Cool New Tech: Houdini Apprentice HD

Has anyone here heard of this software? I saw it on AOTS, and I was impressed. Heres the link to their site. Free learning edition on there too.
http://naturalmotion.com/pages/le.htm

I hear this software makes it easier to animate; I hope this is factual.

 

endorphin is a really cool product. I've been fortunate enough to have the chance to play with it a little bit and the dynamics/physics in this thing are incredible. Definitely a helpful hand for CG doubles!

 

Wow. That reel is incredible!!

 

No kidding. That is probably the single most realistic and real-world accurate 3D work I have ever seen.

 

NOOO! Another DVeditor Icon!! Who will end this scourge?




Anyway. I had the full of 1.1, and it was awesome. I transfered animations to MAX and then converted to .bip, made so many cool Yoda and Grievous animations that way.

 

This is an awesome piece of software, I download the LE, and without any training, or tutorials or anything, I was already making some complexe character movements and interactions..

 

It's not only extremely powerful but it's also fast. Doesn't take a renderfarm to compute the physics - runs like a dream.

 

Yeah, This is a great piece of software. Id like to see what you guys can come up with by using it.

 

Saw this at siggie and talked to the guys who did it. Kewl stuff!

/Z

 

I've thought this software was incredible from the first announcement. Didn't realize a PLE had come out, though. Cool stuff.

I'm converting this thread into a "Cool New Tech" thread, so that we can discuss ANY neato hardware or software advances that could benefit fan films, amateur filmmaking, or even things that are exciting for filmmaking in general, whether within our price range or not.

This should cut down on redundant threads, and be a cool place to discuss things like this with everyone who likes keen new stuff. They do this in Amphitheatre a lot, I'd like to give it a try here.

So if you find any demos of new software, announcements of new tech, promotional videos, whatever, post 'em here. I'll be keeping an eye in here and when something new comes up, I'll change the title so everyone can read up.

M. Scott

 

Sorry but i never heard of this program endorphin. Is it a CG software? Are you able to create dogfights in it, of course with enough patience, to lets say put in a fanfilm?

 

If you've never heard of it, click the link provided above in the very first post and read about it.

It is a character animation tool so no, you would not be wanting to create dogfights with it. Unless you meant fights between actual dogs, in which case it might work for you.

M. Scott

 

Only if i could render out what i made in the LE )=

Owell, im gonna make some stuff i did in 5 minutes and capture it with motion capture. This IS my new love.

 

If you want to export your creations, this is a recomendation, "If youre trying to make a video file fo to file>then Export movie>Then tell it where to put the movie than tell it which frames it will show and pres save.
Hope this helps."

That was from the endorphin forums.

 

How does the animations transfer? In what format?And how is it converted to .bip?

~Rory

 

As I understand it, the ONLY thing you can do with the LE is export rendered video.

With the full version, you can save out the animation information as motion capture data format files, and then import that into your program of choice, apply it to a character, and be good to go.

M. Scott

 

Wow, I could use this on my new duel project. If it wasn't so expensive at least. I'll have to check and see if there is an education version, and then talk my professor into getting it.

 

Anyone need a Coruscant animation?

Vue5Infinite rendered that one out. It's essentially designed for creating terrain and ecology thereon, but instead of trees you can have it sprout buildings (import models of your choice, so Coruscant buildings would be possible), arrange them into "growth patterns" (i.e. city blocks) and render it out quite quickly.

Also keen if you plan on doing any non-FF FX work. And not *too* bad at a $300 academic price tag.

 

I love Vue d'Esprit 5. I've used the product line for a while now and even simple forests (bad render but you get the idea) are a snap. I may have to play with the idea of a large-scale city though...it'll just take a while to render.

 

Mike, that reel had me whooping in my chair around the time that Coruscanty-scene came along. Awwwwwwwwesome.

 

Yeah, Vue 5 Infinite is definitely an awesome choice for any 3d project.

And speaking of new cool tech, and Vue 5, e-on software is going to be releasing what's called Vue Fusion. What it basically is, is a software plugin of sorts, that allows you to use, edit, and Render Vue scenes in other major 3rd party applications. Currently, the first fusion plugins to be released will be for Maya, Lightwave, and 3ds Max.

I've checked the plugin out myself, I'm working with a little Maya and some Max, and it's a dream. It allows you to use all of the different plants and terrains, and then render them out easily with AT-ST's, so you can easily create your own Hoth scene.

 

Oooh, I hadn't heard about that yet! (geeks out)

I love the current capabilities for the transfer of camera data between programs but that plug-in will be awesome. Thanks for the heads up!

 

Ha, it is a great program indeed.

But whenever i click or try and change something it says "Endorphin has made an illegal operation and needs to shut down"

I guess I am just a failure!

I will try and fix it, but it IS a good program! Fun to mess with!


Cyr

 

http://www.michaelfrisk.com/pwnage.mov

 

We just used Vue on a project. Good results, but the render times are atrocious. Took almost a week to render 10 seconds at DVD resolution.