Wrestling With Cloth
One would think that cloth would be easy for me. It certainly should be because setting it up in Houdini and getting a simulation to run is an extremely fast process. However when it comes to rendering out the result, I’ve run into all sorts of “learning experiences” (i.e. problems). I’ve run into some shader issues on occasion, but I think I have it all worked out now. The funny thing is that I enjoy issues like this even though they make me feel slow. Luckily, in the midst of all this I was playing with tons of settings and finding all manner of things that I could do with the cloth. When I figure all this stuff out a tutorial on the subject is certainly due. Still though, the simulations I’ve done (with little effort) look pretty good. You can see two of the early tests below.
May 2nd, 2008 at 8:05 pm
wow ^^ im new to blender …just wondering HOW DO YOU DO THAT! that is completely amazing! i just can’t get my mind around how to do that
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:25 pm
The good news is that this can be done in Blender with soft bodies with a lot of time waiting for baking. But in this case I used the free version of Houdini which makes all dynamics simulations crazy easy!
May 3rd, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Will you focus only on houdini from now on?
It would be a shame, I’ve enjoyed your blender tutorials a lot!
May 3rd, 2008 at 7:25 pm
@Marco
Yep, I’ve moved over to Houdini completely. You should check out the free non-commercial version of Houdini - It will blow your mind. I’m glad you like the Blender tutorials though!
May 3rd, 2008 at 9:55 pm
Have you tried Blender’s new Cloth simulator?
May 4th, 2008 at 10:02 am
I haven’t tried the latest cloth in Blender since I wasn’t playing with the SVN versions of Blender. I’m sure it’s cool, but I got to say, Houdini is pretty bad-ass and I’ve only scratched the surface of what’s possible. I can see why studios are so into using it for visual effects.
November 23rd, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Eugene,
a few months ago, I stopped by your site and read that you switched to Houdini. Back then I didn’t know what to make of it and was also surprised. Anyway, that was then.
I just installed the free Apprentice version (9.5.241) on my Linux box and after a few hours of tutorials and help file reading I’m amazed how “natural” it feels to use this software.
I can now say that I understand your move and if the next few days/weeks will be productive, I’ll buy the HD version and switch too.
Thanks for the great blender tuts, (I still mention them once in a while on the blender forum) and I look forward watching your Houdini ones …. but not today
Thanks for the inspiration!
November 23rd, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Hi Ernst,
I’m glad to know it wasn’t just me who thought Houdini is the way to go. I’m glad you’ve found the switch easy! Thanks for mentioning the tutorials on the Blender forums since I want them to be helpful - and they’re of no help if no one knows they’re there. Hopefully, you’ll find my Houdini videos helpful. My personal favorites are the set image plane videos.