COPs v2? Pixel wrangles? Whatever it ends up being, I am SO EXCITED for this.

https://sidefx.bamboohr.com/careers/90 [sidefx.bamboohr.com]

From the job listing:

SideFX is seeking an exceptional software developer to join its Toronto-based compositing R&D team.



We are developing a next generation, procedural image processing system to provide the backbone for traditional compositing, texture synthesis, realtime 3D preview, and motion tracking. You will be working to integrate these capabilities within Houdini, our flagships software, which has proceduralism, openness, and flexibility as its core philosophies. The new compositing system will embody these ideals, scaling to massive task graphs, supporting both out-of-the-box operations and user-generated algorithms. It will work seamlessly with other parts of Houdini, including the 3D viewer, the Solaris/USD environment, our Karma renderers, physical simulations, and geometry processing.


As a member of the compositing group, you will be working with some of the brightest minds in the industry, and interacting with an outstanding artist community. Our R&D and compositing team members have received prestigious industry awards, including several Academy Awards and Emmy’s from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Everyone here shares a drive for excellence and a passion for innovation in image processing and compositing technology. Providing digital artists with the most advanced tools for their craft is, and has always been, our single focus.

...

What you will be working on



* Develop, maintain and provide support our new, next generation compositing engine
* Implement compositing algorithms such as keying, motion tracking, feature detection and removal, and color correction
* Optimize image algorithms to work equally on both CPU and GPU devices
* Optimize procedural networks of image operations to run efficiently within memory limits
* Collaborate with other R&D staff, technical directors and artists to ensure the technology will provide the best solutions for the demands of production compositing, texture synthesis, and image processing.
* Other duties as assigned

Oh wow… comp and texture synthesis. Sounds like COPS rewrite we have been asking for! Wonder if it will cover texture painting and sculpting as well. Exciting. SideFX amaze me with how much they get done in a short period of time.

Why not build a standalone Compositing app? We need some real competition to Nuke or it will remain the same for next 20 years too! Most Compositors are completely fed up with lack of development and legacy bugs!

vidhun.ghai
Why not build a standalone Compositing app? We need some real competition to Nuke or it will remain the same for next 20 years too! Most Compositors are completely fed up with lack of development and legacy bugs!

Not required, have you seen the price tag from nuke vs houdini core?
Houdini core is 2k$
Foundry Nuke is 5k$

If houdini core/fx can replace nuke in the production nobody needs a standalone composition app.

mandrake0
Houdini core is 2k$
Foundry Nuke is 5k$

Don't forget about $295 for Fusion/DaVinci Resolve Studio!

mandrake0

vidhun.ghai
Why not build a standalone Compositing app? We need some real competition to Nuke or it will remain the same for next 20 years too! Most Compositors are completely fed up with lack of development and legacy bugs!

Not required, have you seen the price tag from nuke vs houdini core?
Houdini core is 2k$
Foundry Nuke is 5k$

If houdini core/fx can replace nuke in the production nobody needs a standalone composition app.

So you mean ,that u expect Compositors working in production using Houdini for comp someday ,and I am talking about all the AAA vfx studios in the world! I don't see this happening unless the compositing module of houdini can also be launched as a standalone app.If that can happen maybe yes , I would love to learn and use sidefx product for compositing!

cool news.
if we can have cop v2 and a real time karma like sidefx announced, this will fill the gap with other app like blender

Technically, it would be cops v3

I assume, it's a long way to the top and must evolve over the next years, first.

polast
cool news.
if we can have cop v2 and a real time karma like sidefx announced, this will fill the gap with other app like blender

Do elaborate please.

vidhun.ghai
So you mean ,that u expect Compositors working in production using Houdini for comp someday ,and I am talking about all the AAA vfx studios in the world! I don't see this happening unless the compositing module of houdini can also be launched as a standalone app.If that can happen maybe yes , I would love to learn and use sidefx product for compositing!

I would actually say the rest of Houdini would increase the possibilities of compositing/image manipulation massively (if the integration is tight). You would have an incredible particle system, volumes, TOPs to automate, CHOPs and a general fully fledged 3d environment that Nuke or Fusion won't compare to.
For more simple jobs, you might not need all this stuff, but for more complicated shots this would be awesome to combine and utilize.

And creating a 'compositing' workspace that compositers would start Houdini in, would probably be enough to not distract from the main compositing-tasks I imagine?

All in all, I'm really excited to see what Sidefx would come up with! Even if it probably won't be in the near future.

MatsReenen

vidhun.ghai
So you mean ,that u expect Compositors working in production using Houdini for comp someday ,and I am talking about all the AAA vfx studios in the world! I don't see this happening unless the compositing module of houdini can also be launched as a standalone app.If that can happen maybe yes , I would love to learn and use sidefx product for compositing!

I would actually say the rest of Houdini would increase the possibilities of compositing/image manipulation massively (if the integration is tight). You would have an incredible particle system, volumes, TOPs to automate, CHOPs and a general fully fledged 3d environment that Nuke or Fusion won't compare to.
For more simple jobs, you might not need all this stuff, but for more complicated shots this would be awesome to combine and utilize.

And creating a 'compositing' workspace that compositers would start Houdini in, would probably be enough to not distract from the main compositing-tasks I imagine?

All in all, I'm really excited to see what Sidefx would come up with! Even if it probably won't be in the near future.

I really hope this happens for us compositors