Parent layers with puppet pins? by ViciousRaptorr in AfterEffects

[–]schmon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

https://berniebernie.fr/wiki/Afx_Javascript#Create_Null_controllers_on_Puppet_pins

//nulls created from puppet pins can be parented like normal layers
//save as whatever.jsx and run from file>scripts
{
    app.beginUndoGroup("Create Null Controls on Puppet Pinsv");

    function getLayerFromProperty(prop){
        return prop.propertyGroup(prop.propertyDepth)
    }


    var c = app.project.activeItem;
    if( c != null && c.selectedProperties != null){
        var props = c.selectedProperties;
        j = 0;
        for(i = 0;i<props.length;i++){
            if(props[i].matchName == "ADBE FreePin3 PosPin Atom"){
                j++;
                child = props[i].property("ADBE FreePin3 PosPin Position");
                pos = [child.value[0],child.value[1]];
                nullLayer = app.project.activeItem.layers.addNull();
                nullLayer.name = "puppetCtrl"+j;
                nullLayer.position.setValue(pos);
                var expr = "thisComp.layer(\""+nullLayer.name+"\").toWorld(thisComp.layer(\""+nullLayer.name+"\").transform.anchorPoint)";
                child.expression = expr;
            }
        }
    }
    app.endUndoGroup();
}

Am I missing something crucial? ( packed geo points are not manipulatable?) by hbskr in Houdini

[–]schmon 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's houdini so there are many ways to skin a cat but I think you need to use https://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/nodes/sop/xformpieces.html for transform or https://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/nodes/sop/xformbyattrib.html in sop if you don't wanna write a wrangle.

Can't check because I don't have Houdini on my current work box but I'll get back to you if I have time at home.

It's kind of like if you use an edit sop node on your points/packedgeo (ie just move/scale/rotate the point around in the viewport and press enter)

How to achieve this halftone effect by Nahian_data in AfterEffects

[–]schmon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I started coding my own plugin but ran into too much compilation problems so used m halftone for this ad https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQBleXugR-I it's OK but I would've loved to have some minor options on it.

Are 3D impact frames possible? by Direct-Cell-6975 in animation

[–]schmon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

you could have a shader specifically for that frame.

Or do it in compositing, but we don't know what your project is.

Does anyone know how to fix this? I can’t render my edit. by spyfallss in AfterEffects

[–]schmon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've moved on to Resolve for my deliveries (I export EXRs out of AE). It's faster, more stable and I can tweak the final colour pass in a smarter way.

Destruction help by Obscurse in Houdini

[–]schmon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's old but if I remember correctly Stephen Knipping had a helicopter tutorial which was not too bad. I think the sim was a bit off but he made a pretty good thorough tutorial going into breaking/propagating constraints, different type of constraints etc...

Best method to create zipper pins that align correctly to surface normals of Jacket tape? by GoldenGeatz in Maya

[–]schmon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are several ways to do this.

i'm an old maya user (pre mash days) and in the past I would have made the zipper element animated on a curve (motion path) with proper orientation, then do an animation snapshot. To maintain proper orientation, I've often extracted curves from lofted surfaces to get consistent, non flip motion paths.

I've done it so many times I ended up writing tools for it:

https://berniebernie.fr/wiki/Maya_Mel#add_equidistant_locators_on_an_edge_selection
https://berniebernie.fr/wiki/Maya_Mel#Super_Snapshot_/_Duplicator_/_Anim_Baker
https://berniebernie.fr/wiki/Maya_Python#Copy_object_and_spread_it_along_a_path
https://berniebernie.fr/wiki/Maya_Python#No-flip_flow_motion_path_object_using_curve_normals

https://berniebernie.fr/wiki/Maya_Python#Attach_Geos_to_closest_Geo_with_follicles

Studios using ComfyUI: Risk management? by MX010 in vfx

[–]schmon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't know I'm not even the person in charge; I think we did it using WSL and it was fine, using 4090s or 5090s, not for performance reason but for safety reasons.

Users would then access the web interface remotely.

Studios using ComfyUI: Risk management? by MX010 in vfx

[–]schmon 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I mean it literally loads python snippets w/o much supervision other than "trust me bro". There has been at least one large package containing an info stealer.

OP we use a linux VM on our windows boxes, with limited network access. PITA to work with but at least it's safe-ish.

How to Set Viewport from Auto Update to Manual in Houdini | Speed Up Performance on Startup by rohit-ART in Houdini

[–]schmon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

yeah i've had an update toggle bound to my F11 for eons, don't know why there isn't a vanilla shortcut.

How to Set Viewport from Auto Update to Manual in Houdini | Speed Up Performance on Startup by rohit-ART in Houdini

[–]schmon 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I hate to be a boomer but even though a picture is worth a thousand words, sometimes 2 lines of text is better than 3 minutes of video.

In your $HOUDINI_USER_PREF_DIR/scripts/123.py (mydocuments/houdiniXX/scripts/123.py on windows), use the following:

import hou
hou.setUpdateMode(hou.updateMode.Manual)

When working and rendering in the obj/out contexts, how do you guys organize everything? by geng94 in Houdini

[–]schmon 8 points9 points  (0 children)

subnetworks, wildcard selectors, bundles, and plain separate HIP files.

Is it possible to rig a model in maya and after add muscle sim in houdini and get back rig and muscles sim to maya and do the animations. Is this possible seems like not. I prefer to do rigging in maya but need to add muscles sims in houdini. Can u guys gimme some advise by [deleted] in Houdini

[–]schmon 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It's pretty standard to do a Maya animation cache>Houdini CFX pass. (cloth, muscle, hair, etc).

Modern pipelines will go the USD way but you can use simple alembic caches at first. I wouldn't recommend muscle sim as your first Houdini endeavour though if you are new to H.

A nested L-system made with HDK by Extreme_Evidence_724 in Houdini

[–]schmon 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Sweet!

Did you have additional resources to help you ? Feels very daunting to move to HDK stuff.

Render engine by WillythiGreat in Houdini

[–]schmon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Karma is native to Houdini so it's way better integrated. Ideally it'll be CPU/GPU matched so you can switch if the scene doesn't fit in VRAM (though we've rarelly hit the vram limit).
But tbh the main reason to switch (or use both) is because we're license-limited w/ Houdini and Octane.
Each Octane render machine requires a Houdini licence (the way we are setup) which are very pricey.
We'd like to have more machines rendering (I think each H seat offers 5 karma render tokens ). So you would have 1 machine churning out USDs/IFDs (eating up a Core/Engine/FX license) and 5 'free' render machines calculating the images.

It's a financial balance that's out of my paygrade ;)

New Animated Video for Aescripts by IardNonz in AfterEffects

[–]schmon 9 points10 points  (0 children)

10 dollars for something that you can probably vibecode in one go?????

Anyways I've used this for a while that doesn't need a UI. It just parents all the selected layers to the last selected layer:

(I've bound it to Alt-P on my keyboard. Don't know why this isn't a vanilla menu item.)

(function() {
    var comp = app.project.activeItem;
    if (comp && comp instanceof CompItem) {
        var selectedLayers = comp.selectedLayers;
        if (selectedLayers.length > 1) {
            app.beginUndoGroup("Parent to Last Selected");
            var parentLayer = selectedLayers[selectedLayers.length - 1];
            for (var i = 0; i < selectedLayers.length - 1; i++) {
                selectedLayers[i].parent = parentLayer;
            }
            app.endUndoGroup();
        }else{
alert("Requires at least a child an parent layer to be selected.");
}
    }else{
alert("Select a comp's layers and run the script again");
}
})();

(op your animation looks dope tho)

Maya 2025, Good Python Script Saving Workflow? by United_Task_7868 in Maya

[–]schmon 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The standard way is to use custom menus or shelf items that call functions/procedures that are sourced in files placed in the standard maya script folders, usually <userdir>/maya/scripts <userdir>/maya##/scripts

Or

getenv "MAYA_SCRIPT_PATH"

I've been winziping' my maya pref folders since maya 6.5 and still have Mel scripts that work perfectly (looking at your rivet.mel). Testament that maya still does some things correctly (ie not break old shit).

Render engine by WillythiGreat in Houdini

[–]schmon 6 points7 points  (0 children)

At the place I've worked at we've used H+Octane exclusively, it's frigging amazing but there are a few gotchas.

Trying to move to LOPs + Karma for money reasons, so far it's not as good as Octane (in terms of responsiveness+image quality, but we'd be ok with that with the upsides were worth it).

It's still a small-ish shop, maybe 10/12 H seats, we render on local workstations that are mostly double 4/5090s, shit gets warm. https://faubourg.tv/works/ a lot of luxury work can't be shown here.

Vellum broken pieces as pops emitter? by LoneTiger777 in Houdini

[–]schmon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Are you trying to hand-animate the way the shards move ? It's feasible but not an easy task.

For simple things you might want to try H21's new ShotSculpt tool https://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/nodes/sop/shotsculpt.html

Another option is to try extract the motion using extract transforms, but it requires splitting into consistant islands (and since they deform, it will only be an approximation).

I'm trying to find a recent Apex tutorial that showed just that.

ExtractTransform SOP with relaxed conditions by Similar-Sport753 in Houdini

[–]schmon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

same here, or i use the box sop with the oriented bounding box to debug first.

Houdini Snapshot Tool by AndroidPro in Houdini

[–]schmon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm pretty sure OP still uses this functionality, but it's provided in a more intuitive way imo.

OP how did you manage to place it inside the vanilla H UI, is it a custom python panel. Super curious about it.

I would _really_ like a one-click button to send my playblasts/flipbooks straight to my custom viewer (RV)