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Rendering with Arnold in Houdini and Solaris using the HtoA plug-in.
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maya xgen ass data not rendering in Houdini

16 REPLIES 16
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Message 1 of 17
tozuka8M3QF
1731 Views, 16 Replies

maya xgen ass data not rendering in Houdini

Hi i'm trying to render xgen generated hair ass data in houdini but unfortunately this throws some errors. I could not find any thing about this in htoa documentation .it looks like needs some external setup besides default setting done on installation time .

Do you guys have any idea on this?

Thanks

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16 REPLIES 16
Message 2 of 17
lee_griggs
in reply to: tozuka8M3QF

What are the errors? What does the log file say?

Lee Griggs
Arnold rendering specialist
AUTODESK
Message 3 of 17
tozuka8M3QF
in reply to: lee_griggs

Error log looks something like this .

ropNodeError_log.txt

houdiniConsole_log.txt

Message 4 of 17
Stephen.Blair
in reply to: tozuka8M3QF

The ASS file has MtoA-specific shaders. So you need to add the location of the MtoA shaders (like MayaChecker) to the plugin search path.

And XGen requires Maya libraries, so you need to add some Maya folders to PATH.

For example:

https://arnoldsupport.com/2018/02/02/maxtoa-rendering-xgen-in-3ds-max/



// Stephen Blair
// Arnold Renderer Support
Message 5 of 17
tozuka8M3QF
in reply to: Stephen.Blair

Actually i tried this one . i added them to my system environment variable path but unfortunately did work for me.7100-systemv.png

Message 6 of 17
Stephen.Blair
in reply to: tozuka8M3QF

You also have to add the MtoA procedurals folder to the Procedural Search Path.


And then get an Arnold log that shows what happens when the ass file is loaded.



// Stephen Blair
// Arnold Renderer Support
Message 7 of 17
tozuka8M3QF
in reply to: Stephen.Blair

yes i tried that one too , but still not working

7113-system.png

Message 8 of 17
Anonymous
in reply to: tozuka8M3QF

is it possible to maya xgen fur to houdini

Message 9 of 17
awu2500
in reply to: tozuka8M3QF

you can render xgen in houdini with arnold, only if you use all arnold node for xgen shader in maya. I have done a little test, set all the env path, export xgen to ass in maya , load in houdini, it can render perfectly with htoa in out part, but I can't render out anthing in solaris, I can't figure out why, is it not support yet?

Message 10 of 17
mark13Stefan
in reply to: awu2500

Hey, I got it working by exporting xGen as USD file in Maya and in Solaris creating an ArnoldUsd Prim (via Inline USD, see below) that reads that usd file.

 

def ArnoldUsd "xGen"
{
    string arnold:filename = "C:/some_xgen_file.usd"
    uint arnold:id = 0
}

 

Message 11 of 17
awu2500
in reply to: mark13Stefan

how could you export xgen as a usd file? I tried to export xgen as a usd file with arnold or maya usd plugin, I got a very small usd file, and it can not render out anything at soloris.

Message 12 of 17
mark13Stefan
in reply to: awu2500

the usd export does not expand the procedural, even with the expand procedural checkbox enabled. I think this just applies for ass export. Arnold still needs to create the curves at rendertime. In the exported usd a primitive of type "ArnoldProceduralCustom" is defined with all attributes you would have in an unexpanded ass file. In Houdini you need to have all environment variables setup so arnold can find the procedurals and plugins from Maya.
Then create a ArnoldUsd Primitive, that points to the usdfile with the xGen.
Message 13 of 17
awu2500
in reply to: mark13Stefan

thanks for the reply, I just did what you said,I think all the environment variables is setup, but I still got the " node  xgen_procedural  is not installed" error,finally I copy all the xgen dll files from mtoa to htoa, I can render xgen usd at Solaris,but saddly the hair lost all the shader, everything is purple color.please help me out.

Capture.PNG

Message 14 of 17
mark13Stefan
in reply to: awu2500

You can assign a shader in Solaris and it should work. I had the same issue.

Also interesting:
If you want to change the mode to ribbon/thick/oriented you can use a "Edit Properties" LOP and add a parameter called "primvars:arnold:mode".
All properties, that have the primvar-prefix get piped through as overrides I guess.
[cid:6cd945a6-eec8-4d54-a9c7-ce6eaedef10f]
Message 15 of 17
Stephen.Blair
in reply to: awu2500


@awu2500 wrote:

thanks for the reply, I just did what you said,I think all the environment variables is setup, but I still got the " node  xgen_procedural  is not installed" error,finally I copy all the xgen dll files from mtoa to htoa, I can render xgen usd at Solaris,but saddly the hair lost all the shader, everything is purple color.please help me out.

Capture.PNG


Instead of copying the dll files, set ARNOLD_PLUGIN_PATH before you start Houdini
Set it to point to the MtoA procedurals folder.

Setting the search paths in the render settings should work, but they don't and that's a bug for sure.




// Stephen Blair
// Arnold Renderer Support
Message 16 of 17
awu2500
in reply to: mark13Stefan

right, I reassign the shader,it did work, but if the hair have more than one shader, I do not know how to deal with it.
and in the "Edit Properties" LOP ,you can find all the properties of arnold under the schemas,we can also use a Primitive LOP and Edit Properties LOP to load xgen ass file or arnoldUsd file instead of inline usd,that's what we do for xgen for now. it's just sometime the xgen ass file could be very large,hope it can render xgen usd perfectly at solaris someday
Message 17 of 17
awu2500
in reply to: Stephen.Blair

"ARNOLD_PLUGIN_PATH" environment variable did do the job,hope they can fix the shader issue

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