DavidKahlVFX

VEX Library goes Discord

As you can see the Vex Library is now usable on the Patreon Discord. 

At this moment  the bot is still running locally but with additional features overall and by demand I am going to set it up on a virtual server for 24/7 service.

With this feature I wanted to give something to everyone - so it is available for everyone on the server - no matter which tier.

I also added a channel for requests. Do you want to add something yourself or want to have a temp...

NFT Membership Plans for the future

As I hinted in the previous post - I am bringing new life to my content creation after I took a deep dive into the NFT space and hopefully learned a lot.

Currently the NFT space is not there yet - especially in the artist space it feels like a very controversial topic - but I believe the voices that argue that the technologie in itself will at some point become mainstream. Maybe not in the way we understand it today. 

As normal as it was to have a website and social media acc...

Next Patreon Content

As you probably noticed I went silent for quite a while. I think I needed some rest from the work involved around recording and wanted to learn a bunch of new things.

Now that I did that I want to shift back some of that focus back to creating content and of course that should begin with you that kept supporting me over that long period.

In these past months I learned quite a few things in different areas. Some of that not even Houdini related - like building a discord bot based o...

Update - NFTs, Sandbox and H19

It is about time to get you guys up to speed. These last few weeks were a hectic mess. But I am starting to sort things out and get back to business.

First - let me remind you guys about the discord server. 

I continue to give quick updates there and it is easier to catch me there for a quick question.

So let me catch you up on the latest stuff. 

So in the past few weeks I did some research about the NFT space. About existing projects, how they work, how a si...

A Mini Course in Progress

I started to create the foundation and concept for a mini course.

The idea is to generate an insectoid mech character, have it procedurally rigged with KineFX and then exported to Unreal Engine.

Over in Unreal I show you how you can either play the character OR have it hunt you down while you run away.

For animation I am going to show 2 ways.

One is done with a plugin from the marketplace which allows procedural animation.

The other way involves creating animatio...

The Railsystem | Final Project File

I wanted to accompany this with the last breakdown to give you a rough explanation for each section but since I need a bit more work on that I decided to just put this finally out there.

The short breakdown will come next week but as i mentioned on discord - i wanted you to finally have access to the project. 

If you have any questions on why or how something works - let me know.

Cheers 

Dave

Webpage as Media Hub

A very basic backbone of a page is back up. 

https://www.davidkahl-vfx.com

There wasn't much to do but it was a very frustrating task - I basically had this already - but since the old Page was lost in a series of unfortunate events I needed from scratch.

It now runs on oxygen templates - so in time I can make it pretty again. 

But much more important is the option to use the page as a meth...

INTERSECT | Vex Functions in Houdini

The intersect function computes the first intersection of a ray with  geometry. 

Another closer look into one of the vex functions that you can use in  Houdini.    This is a very useful one - allowing you to test your  geometry for  collisions, finding distances between objects and gives you access to  the result of that test.

Attached you find the hip file for this function.

It will be available as an early access for all patrons...

Improv Mini Community Challenge

I tried that before - triggering some fun exercise amongst ourselve. 

( I never did the video of the mirror challenge xD - which I should...)

Let's give it another go - this time I made the file already and a short and sweet video is coming - one way or another. 

But It could be a fun way to get some brain work going and also spark some conversation on the discord. :)

I got this question: 

"How can I animate the primitives of my geometry one at a t...

Use Different Materials in Substance Painter | Part 2

Make use of udim tiles in substance painter in a pipeline starting in  Houdini that will finally reach Unreal Engine. 

That allows us to create  different Materials on just one Texture Set using Masking.   

In this part we import the mesh in a new project inside of substance  painter and use the udim tiles rather then material sets for individual  material effects.

New (old) monthly Poll

As I wrote before - I am going to do some clean up and revamping of the patreon page. One part of that is bringing back some purpose of the dev team.

That purpose was for you guys to weigh in on the developement focus. Creating videos and other content is a big part of what I do but in the end I am a developer at heart.

My goal is to have a monthly poll where I give you a set of options what aspect should get more attention. In the end I come to all of them but I want you to have ...

Blog | Patreon Overhaul and Rail File

Hey folks,

I wanted to make one of these posts again before I give some love to the overall details on the Patreon Page.  

There are some minor changes like descriptions, and maybe tier icons ( that I still need to come up with ).  

I need to do a revamping of the tiers. Mainly bringing in new ones while making sure that you guys who are already here and supported me for a while don't have any drawbacks. Going to figure something out.  

I keep researchin...

Houdini to Unreal Pipeline | Sci-Fi Player Chest

There is a reason why this video came to life. 

And that is me fulfilling a kids dream of mine - of becoming a game developer for my very own game. To be realistic - it will probably never leave the stage of being a prototype - but one hell of prototype it is going to be.

The idea for the game in general is to maximize synergy effects with houdini. Get as much as possible out of it. This is going to drive myself to learn more and also generates alot of topics that I can show ...

New Tier - Unreal Projects

I started a test with Rohan and Anthony but I figured - why not get you guys on board. 

I want to create a new 20$ tier BUT I dont want to push anything there that you would get today. For example exclusive videos - they are on the auditorium tier and they should stay there. That means that tier needs something that wasn't there yet.

While pushing into the unreal space - sharing Unreal projects could be what is missing so far. I can show you workflows, share materials, bluepr...

Blog | Preview of the Crate Breakdown

Yesterday I finished recording JUST a breakdown for the crate from houdini to substance to unreal. 

That 1 hour is what comes next on the auditorium tier. 

I have the goal to get better at doing these, so that I can offer you guys something like this in similar size each month. That could be coverage of bigger projects or new smaller sized topics. I am going to make use of polls to find what tickles your interest the most.

This one will be a bit more experimental -...

The unreal prototype

Well.. i managed to destroy the project. Not that difficult if you dont have a clue what you are doing.

But i managed to get the core back together. Apparently a number of you is interested in what was involved to get the crate from houdini to substance and unreal.

I have those sections back up and trying to find a good way to package that in a patreon tutorial. The whole process is probably worth 4-5 hours. YouTube will get a 5-10 minute Video to outline the process.

I ...

Demo of the Sci Fi Crate

Hey folks,

as company to the poll about the next content - here is the current status of that Unreal prototype where I bring the sci fi crate from Houdini to Unreal.

But it is not just a mesh, it is rigged and animated, textured with substance, prepped and sliced for Pivot Painter.

Unreal then combines everything together - allowing the player to first build the crate either with a material dissolve effect or with the pivot painter.

The next steps

Hey folks, 

it is time for one of these again. As some of you noticed I made a deep dive into unreal - mainly to be better prepared to create content that touches unreal.

I went a bit further down the rabbit hole than was needed.  This opens up many opportunities for the future - problem is that I have yet so much stuff to do and to show. I need to prioritize.

And obviously ou guys should have a say in the direction or at least the order of steps. Often I do all of...

Pivot Painter in Houdini for Unreal

DISCLAIMER:

This is a longer version of the video on youtube. After the original 22 minutes it continues to go into the additional examples.

---------------

In this video we take a look at the Pivot Painter Tool. It  stores the pivot and rotational information in the model's textures. But what does that mean and how can we use it?

Once in Unreal the data allows animations on the pieces even if we are only using a static mesh. We don't need a skeletal mesh and stil...

Quick Info

Just a quick update on things.

1st hour of the cyberpunk layout is excited and awaits narration.

Working on a quick look at houdini to unreal pivot painter workflow. It will be a core mechanic in something I am working on right now.

And thats the other topic. I was a bit silent since I dumped a few hours of finally breaking that barrier of getting into unreal and how C++ and Blueprints work together.
I am building a prototype for learning and content purposes.

S...

The Power of Houdini in Unreal

As a preparation for the upcoming series which will be available on the Auditorium tier - I wanted to share a quick and public explanation of the basic concept. 

While the series will take the assets on top to create what you see below...

...this post provides a brief idea on how powerfull the houdini engine can be for the artist working in unreal.

The series will go into a fai...

Project File - Finished Chapter 4

Finally the main coding is done. That last wrangle was a beast. In case your are following along this file makes it possible without writing all of that yourself.

I also added the Control Node connections

The Brain of the Rail | Chapter 4 - Clip 4

In the final video of chapter 4 I tackle one beast of a wrangle. It is the brain of the system that determines what tower is placed where.   

 I explain my approach, the pro and cons of the way I solved the given issues.     

Table of Content:

 00:00​ - ...

Project Files | Chapter 4 - Clip 3

SOP Loop Nodes | Houdini Railsystem | Chapter 4 - Clip 3

To reach all the points we need to choose the right version of the SOP  Loop. 

In this clip I take a closer look on how they work and what we  need in this project. 

In the 4th chapter we build the actual logic of the system. We build a  foundation with VEX to analyze the environment, create and distribute  support for the rail.

Exclusive Video Content Format

After a short abscence of doing actual work I am back preparing a first patreon series and continue editing the rail videos.

That first series will show you the process of taking an unreal asset pack from the marketplace and use Houdini to create a large scale scene  with its key components.

Depending on how interesting you will find this series we can take it to other content packs, utilize more assets for a more detailled scene or continue to the route of introducing AI to ...

Thank you | Rig Update

I wanted to give everyone a big thank you for all the support you have given me. 

I spontaneously decided to reinvest and update my GPU to a RTX 3080 card. 

Moves like that are really only possible through your help. 

Let's see what this puppy can do in unreal, GPU accelerated tasks and machine learning.

Cheers

Dave

Cyberpunk Houdini to Unreal Series

The latest poll on the topic showed a clear picture that you guys - like me - think this could be an interesting project.

Let me show the baseline of this project which will soon start as my first real exclusive patreon series on  the auditorium tier. 

This is a still of the original pack. A very well crafted scene. Everything is placed by hand by the creator of this pack to build a very convincing cyberpunk vibe. 

2020-12-08 21:30:31 +0000 UTC View Post

Project File | Chapter 4 - Clip 2

And here is the file for the latest clip.

Railsystem | Chapter 4 Clip 2

Well, I have a wonderful electronic invention. I want you to see

welcome back to chapter four. In this second clip, we are going to continue setting up the main logic system. 

Last time we made a couple of tests to find out which points can place objects with specific requirements. I'm going to separate the rail into segments that allows me to ignore certain segments like a tunnel, but I can apply some rules.

My case. I want to suggest t...