Help, Tips and Bug Thread.............DOA.

[Ace_Of_Hades]

Hi SideFX, Best Software Company on the planet along with Allegorithmic!!

To help you along and other users, I've created this bug and tips thread, hope you don't mind, in fact I know you don't because you guys thrive off customer liason because SideFX listens to it's customers and Delivers more than any other company I know in terms of 3D software!!

For your information I have a 2 year Indie license from your website, have used Indie since it started and run a 3rd Party Plugin Octane Render.

I thought it might be best to be transparent with bugs at least, and maybe help any others who need advice, hence starting this thread instead of posting bug squashes straight to SideFX HQ.

[Ace_Of_Hades]

Ok, A couple of bugs from the Game Dev Toolset latest 1.72 build to send to Paul and Luiz.

GoZ Beta kinda works with latest ZBrush2018.1 but with a slight quirk at my end.

Sending Geo to Zbrush works fine, resending back to Houdini works but I get a crash app window coming up 'hython.exe'. The geometry does come back in fine but the hython crash always comes up everytime.

Feedback, I like the fact any new ammend creates a 'new' GoZ import node so you can actually store incremental versions of any changes.

Marmoset Toolbag 3 ROP node, I cannot get it to work at all with a Steam Version of Marmoset Toolbag 3. Pressing render in Houdini you get a python request window comes up from Steam asking to allow 3rd party program to initialise Marmoset but then it starts up and closes down straight away. My Marmoset .exe path is modified to match the steam path correctly and does start up but then boom it goes.

[Ace_Of_Hades]

For any Octane Render users. Never put your octane plugin folder files into the home folder it will cause issues when versions change and create complications.

Create a specific Octane folder on your HD, have the plugin files in it's version folder and store all your downloaded plugin files in sperate ones so you can switch at any time.

Find the houdini.env in your Houdini home folder, for windows 7 is:

C:\Users\YourName\Documents\houdini17

and type this into your houdini.env file which can be opened and modified using notepad.

HOUDINI_PATH = C:/Octane/Octane_4.00.0.15_Houdini_17.0.352_Win64;&
PATH = C:/Octane/Octane_4.00.0.15_Houdini_17.0.352_Win64/bin;$PATH

Just change the location paths to match your location on your own HD, you can obviously see from the path above, I have mine at C:/Octane and then change the .env file to match each plugin version when Juanjo releases it from OTOY.

Cheers

[Ace_Of_Hades]

A tip for newbies. The boolean SOP is awesome. To keep your network free from clutter what I do is store all my boolean shapes in a subnet.

So for all the cutters I place those in a Subnet (Subtract), I then place all the Union shapes in a Subnet (Union). Mainly you do those functions with booleans so it keeps the network neat and tidy. The subnet contains all the shape creations , edits and transforms and poly modelling free from the main Geo Network nodes. Feed your subnets into a boolean sop and pass down the network chain for Subtract and then Union, so you'd only have 5 nodes: mesh object/subnet/subnet/boolean/boolean nodes.

[Ben (SideFX)]

Awesome, thanks for the feedback and tips! I've relayed your feedback to devs at SideFX.

[Ace_Of_Hades]

I've noticed a new Game Dev Toolset update will check for GoZ resolve on bug error!!

[Ace_Of_Hades]

Hython.exe crash window still comes up in latest 1.79 build, not production build.

[Ace_Of_Hades]

Just seen recent Vellum demonstration, Marvelous Designer watch out in the future!!! LOL.

I commend the recent addition for a new 2 year option at the 26% discount level on Steam, great stuff!!!.

[Ace_Of_Hades]

I presume Steam client cannot be in offline mode to run Houdiini Indie? I have standalone version and use the License Administrator, and it is great I can be offline or online to use Houdini.

[Ben (SideFX)]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Zipper:

I presume Steam client cannot be in offline mode to run Houdiini Indie? I have standalone version and use the License Administrator, and it is great I can be offline or online to use Houdini.

Actually, you CAN use Houdini Indie on Steam in offline mode! That was important because we want to make sure that an internet connection is not required to use Houdini Indie on Steam. Of course you still need to be online to download and install Houdini Indie, but it should run fine in offline mode after it's installed.

[Ace_Of_Hades]

Great stuff, a wise move indeed.

What about the normal houdini home folder or .exe locations, normally steam apps run from specific apps folders in steam directory. Just wondering how this might play out if for instance somebody had a license of Redshift or Octane which needs home folder .env modifications to run.

Cheers

[Ace_Of_Hades]

iClone Character Creator 3 avatars imported via .fbx come in I think ok with skinning and weighting. Blendshapes also are available and work on facial morphs.

No IK rig or control rigs naturally come in with import. I'll need to test more. I wonder whether I could strip out the houdini python auto rig control rig and repurpose with the imported bones structure!!

Maybe some slight weighting issues on extreme poses with attatched clothing to character is all I can notice if imported as standard .fbx.

I also import as standard FBX and not Maya compatability, even though one assumes the iClone rig might be best with other import option seeing as it uses a Maya style HumanIK rig.

[Ace_Of_Hades]

Zipper is gone. :D

[Ace_Of_Hades]

Octane 4 released last week. Works a treat inside Houdini.

Upgrade for free if you own a license of Octane Render 3.

[Ace_Of_Hades]

If you own Octane, Nurbs curves can be rendered inside of it. My procedural road tool can convert to nurbs curves or polygonal road. Both with auto UV apllied to take the curvature into account and auto scale perfectly with the amazing Houdini auto UV creation.

I can use relative references on the Digital Asset sliders that automatically scale my Octane Render materials to scale imported Substance Designer created textures both on the diffuse and normal maps instantly.

Have fun.

[Ace_Of_Hades]

Houdini is the only software that can actually poly reduce an asset that has a baked .mdd cache file on it and still run the animation even though the toplogy has changed from the original.

Try that in MODO and lightwave, remove just one vertex and the mesh will explode into oblivion if you try to apply an .mdd cache file deformer previously baked on a mesh.

Remember this mantra (sic) everything in Houdini is DATA!!!!!