DavidKahlVFX

Work, work and some work in between

I just wanted to drop some words because some time passed without some significant updates.

Two weeks ago my pregnant wife catched a flu and had to go into the hospital. (They really don't kid around at that point) and since my little one was also sick I had to step in as a house husband, calling in sick at the workplace to entertain this little monster.

All in all a taxing but nice week. Not often that we have that much time together.

2019-02-25 15:18:57 +0000 UTC View Post

Quicktip #12 Old Foreach Subnets

I was recently asked how to turn the old foreach subnetwork, that I still used in the floating island series #7  - into the "new" open foreach blocks.

The foreach subnetwork does not exist in H17 anymore but especially if you are a beginner and watch an otherwise good tutorial (They are used in the Lake Side Series aswell) these might throw you of.

So here is an example on a conversion from subnet to open.

In this scenario I used scattered points to create 2 additional ...

Additional Modelling | Railsystem part 6

In this clip we add some additional detail to our original shape

Quicktip #11 Recreate Pscale by Density

I looked into this because a friend wanted to know how this would work using code. If you can't see the animation of the gif - the size of the spheres changes according to the point density.

You can get this effect by default from the scatter node on the Output Attributes Tab

The node has a formula using the density attribute to calculate an appropiate pscale value.

You can find the...

Python stuff, Page stuff, Redshift stuff - mainly stuff

Hey folks,

I am getting the hang of python and while I already edited the first python video I already build a 2nd tool since it felt to belong together.

Both python tools are going to be included into the tool asset. The first run is already implemented. 

So the first tool is a randomized import of all your files while also creating the nodetree to create a simple copy to points setup. You only need to press one button. The basics of this would be very useful for a gre...

Isolate Segments | Railsystem part 5

In this clip we isolate a segment of the rail, connect the two existing formula copies and prepare the final step for the rail shape.

As an update for you guys - Part 6 is also ready, 7 and 8 already edited.

I improved my process a bit by doing each step in batches. Hopefully I can keep them coming in an acceptable speed. :)

Cheers

Dave

Python File Importer

When I started with learning some Houdini python this was the first thing I wanted to do. Bring in whatever I have in a folder and use it a useful way in a generated nodetree. 

I build a setup to allow just that and going to do 1-2 videos about it. As always I am going to share the file with you when that is done. Is there any interest to put that into an asset? Maybe an addon for the DK Tool asset.

What I did here is obviously only a simple example but it involves the key ne...

Redshift for Houdini Beginner Series?

Since I always want to keep a steady flow of free content going while working on projects and continue to learn myself I looked at some ideas that interests me for future videos on youtube.

One of those ideas is Redshift for Houdini - for beginners and later growing into more advanced stuff.

Lately I've put some training in myself so that I can create some more polished images. When starting with that it felt like there is not that much variety out there to give beginners a hand.<...

Polyshifter 1.0

I am going to pack alot more into this asset in the future but since I decided to do one independend asset in the rail course, the polyshifter asset can go to out to you guys where I want to publish all assets in the future.

Currently I have alot of topics that interests me, alot of content that I am already developing. 

Even though I want to explore all areas of houdini - procedural modelling is a really interesting part for me. 

And thats what the idea of the pol...

Replace a primitive with a point - Quicktip #2

The second patreon quicktip that gets turned into a video. 

How to replace a primitive with a point at its center. A simple task  but an important one. 

I guess most will know at least one of these but I give you 5 ways on solving this task in Houdini.

 Towards the end I briefly talk about the polyshifter asset. It is coming to tier 2 but still has alot of work ahead of it. But since I am doing the Rail series without it you guys get the current version t...

Mimic Setup

You guys wanted a Mimic setup and I made one :) 

Important to know is that this is fairly basic and there is much to improve. But it is a good place to start.

You have a toggle to activate the foot creation instead of the spear you see in the title image. The 2 foots you see in the image below were the 2 iterations I made to create them. You can draw the shape of the foot tentacles with a ramp on the control node. Thanks to a refine node the limbs are a tad lighter on the pol...

Influence the Scope of Chapter 1

Hey lovely people of my Auditorium ;-)

I wanted to ask you guys about something while giving you a bit more information what is to come. Just to refresh your memory here is the introduction video
https://youtu.be/rkNhtrDTTy4

In the "timelapse" video where I change the height of the rail you can see what chapter 1 will create so far. I am about to do a batch of recording for a big chunk of...

Polyshifter comes to the Gang

Hey folks,

since I changed my approach to the Rail Course there is no reason not to let people who are interested play with it. 

My original plan was to create 2 assets during the course - the railsystem itself AND the polyshifter as a tool for manipulating geometry.

But since I don't know yet what will happen with the rail chapter 1 decided to cut the relation between the course and the poly tool. Just to have a bit more freedom.

I am currently editing a video ab...

Railsystem Status

The Railsystem is growing - slowly but surely I get back to a routine for screen capture, editing and voice recording.

Part 5 is already in the editing phase while I hope to do a batch of screen recording in a few days. 

As I mentioned while having this in developement the clips are directly open to the Auditorium tier but I wanted to give access to long time patreons who are not on that tier or not anymore. 

So just to let you guys know if you could get a sneak pe...

Rail Preparation | Railsystem part 4

The next part of the series. We encounter the first pieces of vex coding and meet an old friend with the superformula. 

We set the level of the rail and create its base shape.

Quicktip #10 Paint a Group with SOP/VEX/Python

Hey folks,

just a little quicktip to get into the mess that is python. Until now I made my way around learning python but there are definetly some good uses for houdini. 

This is probably not one of them but it gives you a first idea on how python works in comparison to vex. 

Fact is that python can be a great addition to the houdini skillset so why the heck not. But let's start slow with a simple look at the differences. If you guys are interested I keep examples ...

Crowd and Particle Synergy

Since I try to get some training in myself I started to mess with crowds a while ago. I also started experimenting with particles to find interesting VEX use-cases.

Here is what came out of that so far. I am not sure where this is going but I noticed that almost everything I did so far is visualized in modelling examples. 

While that is indeed a good way to explain VEX it is also interesting to see what other options there are.

Edit:

So no gifs on mobile...

...

Asset Control | Railsystem part 3

Hey folks,

in this clip we create additional control to choose different paths from outside of the asset.

I have part 4 and 5 already recorded and going to voice and edit them soon.

Let me know what you think - and again - if you have wishes or ideas for the patreon credits - let me know. 

The Pagelink follows soon.

Cheers 

Dave

Rail Course and Asset strategy

After being sick for quite a while I came back to the railsystem. Taking back a step from a project is sometimes a very good thing.

In this case I decided to change my approach in regard to the assets I am using. In my initial creation process I started creating the polyshifter for tasks that I would need more than once.

But at the same time I want to keep developing that asset unrelated to the railsystem which will make it a hassle to keep it organized.

So just in the right...

Polyshifter & Kitbashing

Hey folks,

I was experimenting a little bit more with the idea of a dynamic kitbash asset. I came to the conclusion that what I need to do is split into 3 categories.

- tools to make often used stuff more accessible

- generate specific elements with options to tweak

- something to turn simple shapes into complex shapes (e.g. curve to cable)

I started to roughly lay out a framework but fairly quickly noticed that this would overload the ui which would make it diff...

Array Controlled Animation - Public

Control an animation with array data using VEX in Houdini.

Hey folks, today I show you an interesting approach to use VEX to prepare a very specific animation. This is a simple example of that approach but can be used in many situations.

In this video I cover several topics. How to sort points in VEX, handling array data and a bit of vector math.

I started this with the idea of visualizing standard programming algorithm like the bubble sort I use in this video -...

Array controlled animation with HIP file

Control an animation with array data using VEX in Houdini.

Hey folks, today I show you an interesting approach to use VEX to prepare a very specific animation. This is a simple example of that approach but can be used in many situations.

In this video I cover several topics. How to sort points in VEX, handling array data and a bit of vector math.

I started this with the idea of visualizing standard programming algorithm like the bubble sort I use in this video - and ended up...

Kitbash Asset

Since I have a bit of time in between where I can't record but want to do something productive I started to apply an idea I had a while ago.

I assume you all stumpled about a kitbash pack at some point. A library of finished modelled elements that allow for some quick blocking of shots or even detailling of models.

There are alot of free and paid libraries out there with different qualities. But most of them have something in common. They are static. 

What if you could ...

You get a HIP file, you get a HIP file - everyone gets a HIP file!

Since quite alot of you voted and made it clear that you want the files I prepared these from videos of the past.

I will continue to share the HIP files from now on going forward. 

Have fun! :)

Cheers

Dave

Merry Christmas to you all!

I wish all of you happy holidays and hopefully a wonderful time with your families.

Looking forward to enter 2019 to bring our Houdini game to the next level!

Cheers
Dave

Do you want to get HIP files?

Hey folks,

I never thought about that since nobody really asked for it - but would you guys like to get access to the hip files of the regular videos?

With that I mean videos like polar coordinates, superformula or the coming array controlled animation.

If so I provide those in a convienient way for you - maybe again over a library on my page.

Version 0.1 of the Polyshifter

Since I was occupied the flow of videos was slowing down a bit and since the next video will be about some array goodness I decided to share the first prototype of the polyshifter.

There are still alot of functions that will find their place in this asset  and I will also create a quick introduction video as you decided in an earlier poll.

But it's time to at least put it out there for those of you supporting me on the Dev Team. I give you a quick summary of the available functions ...

The Railsystem part 2 - Asset Foundation

In this clip we set the foundation of the railsystem asset.

We take what we did in the first clip and combine it into an HDA.

Again let me know what you think about speed, voice, tempo and the quality in general.

Thanks again to all of you that are active patrons on this tier. 

This already proved to be an interesting concept to share content. I hope to speed up the video creation process. But there is alot going on that makes it difficult at times.

But ...

2nd Rail Clip and next Channel video

I was a little bit occupied these last couple of days. 

As it looks we are going to move into another home in march. I am still going to concentrate on creating content but this stuff tends to mess up plans. xD

I just hit render on the 2nd clip of the rail system and you should get access to it tomorrow

Part 3 is also already recorded but needs the voice over. I am aiming to record th...

Quicktip#9 SOP/VOP vs VEX comparison

Hey folks,

I came up with another variant of content to have something for the people while working on the course. 

The idea is to take a general task, could be simple or a bit more complex. Something that needs at least a couple of nodes. Then I solve them leaning into SOP land as much as possible and compare it to the VEX approach right after. That way people can pick the best from both world according to their preferences. It also makes it easier to understand what the vex code d...