The calculation times for the break up dynamics are incredibly fast! :) I wonder on which hardware they run them.
And the OpenGL Volumes looked great! :) Maybe something that HyperVoxels could implement.
That geometry-based lighting is really cool.
Yes, I love the Voronoi-based fracturing for dynamics. I would love to see something like that in CORE.
"The Geometry Lights let you turn any 3D object into a light emitting surface then use a surface shader to control the light emission. The geometry can also be animating or deforming for even cooler results."
Agreed, but did you notice the presentation and delivery of the product ? that's the difference .
And I don't mean "but that dosn't matter because LW has more features ect ect ...its the way in all , it's handled .
the smashing of the objects looks like they took a look over at cebas plugins which were used on 2012 film...using Volume breaker.
Agreed, but did you notice the presentation and delivery of the product ? that's the difference.
Quite impressive, indeed. Keep in mind we're talking about a $8000 piece of software though, for a single seat (not to mention upgrade costs and network license). I seriously doubt NT would ever implement this level of features in future releases of LightWave.
that dynamic fracturing is killer.
Regarding the smashing of objects, it´s not that they looked at any Max plugin, it´s that the underlaying technology that all of these shatter tools are using (in Maya, Softimage, Max and Houdini) is the same. The procedural nature of Houdini makes it specially effective as the process involved between shattering one geometry and another is just reconnecting one node, otherwise it´s pretty similar to what Rayfire does for Max.
As I explained above, we were already using a python-driven tool inside Houdini which did this, but now I´ve been told it works faster, and it´s more flexible. Also, it´s native, not a plugin, which is always needed for effects because you will want it to interact with other tools as seamlessly as possible.
Moreover, let me point that it´s not just a "modelling" tool. You can use rigid body dynamics over a NON pre-shattered geometry and it will shatter it dynamically around the impact point when the collision happens.
I´ve also been asking about the geometry lights, and now I understand why it is interesting. It´s not the equivalent to our "luminosity". It makes the geometry act as an actual light. It generates direct lighting, so no GI is needed for it to work, but it still checks the shader assigned to the surface so that the light has the proper color/tint and intensity. Its sampling is also way more effective compared to the traditional "emission" methods.
So this feature is also nice. It´s similar to our DP Custom light, but with faster sampling for dense geometry.
Overall, I still think multi-threading for most tools is a less "flashy" feature, but probably the most interesting of them as it affects the whole workflow.
No, you could not. Lightwave has no geometry-based lighting, unless you use Denis Pontonnier's third party light.
Isn't using luminous polygons with radiosity in Lightwave a geometry based lighting?
That is not the same. a geometry light like the one in Houdini11 or the one of Denis is actualy a light source that fires light rays into the scene. basically without any form of radiosity. think of it loke an area light only that it takes the shape of an object as it's source and the shading on the geometry tells the light how bright and in what colour it should light the scene.
so The Geometry light in Houdini 11 is really just like the one from Denis.
houdini users have been asking a lot about the performance and OGL improvements to be the main targets on H11 . and now they have those .
that's what i liked most from side-effects folks in this version's sneak-peek , because ' shiny ' htmls and flashes aren't of the same importance to users .
good job there and a lot to learn too .
Ah, I see, that is a big difference. I've found Luminous polys quite limiting and quite noisy in a lot of instances so that does sound much better.
Agreed, but did you notice the presentation and delivery of the product ?
This is because of how GI in LW works, fired rays have to 'find' luminous surfaces by chance, they are not 'directed' to them like direct lights, so too few rays and you get noise and/or not very luminous effect. I think this is right.
The Apprentice HD version is great for learning Houdini, whether your a pro or hobbyist, and you can also use it for non-commercial productions.
Greenlaw, I´m qpretty sure they will have the upgrade path for Apprentice HD version 11, considering they had one for version 10 (which I took advantage of), and they already announced Apprentice users will be able to play with the beta for 11 around mid-July.
Just found some time to learn some Houdini apprentice. Should help out some day with my own personal stuff. Always looked like a cool app but looks like it takes quite a bit of discipline to use effectively. I'll soon see.
Thanks for the info! I don't actually get to use Houdini as much as I'd like but I'm still looking forward to the update.