Underwater environment would be a challenge i see not many taking. Actually i do not know anyone who ever did a tutorial on that. With realistic corals and all.
Very nice, thanks for the breakdown. A few things that might help you: - There is a dedicated Collections pane, below the Scene Graph Tree (it's collapsed by default). You can use that to treat collections like any other object (i.e. select them in the viewport, isolate them, etc.). That pane will also allow you to create collections without needing a Collection LOP, for quick selection sets. - You can simply use a Mask From Geometry SOP to use your buildings as a mask. - There is a Labs Cable Generator SOP that can do all your cabling work for free.
Great stuff as always, I think it covers most of the essentials, but one thing I could not wrap my head around is how to create 2.5D parallax interiors for KB3D city buildings in Maya/Houdini and be able to randomize it in various ways including making them lit or unlit e.g. 60% of interiors lit at late evening/night scene and all of them unlit in a day scene. It's probably most complicated thing when it comes to towns/cities like how to create planes for each window, how to organize them so it makes sense ( e.g. no window display of store in like 9th floor ), etc. Also 1:02 you can use "Modify -> Search and Replace names" then replace "_KB3D_OTP_" for textures and after that "KB3D_OTP_" with an "*" just like in Notepad, but Python is ofc cooler :D
Hi regarding the preview surface, there is no need to use python for that, it can be done with the material library node, and if the material already exsists in the stage you can simply create an edit material node and in the material library node point to the edit node where it says Material VOP, and when Auto-generate Preview Surface Shaders is checked it will create them. Tested this only with karma tho
@@arvidursI figured you would probably be well aware ;) Love your use of python for your component building btw. From my experience I believe Arnold is doing something more along the lines of billboard type geo that has camera based orientation of the polys as well I noticed. which would have a single sided geometry that gets created at render time. I came about this conclusion due to the fact that with either "ribbon" or "thick" set on the render geometry node under the arnold shape section it dose not properly calculate sss in the shader. You have to either use thin walled in the standard surface or move entirely to standard hair. Bit it of a side tangent, I have to say I quite enjoy karma. I've never really been a mantra fan but sidefx is killing it with karma xpu and being able to use material x nodes is pretty awesome. My only gripe is ACES/ocio compatibility is a bit lacking at the moment.
@tbarsnessvfx yeah! I love karma too and the ability to use mtlx to switch to different render engines. Super fun! I’ll definitely keep exploring Solaris! Thanks for all the input!
I would love to see a photo real but fantasy Martian scene, with plants, trees, and grass that are different colors than the original megascans of Earth to give it a science fiction quality, with buildings that are reshaped into more cylinder shapes with bend nodes to again look more sci-fi.
Interesting to see the approach with Houdini and Maya for kit bashing. But the lack of real time functionality in Houdini, makes it much harder and more complicated than do this all in Unreal 5.xx. where you put together such scene in 2-3 hours, when using kitbash models. I used Houdini until version 18.xx and then moved on. For brutal scenes still prefer clarisse.
This is my issue also. We use this exact workflow at work, Maya to Houdini USD. I'm a Houdini FX artist myself so I love Houdini, but, It's great with a team of people. For my own personal work I prefer Unreal and Blender. It's so easy to drag and drop assets and I don't need a procedural setup for doing a large sequence of shots and being versatile enough to handle client changes throughout production. Very cool video though Arvid to show people how it all works. And by no means am I trying to discourage people to use Houdini and USD, it is a lot to take in.
Noop question here 🙈 What is the benefit of importing the kitbash models into maya and exporting it as USD and importing that USD file into Houdini Why not just import the kitbash kit into Houdini right away
yeah, it might seem odd :D The reason I did it, through Maya, I can actually convert the whole scene to USD, which allows me to easily work with Solaris in Houdini right away. Going straight to Houdini, would cost me a lot of shader rewiring etc. Some kitbash scenes have a houdini file, which solves this round trip
@@arvidurs Does the Cargo app bring in 3DKitbash assets to use USD right away in Houdini? In any case your workflow provides a lot of pointers for producing this type of photorealistic scene in Houdini, particularly the comping in Nuke. I'm coming to realize for heavy VFX scenes that having ability to reproduce a set piece or scene in Houdini gives higher fidelity art direction for things like destruction, pyro, fluid, cloth, etc. Combine this with UE5 real-time (and path trace) rendering is a powerful pipeline for VFX.
🌵 Dive into the sands of imagination! Let me know what environment you'd like to see created next! 🔮
i would like to see what u are recreating/improving my Environment which i have done in my VFX school ;)
Underwater environment would be a challenge i see not many taking. Actually i do not know anyone who ever did a tutorial on that. With realistic corals and all.
Very nice, thanks for the breakdown. A few things that might help you:
- There is a dedicated Collections pane, below the Scene Graph Tree (it's collapsed by default). You can use that to treat collections like any other object (i.e. select them in the viewport, isolate them, etc.). That pane will also allow you to create collections without needing a Collection LOP, for quick selection sets.
- You can simply use a Mask From Geometry SOP to use your buildings as a mask.
- There is a Labs Cable Generator SOP that can do all your cabling work for free.
I've been trying to implement USD in my workflow. Great to see Arvid providing as always.
I'm planning a couple more of those, anything specific you want to look at?
@@arvidurs Assembling USD and rendering the final product in Maya would be amazing. Thanks
Shading in maya and rendering in Houdini
That is pretty much what this video is about. You can see that the shaders where made in Maya and converted to Houdini
@@arvidurs ok
Ah, this is a nice way to show what u have done, usd is new for me but everything else makes fun to watch !
Thank you very much for clarifying some "???" of mine again ☺️
hehe happy to help, as always!
Great stuff as always, I think it covers most of the essentials, but one thing I could not wrap my head around is how to create 2.5D parallax interiors for KB3D city buildings in Maya/Houdini and be able to randomize it in various ways including making them lit or unlit e.g. 60% of interiors lit at late evening/night scene and all of them unlit in a day scene. It's probably most complicated thing when it comes to towns/cities like how to create planes for each window, how to organize them so it makes sense ( e.g. no window display of store in like 9th floor ), etc.
Also 1:02 you can use "Modify -> Search and Replace names" then replace "_KB3D_OTP_" for textures and after that "KB3D_OTP_" with an "*" just like in Notepad, but Python is ofc cooler :D
Dude, this is awesome.
Great one Arvid, thank you
thanks Jordan!
Maybe I should give houdini a 5th chance and learn it
😂
I took me 5 attempts spread over 5 years, but at least it was successful.
Once it starts to change the way you think, you know that it is working.
Hi regarding the preview surface, there is no need to use python for that, it can be done with the material library node, and if the material already exsists in the stage you can simply create an edit material node and in the material library node point to the edit node where it says Material VOP, and when Auto-generate Preview Surface Shaders is checked it will create them.
Tested this only with karma tho
oh I will test that, thanks!
little hint on your wires. You can use a pscale and it should pick up the primvar and convert it to widths on curves. Sick setup btw.
Yeah, Arnold converts wires to polys at render time. Just wanted to show them in the viewer too, but thanks for the tip 🥰
@@arvidursI figured you would probably be well aware ;) Love your use of python for your component building btw. From my experience I believe Arnold is doing something more along the lines of billboard type geo that has camera based orientation of the polys as well I noticed. which would have a single sided geometry that gets created at render time. I came about this conclusion due to the fact that with either "ribbon" or "thick" set on the render geometry node under the arnold shape section it dose not properly calculate sss in the shader. You have to either use thin walled in the standard surface or move entirely to standard hair. Bit it of a side tangent, I have to say I quite enjoy karma. I've never really been a mantra fan but sidefx is killing it with karma xpu and being able to use material x nodes is pretty awesome. My only gripe is ACES/ocio compatibility is a bit lacking at the moment.
@tbarsnessvfx yeah! I love karma too and the ability to use mtlx to switch to different render engines. Super fun! I’ll definitely keep exploring Solaris! Thanks for all the input!
thanks for this video
Amazing tutorial
Any studio pipeline tools with usd implementation yet?
pixar and animal logic are the front runners
yeah lots of people use it: milk vfx, jellyfish, 1920vfx, rise, the list goes on
Skydance animation use houdini solaris usd too
Walt Disney Animation
I would love to see a photo real but fantasy Martian scene, with plants, trees, and grass that are different colors than the original megascans of Earth to give it a science fiction quality, with buildings that are reshaped into more cylinder shapes with bend nodes to again look more sci-fi.
What theme for UI Houdini is this?
Interesting to see the approach with Houdini and Maya for kit bashing. But the lack of real time functionality in Houdini, makes it much harder and more complicated than do this all in Unreal 5.xx. where you put together such scene in 2-3 hours, when using kitbash models. I used Houdini until version 18.xx and then moved on. For brutal scenes still prefer clarisse.
Yeah I get that! Do you know if it’s easy to port hero assets from unreal to Houdini
This is my issue also. We use this exact workflow at work, Maya to Houdini USD. I'm a Houdini FX artist myself so I love Houdini, but, It's great with a team of people. For my own personal work I prefer Unreal and Blender. It's so easy to drag and drop assets and I don't need a procedural setup for doing a large sequence of shots and being versatile enough to handle client changes throughout production. Very cool video though Arvid to show people how it all works. And by no means am I trying to discourage people to use Houdini and USD, it is a lot to take in.
how did you used ChatGPT to create Houdini python code any specific prompts you used?
chat.openai.com/share/646316bf-c193-4cc1-9091-ed784e8231b8
@@arvidurs Much appreciate!
Bien joué !
Signé : Une UA-camuse qui a du mal à parler anglais
Gameuse fan de 3D? Cool!
Noop question here 🙈
What is the benefit of importing the kitbash models into maya and exporting it as USD and importing that USD file into Houdini
Why not just import the kitbash kit into Houdini right away
yeah, it might seem odd :D The reason I did it, through Maya, I can actually convert the whole scene to USD, which allows me to easily work with Solaris in Houdini right away.
Going straight to Houdini, would cost me a lot of shader rewiring etc.
Some kitbash scenes have a houdini file, which solves this round trip
@@arvidurs thanks a lot for your response, I am not familiar with solaris, so I will do some searching .
@@arvidurs Does the Cargo app bring in 3DKitbash assets to use USD right away in Houdini? In any case your workflow provides a lot of pointers for producing this type of photorealistic scene in Houdini, particularly the comping in Nuke. I'm coming to realize for heavy VFX scenes that having ability to reproduce a set piece or scene in Houdini gives higher fidelity art direction for things like destruction, pyro, fluid, cloth, etc. Combine this with UE5 real-time (and path trace) rendering is a powerful pipeline for VFX.
@@lyravisionmusic Kitbash3D only has the native renderer for Houdini (Mantra), so there would be a lot of work to convert it to Arnold for Houdini.