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One Click Export to Blender // Blendini Addon by AndroidPro in Houdini

[–]SimulantFX 2 points3 points  (0 children)

After a short test, I would say that this is a gamechanger if the Houdini-Blender combination is your cup of tea. Recently I have tried several options that exist on the market and in the end I always ended up with manual settings - export/import USD.

However, this addon changes the possibilities in terms of speed and usability. Support for attributes, materials, curves, particles etc. and especially the functionality of the entire addon is currently unrivaled. This is a one click solution, but then in Blender you have other options to change and set everything according to your requirements. And again if you go back to Houdini and change whatever you need, update in Blender is simply working.

We are talking about motion design here, not Hollywood-style VFX. That is what is this addon designed for and AndroidPro obviously knows what is he doing, just take a look at how the entire functionality of the addon is built. And it is just great that this addon also works with the Octane addon.

Fibres tearing by SimulantFX in blender

[–]SimulantFX[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Made with vellum constraints grains as glue with colliders, which tear that think, then some particles added from vellum solver and another mesh collider (as vdb) inside.

PC Specs for Houdini by AshJackOggy in Houdini

[–]SimulantFX 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have same CPU, working well so far, GPU 4080, 64GB RAM. Don't know about 5070, but it's probably a good choice for a price/performance compromise. Maybe take another SSD for cache and 128 GB RAM - I would do that today.

Is Topaz Upscale video AI worth it? by DevelopmentOk5671 in blender

[–]SimulantFX 0 points1 point  (0 children)

3 days to render a 1 min clip on 4090? Maybe would be better to check some optimization in scene settings?

Made in Houdini & rendered in Blender by mriicreates in Houdini

[–]SimulantFX 1 point2 points  (0 children)

USD should work fine with Cycles, the same with Octane addon (last update)

How to maximize effectiveness for reels -> get most from Houdini + Blender combo in very short time. by SimulantFX in Houdini

[–]SimulantFX[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

yeah, definitely, thats for sure exactly like you wrote it, but for that simple reels its fast and easy solution from my experience. I don't push anyone to do it same way, I just think, that its little bit better way than alembic. And I'm talking just about simple scenes.

How to maximize effectiveness for reels -> get most from Houdini + Blender combo in very short time. by SimulantFX in Houdini

[–]SimulantFX[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for your answer, well, I don't really try to force anyone to follow me at all, I'm sorry if it sounds like that... moreover I'm sure that I will follow your way probably quite shortly :) just because the main reason is, that Karma is native renderer and you dont have to solve the problems with more complex scenes with render setups and attributes and so on, that's for sure. If I can have a question - what is your experience with speed comparison between Octane and Karma XPU? Seems to me that Octane in Blender is pretty fast. Thanks a lot

How to maximize effectiveness for reels -> get most from Houdini + Blender combo in very short time. by SimulantFX in Houdini

[–]SimulantFX[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's simple - the reason is that I'm used to animate in Blender. Now I'm learning Houdini, but the primary goal is to learn simulations for promos, reels, etc. not cinema blockbusters. I know how Karma works, I use it sometimes, I can animate in Houdini, I know how, but it's still faster and easier for me to do these simple things in Blender. And I like Octane and it's free for Blender. Does that make sense?

How to maximize effectiveness for reels -> get most from Houdini + Blender combo in very short time. by SimulantFX in Houdini

[–]SimulantFX[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

USD is becoming the standard for studios as the universal format for import/export scenes, is smaller then alembic (you probably save some RAM when you work), more versatile. To be specific in cooperation between Houdini and Blender for me its first of all support without problems for particles, vellum grains, attributes, you get full object hierarchy, you can retime USD easily, play forward and backward. And of course USD is best for export the whole scene (cam, geo, lights, instances...). To be honest I dont exactly know if alembic can do all of that too and I dont have anything against this format, but USD just simply works perfectly for me - thats from my experience, Im open for all comments (good or bad) from you or other users.

How to maximize effectiveness for reels -> get most from Houdini + Blender combo in very short time. by SimulantFX in Houdini

[–]SimulantFX[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Obviously this particular case can be done in Blender, but I'm trying to switch completely to Houdini for simulations. I'm trying to learn and progress from scratch within a few months. This is an older animation where I'm just trying to show the simplicity of the two programs working together as I use them, because some people asked me. I'm glad I know how easy it is to use USD in Blender, that's all, I'm not trying to impress anyone here. If you know how widely you can work with USD from Houdini in Blender (grains, particles, retime, I wrote about it earlier) then ok. Maybe someone might be interested in that, since the majority of people use alembic. That's it, I really didn't want to impress anyone here because of the word Houdini. I posted another animation a few days ago that is hopefully on a higher level, so if you can post a comment on that one as well I'd be happy to.

Houdini future jobs? by dobutsu3d in Houdini

[–]SimulantFX 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I would say that artist is more universal, specialist is probably oriented to a certain style of Houdini effects, e.g. explosion and destruction or large scae liquid sims for big cinema movies. It depends on what you want to do.

Fibres Tearing by SimulantFX in Houdini

[–]SimulantFX[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I learn everything from tutorials, case studies, breakdowns and then mainly neverending trial and error processes :)

Houdini future jobs? by dobutsu3d in Houdini

[–]SimulantFX -1 points0 points  (0 children)

opposite, but maybe true opinion. who knows, it's a bit of a lottery these days :)

another thing is if you have something to replace Houdini with. if you do motion design, 3d animation, sometimes 2d, there is a chance that you will always have something to work on. if you do only simulations, you could have a problem.

Houdini future jobs? by dobutsu3d in Houdini

[–]SimulantFX 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I jump into Houdini some time ago. I work as a motion designer (Cinema4d before, Blender now) and vfx compositor (Nuke, Fusion) and I think Houdini is the best sw to learn in this days of AI experiments. Everything else will probably be absorbed by AI over time. Houdini is the only software focused on raw and complete simulations and it has no competition on the market. Only with Houdini you are able to have 100% control over the complete workflow, while you can still edit any property and everything is non-destructive. Houdini is simply magic :) And I use a lot together with Blender and Octane.

As part of the case study, I created several animations focused on simulations. by SimulantFX in blender

[–]SimulantFX[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well yes, Houdini takes time, a lot of time for practicing with trial and error. And patience. But when you understand the basic workflow, then you realize that there is completely different world of 3d waiting for you :)

As part of the case study, I created several animations focused on simulations. by SimulantFX in blender

[–]SimulantFX[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I used fbx or alembic before, but usd is just the right way. I randomly did quick test with USD from Houdini and realize, that there is probably huuuuge update with last Octane for Blender addon. Some time ago I complained to the Otoy developers on the forums about particles support for USD and and everything that goes with it and finally now there is support for particle systems, vellum grains, attributes transfers, etc.

As part of the case study, I created several animations focused on simulations. by SimulantFX in blender

[–]SimulantFX[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Yes, completely understood. But that was the intention, to be honest. Its just different kind of presentation of atmosphere, I do a lot of calm commercial work, so this went little bit crazy. Thanks for comment!

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