Snow Leopard and Houdini good to go?

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Michaelmckeever
I hope this works out soon.

Another PROBLEM that should be resolved:

CPU usage…on average, based on measurements taken on both of my machines, the app will only utilize 50% of the CPU on a Core 2 Duo Machine. This in a nutshell means that it is not SL ready, as it does not utilize the full power of your CPU, nor does it utilize the full potential of GPU. Thanks to the developer tools provided with SL, I am sure that this can be fixed, cutting render times on ANY machine in half, or on an OCT core MAC PRO, by an eighth of the time (Imagine simulating water in half the normal time…) To be fair, this is still a new technology, however to claim this app to be SL ready, it should AT LEAST support multi-threading to multiple cores, and GPU utilization if possible!!!
- 2009 MacBook Pro 15” Display, NVIDIA 9400M + 9600MGT Graphics, 3.06 Intel Core 2 Duo, 500 GB HDD 7200 RPM
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Am I missing something or is there some article on the Apple site that details that for a program to be “Snow Leopard Ready” it must take full advantage of ALL advanced new features? That seems like a very lofty and unrealistic goal to me.
Graham Thompson, Technical Artist @ Rockstar Games
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graham
Am I missing something or is there some article on the Apple site that details that for a program to be “Snow Leopard Ready” it must take full advantage of ALL advanced new features? That seems like a very lofty and unrealistic goal to me.

No…See FCS3 is considered to be Snow Leopard Ready, although not actually 64 bit, it still utilizes full CPU and GPU capabilities.
- 2009 MacBook Pro 15” Display, NVIDIA 9400M + 9600MGT Graphics, 3.06 Intel Core 2 Duo, 500 GB HDD 7200 RPM
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Oh…..fixed…..The day finally comes..-.-!
^_^
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Houdini_Apprentice09
… cutting render times on ANY machine in half, or on an OCT core MAC PRO, by an eighth of the time!

Are you aware that Mantra is fully multithreaded, and the Houdini fluid simulator is partially multithreaded but also distributed over multiple machines? You just need to run on a commercial license of Houdini.

More info: http://odforce.net/wiki/index.php/HoudiniApprentice [odforce.net]
Jason Iversen, Technology Supervisor & FX Pipeline/R+D Lead @ Weta FX
also, http://www.odforce.net [www.odforce.net]
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jason_iversen
Houdini_Apprentice09
… cutting render times on ANY machine in half, or on an OCT core MAC PRO, by an eighth of the time!

Are you aware that Mantra is fully multithreaded, and the Houdini fluid simulator is partially multithreaded but also distributed over multiple machines? You just need to run on a commercial license of Houdini.

More info: http://odforce.net/wiki/index.php/HoudiniApprentice [odforce.net]

I realize that MANTRA is fully multithreaded, however when simulating RBD objects it utilizes only 50%
- 2009 MacBook Pro 15” Display, NVIDIA 9400M + 9600MGT Graphics, 3.06 Intel Core 2 Duo, 500 GB HDD 7200 RPM
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Version: 10.0.430

My Process:

Open Houdini
Set a Ground Plane (RBD ready)
Create Sphere
Adjust Frequency to 10
Place Well Above Ground Plane
Create a simple Cube and shrink to microscopic size
Select Sphere
Go to Ridged Body Tab and choose RBD point object
Select Cube as shape and press enter
Go into AutoDOPNetwork and set the physics from RBD to ODE
Press Play Button
CRASH!

–Try it yourself
Edited by - Nov. 16, 2009 23:01:03
- 2009 MacBook Pro 15” Display, NVIDIA 9400M + 9600MGT Graphics, 3.06 Intel Core 2 Duo, 500 GB HDD 7200 RPM
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drew
Thanks for the bug report, I'm sure the SideFX guys will appreciate your feedback. In the future it will help to tell them what version of Houdini you're using.
-Drew

Actually, if there's anything reproducible, please log the bug via the online web submission form. At orange menubar of this website, choose Support > Submit Bugs & RFEs. I'm not sure why I need to keep repeating this though because we already have a sticky for this.

http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_forum&Itemid=172&page=viewtopic&t=15603 [sidefx.com]
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Don't forget that most complex algorithms are non trivial, if not impossible, to parallelize. FCS and COPS benefit from multiple cores because many pixel operations are trivially easy to distribute across threads.

-Drew

Houdini_Apprentice09
jason_iversen
Houdini_Apprentice09
… cutting render times on ANY machine in half, or on an OCT core MAC PRO, by an eighth of the time!

Are you aware that Mantra is fully multithreaded, and the Houdini fluid simulator is partially multithreaded but also distributed over multiple machines? You just need to run on a commercial license of Houdini.

More info: http://odforce.net/wiki/index.php/HoudiniApprentice [odforce.net]

I realize that MANTRA is fully multithreaded, however when simulating RBD objects it utilizes only 50%
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drew
Don't forget that most complex algorithms are non trivial, if not impossible, to parallelize.

I have a handy script for this. Just copy/paste this code into your Windows > Python Shell window.

from threading import Thread
class UseFullPower(Thread):
def run(self):
cycle = 0
full_yet = False
while not full_yet:
cycle = cycle + 1

doit = UseFullPower()
doit.start()
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I stand corrected :wink:

-Drew

edward
drew
Don't forget that most complex algorithms are non trivial, if not impossible, to parallelize.

I have a handy script for this. Just copy/paste this code into your Windows > Python Shell window.

from threading import Thread
class UseFullPower(Thread):
def run(self):
cycle = 0
full_yet = False
while not full_yet:
cycle = cycle + 1

doit = UseFullPower()
doit.start()
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I added it to my pythonrc.py file so whenever Houdini is open it is always using 100% cpu. You're the best Ed!
Graham Thompson, Technical Artist @ Rockstar Games
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Just out of curiosity, are you guys at liberty to discuss what was causing the Nvidia/Mac Book Pro flickering issue? The reason I'm asking is because Macs are pretty stable in terms of architecture, however, I was pretty disappointed that when configuring my custom late 2009 machine to pretty much run Houdini, there were no options to choose a better graphics card, and albeit from a different manufacturer, i.e ATI. I know there are many people that are partial to Nvidia, but I would love to know if this was resolved by simply utilizing less memory from the actual graphics card, or was it simply a software issue.

Best Regards,

P.S. Thank you SESI for the quick resolution in this.
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That problem is fixed starting at 10.0.430 ish…
- 2009 MacBook Pro 15” Display, NVIDIA 9400M + 9600MGT Graphics, 3.06 Intel Core 2 Duo, 500 GB HDD 7200 RPM
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edward
drew
Thanks for the bug report, I'm sure the SideFX guys will appreciate your feedback. In the future it will help to tell them what version of Houdini you're using.
-Drew

Actually, if there's anything reproducible, please log the bug via the online web submission form. At orange menubar of this website, choose Support > Submit Bugs & RFEs. I'm not sure why I need to keep repeating this though because we already have a sticky for this.

http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_forum&Itemid=172&page=viewtopic&t=15603 [sidefx.com]

not only can houdini NOT fix there app with SL but they are rude as hell to us to. Yes, you do need to keep repeating it for new customers and old alike. How rude are you? As you can tell i so upset that an 8000 dollar piece of software is running like CRAP and all other 3d apps i have are GOLDEN. Sorry, im beginning to think Houdini sucks. no offense. You have had TONS of time to get it SL ready. How long was SL seeded to you before it was released to the public? I know devs that had it WAY before it was released. With all that time to get it right you still cant. Stop with the excuses.
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Morbo demands you come back to reality.
All humans are vermin in the eyes of Morbo!
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Just out of curiosity, are you guys at liberty to discuss what was causing the Nvidia/Mac Book Pro flickering issue?

To be honest, we weren't sure what changed in the Nvidia driver in 10.6, as there wasn't much in the way of a change log for it. After 10.6.2 came and went without a resolution in the driver, we began systematically running through how events were received, refreshes were processed and windows and GL contexts were created; a fairly lengthy process for an app the size of Houdini. Because the flickering issue was sporadic instead of constant, my guess was that events were somehow pouring into Houdini differently.

After confirming this wasn't the case, we moved onto looking at the window/context setup. We ran through a variety of changes to the setup until one particular one stopped the flickering (the BackingStore attribute). I'm not sure how this fixes the issue, or if it just happens to be a workaround, as the backing store is normally reserved for optimizing refreshes for helptips and menus (especially since the ATI driver works just fine without it, and so did Nvidia, pre-10.6). All our windows are double-buffered, so things should work just fine without it. We logged this information with the original issue report we sent to Apple, in case this helps shed some light on a potential issue in the driver.

I apologize for the length of time it took to resolve the issue.

The reason I'm asking is because Macs are pretty stable in terms of architecture, however, I was pretty disappointed that when configuring my custom late 2009 machine to pretty much run Houdini, there were no options to choose a better graphics card, and albeit from a different manufacturer, i.e ATI.

The choice to only include the Nvidia GT120, with a mere 32 shaders, did seem a bit strange. Perhaps for high-end work, they simply recommend the 4870 as a better option to what Nvidia had at the time (power requirements? or perhaps it was political..?). At least now there are a couple of third party options for Nvidia cards (EVGA 285 Mac Ed, PNY QuadroFX 4800), but since you can't buy a Mac without a graphics card, I'm not sure what you'll do with the GT120. Perhaps with the release of the Fermi Nvidia cards, the choices will change yet again in favour of Nvidia. On the other hand, the ATI cards have been rock solid on the Mac, so perhaps there's no rush.
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jason_iversen
Houdini_Apprentice09
… cutting render times on ANY machine in half, or on an OCT core MAC PRO, by an eighth of the time!

Are you aware that Mantra is fully multithreaded, and the Houdini fluid simulator is partially multithreaded but also distributed over multiple machines? You just need to run on a commercial license of Houdini.

More info: http://odforce.net/wiki/index.php/HoudiniApprentice [odforce.net]

hi

im noob so maybe im misunderstanding something or reading your post wrong, sorry
but here it reads
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1023&Itemid=320 [sidefx.com]

does that mean mantra uses multithread in apprHd non commercially and that you meant only the fluid sim needs commercial lic?

oh and after .465 .466 builds the rbd and cloth dynamics sims calculate much faster for me than previous builds on snow leopard, happy.

thanks
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I can confirm that after upgrading a black macbook 4th generation with intel GM965 chipset to Snow Leopard (10.6.2) Houdini eventually become a usable application. Prior that release - 10.6 and 10.5.8 - I was experiencing long 2-4 second lags with floating windows (Spreadsheet, Mplay)
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I'm having the same problem as user lucas3d - Not a single icons in the user interface!?

Houdini 10.0.465 freshly installed, apprentice version
MacBook Pro with NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT.
OS X 10.6.2
X11 2.3.4 is already installed

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