Links updated

old links deleted - a couple of new links added...scroll down. check em out !

Halftone SOP

Time to dip my toes back in the water of  Houdini.here i just look at an image in cops with pic or picni and colour my template points accordingly, then copy a group of 4 discs to each point.

template points

I then use a switch with a stamp expression to swap between the circular disk configurations
that give the impression of more or less black ink. Only 5 variations here.

5 disc groups for the switch SOP

 Render of discs

Happy Feet 2...winding up

...it seems ive just about finished working on Happy Feet2,
my first contract on a fully animated feature.

It's quite surreal. Suddenly after the last few weeks of intense 12 hour days, 7 days a week...there is nothing to do ? Currently im waiting (watching EdCatmull talking about successes and failures in the industry) for what could be my final shot , my final input to the film to be given the final review - so i can publish the particle FX and it can move down the pipe and be lit and rendered, and comped for the final output.

With out sounding pompous, I should thank a few people. Ben Simons and Rangi Sutton for giving me the chance to work on this amazing feature. Dave Brown, Rob East, Christian Hernandez and Sam Hodge for also giving me references to get a foot in this door. Thx guys.

Thanks to Jason Simmons, Goncalo Cabaca and Marc Picco for putting up with me....sometimes I slightly bash my keyboard when things dont go right :)

Definitely a learning experience, and quite a frustrating one. I'm very glad its almost over. All of the imagery I've seen in the system is looking spectacular, so definitely go and see it at the cinemas ! 

teaser trailer:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twYq5QkNPKw

DrD ! featured on SideFx

www.sidefX.com

linux commands repo

linux commands will be collated into one post here
linux commands

fur renders

 

Volume SOPS

checkin out the volume SOPS..

basic volume SOP

allows for scalar or vector or matrix volume

allows you to specifiy a name and value,

sampling and Tapering which i havnt seen before.

from the help:

The grid generated by the Volume SOP has constant value everywhere. It can be further manipulated on a voxel-by-voxel basis using the Volume VOP SOP or the Volume Mix SOP.

When mantra renders volumes it overrides rendering parameters according to the name of the volume. This name can be set in the Volume SOP (or later using the Name SOP). The name is also used for the default bindings to the Volume VOP SOP.

If you connect geometry to the Volume SOP’s input, it will create a bounding box around the input geometry.

Volume Analysis

from the help :

Computes analytic properties of volumes....

such as the gradient and curvature. This is done in the local space of the volume. These are a function of more than one voxel so are more difficult to compute inside a Volume VOP.

Where possible, these operations occur in place and preserve the name. If new volumes have to be created, it is attempted to ensure they gain the .x, .y, .z style suffixes in their name attribute.

an Attribute from Volume SOP transfers the curvature attribute to the geometry

Cd is simply specified in the SOP under attribute name.

Volume Blur

The Volume Blur operation blurs the voxels of a volume.

Volume Break

Cuts polygonal objects using a signed distance field volume.

Volume Compress

Volumes can be very big. The Volume Compress SOP makes it easy to make a size/quality trade off for volumetric data.

Volume Feather

The Volume Feather operation smooths the edges of the scalar data in volume primitives. This is done either in an inwards or outwards direction. It sets the maximum rate of change in the volume, clamps either increasing or decreasing transitions, and can be thought of as a one-sided blur.