ndickson
If I asked a random person not in graphics what “a selection” is, they might say something like “the act of choosing a single thing from among many”, not “the group of things to which I want to do something”. If I asked them what “a group” is, they might say something like “multiple specific things”, which is pretty much what a group is in Houdini.

It doesn't necessarily has to be a single thing from among many to be a selection. Choosing three apples out of ten is still a selection.

Groups don't have to be created from selections, though. Groups are quite often procedurally generated with SOPs instead of being selected in the viewport, in which case, they were never selections.

Yes they are a selection. Why is something you manually select a selection and something the software automatically selects in the background a group?…it's still a selection, no matter who or what selected it.

A selection is the result of selecting something, a group is the result of grouping something.

Korny Klown2
Why is the cookie node called cookie? It doesn't cook anything! It is a boolean operation.

No way! :shock: You've never heard of a cookie cutter…


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cookie_cutter [en.wikipedia.org]


Edit: One of the main advantages of ‘Booleen’ is it works at the object/scene level, whilst cookie is only for geometry level.

Korny Klown2
Although I think, once again, that the name “ray” is a bit confusing. When I hear of a raynode I expect it to do something with volumetric light instead of constraing geo to the volume of another geo.

I'm not sure what you think Ray-Tracing rendering does then

A definition of Ray:
http://onemathematicalcat.org/Math/Geometry_obj/angles_rays_segments.htm [onemathematicalcat.org]

Korny Klown2
Many nodes a have group slot which tells the node which components to operate on. This in my opinion is more accurately named as something like “component selection” or “component mask” because it masks out on which components to operate on which not.
Then there is the group node which basically just stores a selection, of whatever component type, for later use. So this node should be named more accurately something like “selection store” or so.

So we can simplify “Selection store” to “group” ya?

These Oxford Dictionary definitions work well to define the current behaviour:

group |gruːp|
noun
1 a number of people or things that are located, gathered, or classed together:

selection |sɪˈlɛkʃ(ə)n|
noun
1 the action or fact of carefully choosing someone or something as being the best or most suitable:

Korny Klown2
If I have a geo node with two primitive objects in it (box and sphere) and I wanna grab the entire sphere and move it with the move tool “T”, I can't. I can either move it numerical in the parameters tab, select all components and move them with an edit sop or use transform node but it is not possible to move just the primitve object on it's own with the move/translation tool.

Select the object and use the Handle tool. It you can then move the geo with using a transform node.

Korny Klown2
A selection is the result of selecting something, a group is the result of grouping something.

And this is reason why Groups in Houdini are named Groups.

In most of the (3d) software if you do action that is called Save Selection you save what you have actually picked so you can restore that selection to the current state later.

If you separate something from others of same kind you are doing grouping. And you then apply some operation to that group no matter what is your actual selection.
Why are Masks in 2d softwares called masks? Because they main purpose is to mask something. Even if they contain stored pixels that was handpicked (selected) we usually called them masks not stored selection of pixels.

No way! Shocked You've never heard of a cookie cutter… Wink


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cookie_cutter [en.wikipedia.org]


Edit: One of the main advantages of ‘Booleen’ is it works at the object/scene level, whilst cookie is only for geometry level.

Ok then, let's call it cookiecutter and I'm fine.
It shouldn't be technically impossible to make the cookiecutter work on objectlevel as well. At the end of the day it's just a series of 0s and 1s.

These Oxford Dictionary definitions work well to define the current behaviour:

group |gruːp|
noun
1 a number of people or things that are located, gathered, or classed together:

selection |sɪˈlɛkʃ(ə)n|
noun
1 the action or fact of carefully choosing someone or something as being the best or most suitable:

That is a statement that supports my point of view perfectly. A primitiv object is a group of components located together. A selection is the act of carefully choosing the points that are the best for my intended operation.

Because they main purpose is to mask something. Even if they contain stored pixels that was handpicked (selected) we usually called them masks not stored selection of pixels.

So you are fine with calling them component masks, like I suggested earlier?

Korny Klown2
That is a statement that supports my point of view perfectly. A primitiv object is a group of components located together. A selection is the act of carefully choosing the points that are the best for my intended operation.

Good catch So now I raise you and include the whole dictionary definition
Take note of "• a number of carefully chosen things: the publication of a selection of his poems."


selection |sɪˈlɛkʃ(ə)n|
noun
1 the action or fact of carefully choosing someone or something as being the best or most suitable: such men decided the selection of candidates | some local Tories objected to his selection.
• a number of carefully chosen things: the publication of a selection of his poems.
• a range of things from which a choice may be made: the restaurant offers a wide selection of hot and cold dishes.
• a horse or horses tipped as worth bets in a race or meeting. I make Dayflower the selection for the Irish 1000 Guineas.
• data highlighted on a computer screen for a particular operation. your selection may not contain two different data types.
2 Biology a process in which environmental or genetic influences determine which types of organism thrive better than others, regarded as a factor in evolution. there has been more than enough time for selection to generate specific DNA sequences of the required length. See also natural selection.
3 Austral./NZ historical the action of choosing and acquiring plots of land for small farming on terms favourable to the buyer. blocks ranging in area from 158 to 3,102 acres have been thrown open for selection.
• a plot of land acquired by selection.
ORIGIN early 17th cent.: from Latin selectio(n-), from seligere ‘select by separating off’ (see select) .

MartybNz
So now I raise you and include the whole dictionary definition

selection |sɪˈlɛkʃ(ə)n|
• data highlighted on a computer screen for a particular operation. your selection may not contain two different data types.

Boom, we have a winner! 8)

That's one example, meaning it can be used like that but it does have to he used like that.

Korny Klown2
H
1. grey geometry on grey background (I know there is a dark/black version but that one is no better since the smooth shading fades into pure black and objects are hard to see from some angles.)
2. the initial shading (smooth shading) looks horrible, espacially the pure black

One option would be to start Houdini in an ‘Artist’ Desktop that has an ambient occlusion lighting setup, then when that is too slow you switch to a higher performance, headlamp lighting.

Curious, as it seems it was largely ignored during this whole cusp nodes/consolidated points discussion.

What's wrong with Flat Wire Shaded mode as default? No harsh shadows and no performance loss and no messing up nodes.

Gyroscope
What's wrong with Flat Wire Shaded mode as default? No harsh shadows and no performance loss and no messing up nodes.

Blender does that, could and would work.

Gyroscope
What's wrong with Flat Wire Shaded mode as default? No harsh shadows and no performance loss and no messing up nodes.

Actually I like the flat shaded view put it is still grey on grey, not very user-/modelingfriendly. I personally love the gradient vieworts like maya or modo, though I like modos a bit more.
I think I've even seen some screenshots of maxs viewport with a gradient background…..whatever….so much nicer then grey on grey or pure black.

Korny Klown2

Gyroscope
What's wrong with Flat Wire Shaded mode as default? No harsh shadows and no performance loss and no messing up nodes.

Actually I like the flat shaded view put it is still grey on grey, not very user-/modelingfriendly. I personally love the gradient vieworts like maya or modo, though I like modos a bit more.
I think I've even seen some screenshots of maxs viewport with a gradient background…..whatever….so much nicer then grey on grey or pure black.

Until it's implemented you can put a grad onto an environment light and use flat shade.

Korny Klown2

Gyroscope
What's wrong with Flat Wire Shaded mode as default? No harsh shadows and no performance loss and no messing up nodes.

Actually I like the flat shaded view put it is still grey on grey, not very user-/modelingfriendly. I personally love the gradient vieworts like maya or modo, though I like modos a bit more.
I think I've even seen some screenshots of maxs viewport with a gradient background…..whatever….so much nicer then grey on grey or pure black.

Anything non dark-ui makes my eyes cackle from dryness. It's usually always black background for me. /emo

Gradient background option is a great idea. Here's Max's viewport for example.

Gyroscope
Anything non dark-ui makes my eyes cackle from dryness. It's usually always black background for me. /emo

.

Lighter bg is better in a non-dark environment

MartybNz

Gyroscope
Anything non dark-ui makes my eyes cackle from dryness. It's usually always black background for me. /emo

.

Lighter bg is better in a non-dark environment

I think optional is the name of the game here. I'm a big fan of the “make optional philosophy”

Korny Klown2
I think optional is the name of the game here. I'm a big fan of the “make optional philosophy”

You're going to like this Check out Twod post; the location of the files for full custom color control, including making gradient backgrounds

http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_forum&Itemid=172&page=viewtopic&t=31141 [sidefx.com]

Edit: check it

Korny Klown2
3. the lines of templated objects are often hard to see since they have the same thickness and color like the ortho grids. This is especially true for boxes. This might be a personal psychological thing but since the template flag is pink, my eye expects to see templated objects as a pink wireframe.

See attachments.

Korny Klown2
- maybe this is already possible nad if so I apologize. I sometimes feel the need to have the display flag follow the current selected node

Try the 'Show Current Operator option, RMB on the points/edges/prims tool, down the bottom

Yes, I do like it much


The “show current operator” doesn't do the trick.
What I want is to select a node in the network editor and the display flag automatically follows. Right now you either have to select the node and then press 1 or you select the node and then click the display flag.