Houdini Knowledgebase
Render Houdini Solaris on GridMarkets
SideFX Houdini's Solaris toolset is designed to revolutionize the way artists work with large data sets in visual effects and animation pipelines. Solaris is integrated into Houdini's existing node-based workflow, providing a flexible and powerful environment for layout, look development, lighting, and rendering.
Solaris introduces a new context called LOPs (Light Operators), which allows artists to work with large scenes containing vast amounts of data efficiently. It leverages Houdini's proceduralism to manage complexity and enables artists to create and manipulate scene elements non-destructively. This means that changes made at any stage of the production process can be easily adjusted or reverted without losing work.
One of the key features of Solaris is the USD (Universal Scene Description) integration, which enables interoperability with other software packages and pipelines. Artists can import and export USD assets, allowing for seamless collaboration between different departments and studios.
Within Solaris, artists have access to a range of powerful tools for layout and look development. The Layout and LayoutFX tools enable artists to arrange scene elements in 3D space efficiently, while the MaterialX integration allows for sophisticated look development workflows. Solaris also includes powerful lighting tools, such as the Light Mixer and Light Path Expressions, which give artists precise control over the look and feel of their scenes.
Rendering in Solaris is powered by Houdini's powerful rendering engine, Karma. Karma is designed to handle complex scenes efficiently, with support for features such as ray tracing, global illumination, and deep compositing. It is fully integrated into the Solaris workflow, allowing artists to render their scenes directly within the Houdini environment.
Overall, Solaris represents a significant step forward for Houdini users, providing a modern and efficient workflow for working with large-scale scenes in visual effects and animation pipelines. With its powerful tools for layout, look development, lighting, and rendering, Solaris empowers artists to bring their creative visions to life more efficiently and effectively than ever before.
To learn more about GridMarkets' Houdini rendering and simulation offering, see here.
HOUDINI - Correcting for missing project ("Upload Files" switch)
If your job failed and submission in Envoy shows "Project directory missing" after hovering the cursor over the job status - it means you have submitted the job with "Upload Files" feature disabled in the plugin. In order to fix this please make sure you have "Upload Files" option enabled. Please consult the screenshots below for a visual representation.
01 - Checking the status in Envoy [version 4.x.x or newer]:
02 - Enabling the "Upload Files" feature in the plugin:
HOUDINI + REDSHIFT - changing log verbosity
How to change Redshift log verbosity in Houdini
Set "Redshift_setLogLevel" command in the Pre-Render Script section of the Redshift ROP with the desired flag (please consult the table below for meaning of the different flags):
Redshift_setLogLevel -L 5
The number at the end will determine what log level to output, where:
0 - Off
1 - Error 2 - Warning
3 - Info
4 - Detailed
5 - Debug
HOUDINI - Defining custom environment variables
n case you are using custom variables as in the ones not defined in Houdini by default (like $JOB or $HOME for example) you must define them in our GridMarkets ROP. Please also note that the environment variables that are defined in Windows or Mac OS by default won't work either as we do use Linux on the nodes - so those would have to be defined in our ROP as well.
In case the given variable is already defined in the scene or houdini.env the "Env Value" field should automatically fill up after editing "Env Name" field and pressing Tab.
In order to define the variables go to the GridMarkets ROP > Environment > use "+" to add a variable. Please note to use only forward slashes: "/". Consult the image below for an example:
