1qh7s]

:)

[@vanyakapetanovic4018]

Good video and well explained. I find that Karma in ROPS looks better (at least to me) then Mantra but it is just as slow or insignificantly faster. I will have to test it in Solaris because from what I understand that is where all the benefits come from.

[@NelsonLim]

In most cases Karma CPU is about 40-60% faster at rendering then Mantra for me.
The 2 renderers will never produce the same image with the same lights and shaders.
So it is quite subjective which render looks better. Whichever renderer the lights/shaders were initially look-deved in will probably look the best.
Using Karma via Solaris is the recommended way in the long run.

[@artadecram_9624]

I think there is not enough video-material on karma - can I study mantra before karma? How manrta is comparable to karma?

[@NelsonLim]

If I were learning rendering in Houdini now, I would focus on Karma.

[@RonnieMirands]

Which camera did you used for record this video? Looks so cinematic!

[@NelsonLim]

Thanks. It was a point and shoot Sony EV1.

[@mahen9394]

Very useful tutorial👍 Can we render Material X in Arnold houdini ?

[@NelsonLim]

Yes, arnold supports materialx.

[@rendermanpro]

- we have 12 standards, it is too much....
- Let's invent single united standard!
...now we have 13 standards

[@NelsonLim]

Such is technology in general. But from time to time things start to converge. USD and materialx does seem to have the support and features that is getting many industry players and artists onboard.

[@dark.motions]

Is it possible to adjust the colors from a texture map in materialX?
I see a saturation and contrast node but not a node to adjust the colors like colorcorrections node Hue Shift in Mantra.

[@NelsonLim]

I haven't played around too much with that yet. But there's a MaterialX HSV adjust node. www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/nodes/vop/mtlxhsvadjust.html

[@axe_fx]

check the changelog for latest stuff, alot of big fixes have been done to Solaris, mtlx and karma since build 383. I am talking a serious lots of updates.

[@NelsonLim]

Yes, looking forward to updates and bug fixes for Karma.