philippepetitpas
Any news about the siggraph show ?
Do you know when it will be publish on sidefx’s YouTube channel ?

I find the radio silence about H20 a bit concerning by now. It sure feels like there’s some kind of problem behind closed doors. Just a little info about Karma having subsurface scattering or whatever it was?

Th

lewis_T
I don't know why you guys are so hot for modeling. It's like, anyone who models day in day out as a job, is already using
an app that is clearly years ahead of houdini, and only popping into houdini to run certain modeling aspects that make sense.

Procedural models sure, it can be quite helpful for that too. But guys, houdini's core usage is not Poly modeling.
As far as destructive modeling goes, maybe you never worked in a studio, and weren't taught to simply version up your
scene file as you do modeling stages that may not end up how you'd like?

Pushing the modeling aspect over several pages, and the back and forth about it is a total waste of time. The tools will get
better, the viewport will get better, but about 98% of houdini's user base is not concerned with modeling, I get you are hot
for it, but you're in the 2%, so temper your expectations.
Personally, I would never poly model in it, it just doesn't feel right, Max feels miles better, ditto Maya, ditto Blender to an
extent. And in the real world, assets is one of the only disciplines that is almost software agnostic. Every other part of the
pipeline is far more locked to a DCC, assets is not, so bashing on about houdini becoming a top shelf poly modeler is just
not reading the room at all.


L

These models were created in Houdini using the Modeler plugin. And their creators like doing it specifically in Houdini. Tell them that the main thing in Houdini is proceduralism, and direct modeling is somewhat alien to it.

Fx_enjoyer

philippepetitpas
Any news about the siggraph show ?
Do you know when it will be publish on sidefx’s YouTube channel ?

I find the radio silence about H20 a bit concerning by now. It sure feels like there’s some kind of problem behind closed doors. Just a little info about Karma having subsurface scattering or whatever it was?

the weird thing its that nobody that was in the houdini 20 XPU preview talking about what was in this preview.
very weird.

Fx_enjoyer

philippepetitpas
Any news about the siggraph show ?
Do you know when it will be publish on sidefx’s YouTube channel ?

I find the radio silence about H20 a bit concerning by now. It sure feels like there’s some kind of problem behind closed doors. Just a little info about Karma having subsurface scattering or whatever it was?

Yeah me too

I'm not sure what your point is. The modeler plugin is great, and pulls houdini into line, making it usable.
My point is more that people shouldn't be sitting here yammering on about an aspect of houdini that a tiny portion
of it's user base cares about.

To be clear, if I wanted to poly model in houdini, I'd use your plugin 100%, it's just that the mentality that every
DCC needs to be able to do everything is a very outdated/misguided view to have.



L

lewis_T
I'm not sure what your point is. The modeler plugin is great, and pulls houdini into line, making it usable.
My point is more that people shouldn't be sitting here yammering on about an aspect of houdini that a tiny portion
of it's user base cares about.

To be clear, if I wanted to poly model in houdini, I'd use your plugin 100%, it's just that the mentality that every
DCC needs to be able to do everything is a very outdated/misguided view to have.



L

Can we please stop this Houdini modeling debate and bickering? Yes - not everyone likes Houdini standard modeling tools and workflows. Yes Modeler makes modeling much better in Houdini. Let’s just settle on that and move on please I’m getting tired of this nonsense debate.

I hope you aren't referring to me buddy. My post above earlier was to highlight exactly that, that yammering
on about the modeling component is a waste of time.


L

habernir
the weird thing its that nobody that was in the houdini 20 XPU preview talking about what was in this preview.
very weird.

I was there. To be quite honest with you, it was an incredibly dull presentation. The room was packed and I think most people attended with the hope of some new morsels of info about H20, perhaps a wee-bit of sneak peak at something...anything that would get us excited about the new release. Unfortunately nothing like that. Just a rehash of some of the same info that's been circling for a while now regarding Karma XPU, and the idea that it will be "production ready" in H20....whatever that means, especially since I got the impression that several of Karma CPU features will still not be part of Karma XPU.

I started using Houdini with 15.5, and it seemed like back then the updated happened almost every 6 months. 16, 16.5, 17, 17.5....they seemed to come really quick....or at least it felt that way.

Anyhoo...I'm sure H20 will be released sometime this year.

Thanks for the update Kays - albeit disappointing news.
I think Sidefx need a serious rethink about their marketing and promotion. Did they not realise that a presentation at the premiere CG conference of the year with H20 in the title might generate some excitement? Contrast that to a well know German CG company pumping out videos and presentations on a daily basis.

Mike_A
I think Sidefx need a serious rethink about their marketing and promotion. Did they not realise that a presentation at the premiere CG conference of the year with H20 in the title might generate some excitement?

To be fair, the presenter is the primary developer of Karma XPU - a fact that they stated in the presentation summary. It was always going to be technical-heavy and not sexy. At least that's what I assume it was; I don't have any concrete details on it apart from what is listed in the summary.

All those things, along with cryptomatte support (confirmed by SideFX on the forums), makes it a nice upgrade for sure.

The modeler is very good. But it's expensive for just playing around.
Modeling is the most important part of 3d. All these booleans, subdivides, and so on are very good in Houdini. I once did some simple things at the same time in a blender and Houdini. The polygonal grid in houdini after all Booleans and subdivide is better and more correct than in blender, where it sometimes broke strangely. (But why does the subdivide work so slowly?! 50-100 times slower than in a blender ). Plus interesting functions for working with curves that are not in the blender. Even the whole idea is based on attributes - beginners learn this through modeling. Therefore, uncomfortable modeling in Houdini repels newcomers. Only the olds argue that modeling is not necessary. And it turns out that Houdini was created by the Olds for the Olds. This is a 100% guarantee of the extinction of the product. I have sold many products and worked in different companies and have seen many partner companies. Everywhere in a successful business, the same scheme is the need for growth and attracting new buyers / users of the product. But I see that the voices of the olds require Houdini to encapsulate in a narrow niche, pushing away newcomers. As a seller, I will say that this is the way of vegetating. The whole new generation knows the blender, but does not know Houdini. Why? People, if there are alternatives, always choose convenience. The Olds will leave and a new generation is coming to replace them. And? But Houdini is filled with amazing algorithms and the work of many brilliant people. Do we want it to gather dust in the corner and people didn't use it? No. Therefore, we are waiting for a new version every time and hope for a new viewport .

eikonoklastes

Mike_A
I think Sidefx need a serious rethink about their marketing and promotion. Did they not realise that a presentation at the premiere CG conference of the year with H20 in the title might generate some excitement?

All those things, along with cryptomatte support (confirmed by SideFX on the forums), makes it a nice upgrade for sure.

In the past those things would have been minor Houdini releases. It’s cool and useful and all but not what I’d expect for a major version release, especially if there’s almost no other information publicized.

Fx_enjoyer
In the past those things would have been minor Houdini releases. It’s cool and useful and all but not what I’d expect for a major version release, especially if there’s almost no other information publicized.

I'm not sure what your expectations are. We're going from 19.5 to 20.0. Are you expecting all these big-ticket features to come into daily builds?

Also, its not Karma XPU 20 - it's Houdini 20. I'm sure they have one or two more new features lined up across the app.

eikonoklastes

Fx_enjoyer
In the past those things would have been minor Houdini releases. It’s cool and useful and all but not what I’d expect for a major version release, especially if there’s almost no other information publicized.

I'm not sure what your expectations are. We're going from 19.5 to 20.0. Are you expecting all these big-ticket features to come into daily builds?

Also, its not Karma XPU 20 - it's Houdini 20. I'm sure they have one or two more new features lined up across the app.

Judging by the past my expectation would be some major things announced or sneak previewed by now. The fact that we’re quite into the cycle now and the most important conference of the year has passed without much info makes me scratch my head and go hmmmm.

Fx_enjoyer
Judging by the past my expectation would be some major things announced or sneak previewed by now. The fact that we’re quite into the cycle now and the most important conference of the year has passed without much info makes me scratch my head and go hmmmm.

They announced and previewed a brand new feather system. That's a pretty major thing to announce. They also demoed that texture mask painting SOP that looks pretty cool, and some UI tweaks. Meanwhile, we wait...

HGaal
The modeler is very good. But it's expensive for just playing around.

For those who are interested, I've given a 50% discount

https://alexeyvanzhula.gumroad.com/l/modeler2023/X0301RD [alexeyvanzhula.gumroad.com]

alexeyvanzhula1984
For those who are interested, I've given a 50% discount

Looks like Houdini20 it gonna be Moi on steroid.(whispering)
Thank you Alex

alexeyvanzhula1984
For those who are interested, I've given a 50% discount

Too good to refuse. You have a new customer : )

HGaal
The modeler is very good. But it's expensive for just playing around.
Modeling is the most important part of 3d. All these booleans, subdivides, and so on are very good in Houdini. I once did some simple things at the same time in a blender and Houdini. The polygonal grid in houdini after all Booleans and subdivide is better and more correct than in blender, where it sometimes broke strangely. (But why does the subdivide work so slowly?! 50-100 times slower than in a blender ). Plus interesting functions for working with curves that are not in the blender. Even the whole idea is based on attributes - beginners learn this through modeling. Therefore, uncomfortable modeling in Houdini repels newcomers. Only the olds argue that modeling is not necessary. And it turns out that Houdini was created by the Olds for the Olds. This is a 100% guarantee of the extinction of the product. I have sold many products and worked in different companies and have seen many partner companies. Everywhere in a successful business, the same scheme is the need for growth and attracting new buyers / users of the product. But I see that the voices of the olds require Houdini to encapsulate in a narrow niche, pushing away newcomers. As a seller, I will say that this is the way of vegetating. The whole new generation knows the blender, but does not know Houdini. Why? People, if there are alternatives, always choose convenience. The Olds will leave and a new generation is coming to replace them. And? But Houdini is filled with amazing algorithms and the work of many brilliant people. Do we want it to gather dust in the corner and people didn't use it? No. Therefore, we are waiting for a new version every time and hope for a new viewport .

Subdivision difference
The Subdivision Lib is the same (OpenSubdiv) but the implementations is different how it gets used.
in blender when you add the subdivision modifier you get a quick responds and when you put it on Level 10 (as example) it is far faster as in houdini. but on edit mode you get the low res mesh and not the subdivided mesh, to get the subdivided mesh you have to apply it. when you do that it will take some time in blender and the speed difference is far smaller or even equal when you add both processing's.
(there is also the Multiresolution Modifier but it is similar)
in houdini it is different the subdivided node gives the final mesh and not a display based only mesh as blender does.
there is a option in the OBJ node to display (Geometry Node, Tab: Render, Display as: Subdivision) the mesh as subdivided that is roughly as in blender Geometry with a base Subdivision modifier.

Houdini vs other DCC
Sidefx main customers don't use houdini for modelling for the most parts. where houdini shines is in parametric solutions where some part is modelling but less traditionally type that is sculpting or box modelling. in the last years it has got better to model in houdini but it is still not on pair with other Dcc tools. for the FX department there is today only houdini relevant or game level development houdini gets more and more used. in the lighting department solaris is one of the main solutions.
houdini is a special dcc tool that has it's success in the parametric way of working and not in the classic way.

Note:
i learn blender before the 2000's where it was below 2mb and i have learn Maya and later i learned houdini every tool shines in some area. when you understand them you know maya isn't that beautiful as the name suggest.

lewis_T
Maybe you never worked in a studio, and weren't taught to simply version up your
scene file as you do modeling stages that may not end up how you'd like?
L

Cool, where that option at?