3D USD Masterclass: Scene Assembly and Rendering

File Download: bit.ly/annotated_files
This series is a condensed version of a workshop which we taught in London for SideFX Houdini. Scene assembly and rendering are undergoing a major shift due to new advancements in the frameworks that we have access to. Since Universal Scene Description (USD) became open-source in 2016, studios have been hesitant to pick it up due to it being a new technology. However, as it has become stable and well documented, many studios are now making the move towards USD based workflows. Of the toolsets which allow the use of USD, Solaris is one of the most advanced and well put together. In this series, we will be exploring how to use USD through Houdini's Solaris toolset. Additionally, you will learn how to use MaterialX and Karma.
This series is up for free thanks to SideFX, a huge thanks to them for supporting this content.
00:00:00 Intro
00:02:20 Navigation
00:12:09 USD and Solaris
00:17:42 USD Files
00:26:30 Importing to the Stage Network
00:45:46 Scene Assembly in Solaris
00:56:39 A Quick Word
00:56:58 The Component Builder and Variants
01:17:46 Instancing and Layout
01:34:08 Building Material X Shaders
01:49:33 Attribute Import and Primvars
01:56:44 Material Edits
02:03:02 Simulation Imports
02:11:38 Material X Volumes
02:18:36 Light Mixers and Snapshots
02:25:30 Camera and Render Settings and AOVs
02:39:18 USD Layers
02:47:40 Outro

[@karimoh3154]

The person who decided to rename UVs to ST is just crazy :D Thanks for sharing your knowledge! An other great tutorial 🙏

[@vthai29]

Almost all my problems are solved by this video. Thank you teacher!

[@qaisarkhan7740]

One of the best Houdini Teacher, Love his Voice ❤.

[@fastlearner292]

GAWD DAMN, haven't watched the full video but I know is gonna be amazing. I was just starting to want to learn more about USD too and lo and behold this gets uploaded haha. Can't wait to watch it!

[@maximpavlov7415]

Wow! Cool!👍

[@ramirotell]

This is amazing, thanks for sharing!

[@kopfgestaltung2186]

Thanks for this! Looking forward to dive deeper into Solaris now :)

[@karlisstigis]

This is super useful info, thank you!

[@lelkaitis]

Thank you for your efforts! Very useful and clear.

[@user-qr6fg5yw6h]

Great job guys, really!!! Thanks a lot

[@moviesgamer6574]

1st time got here , got to tell best explanation i ever heard

[@oleit3]

Tysm for sharing your workflow, Moeen!! Always learning something new from your Solaris videos, much appreciated

[@Ryu_Hayabusa]

One of the best channels on youtube. Thank you!

[@anthonyvfx]

Is anyone else soooothed by this persons voice? I watch him and feel like everythings gonna be alright. So good at teaching. Very clear.

[@prraneth-skyop1374]

Thanks a lot brother > keep it up 💌

[@hemanthsaji845]

Adding Timestamp for my own future reference. I might update this later. 1:51:55 - primvars (uv,cd,N,P,v)

[@bananaboy1100]

Yes! In a world where documentation on USD / Karma in Houdini is so sparse, thanks for this in - depth look! I'll take all the info I can get.

[@MaxCrow]

This is great and well worth it! This master class really clicked with me, I think I will be returning to it alot as my go to karma tutorial as its full of tips and helpful tricks. I think I can accept Karma (and USD) into my life now that I feel way less confused. Anyway, this is really awesome, a great piece of education, comprehensive and pretty much perfect. Great job , it's greatly appreciated and thank you.

[@AsirisC]

Thank you so much. This is the first time someone explained the essence of USD in a really clear way without too much technical jargon. I now understand it much better and the purpose of USD.

[@philippwelsing9108]

So good, incredibly well explained and useful. Thank you so much! Also love the fader mode of the Light Linker, especially for ArchViz and controlling grouped lights.

[@KarelChytilArt]

Perfect

[@syntaxandRender]

dude this is sooo good 😍 such clear explanation with examples love it❣

[@VISHNU.S_143]

how to use geo node camera inside solaris in houdini?

[@KevRyanCG]

AHA! Thank you, I was having such trouble getting information that made sense on how to get packed primitives that I created in a Sop Create, to instance correctly on my points! You are a life-saver! Though I realise by skimming this video for the information I needed that I actually know nothing about Solaris or USDs, I'll have to come back :D

[@NineBetween]

Awesome, I'm glad that you found it helpful! The funny thing is, I often come back to my own tutorials for reference, and this one is one of those, lol.

[@paoloricaldone6273]

thanks!!

[@calciolari147]

thanks

[@HapZungLam]

I've watch multiple Solaris tutorials. This one is by far better and easier to follow. And with materialx explained all in one~ Is this my birthday?

[@hellaocd]

This video helped me soooooo much, thank you king! I appreciate you

[@VirtualWizards7]

your videos really help me to learn Houdini beginner to intermediate level. please make video on best way to create portfolio.

[@RP89]

Thankyou So Much for Giving Master Class You Explained Very Well I just Want You Keep Creating Tutorials For Us❤ I started My Houdini Journey With your Lectures And Tutorials I am So Glad That You are Creating More Tutorials. By the Way Love From India❤

[@miroslavpivonka5558]

Díky!

[@NineBetween]

Thank you for the support! ❤️

[@1Bag99Rom1]

Very useful! LIke, subscription!)

[@alexeyafanasyev7375]

Thanks a lot for this! Best tutorial on USD I've found so far. Do you think it's possible to render out single variants using their variant name as output file name (such as gumdrop.png, smarties.png etc.)?

[@kubolor1234]

L E G E N D

[@sqworkshop]

How to create and use mtx Volume material in the new Houdini 20? They changed everything a little and now it’s impossible to create outside the container And In hip files of your examples, rendering smoke does not work in XPU mode

[@monocore]

I havent touched solaris yet, but what I can see is that matx is really similar to the arnold standard shader isnt it

[@JohanBallesteros]

This tutorial looks very good, I only have one question, is it a good idea to do this tutorial instead of Karma "a beautiful game", what do you think? :)

[@HapZungLam]

question for USD export component builder section: Assuming we have a very complex asset variant that has multiple materials. The lookdev artist has set it all up in the assign material node. Then now it is ready to export the asset with the component builder. I assume the artist can copy and paste the material library over but what about the material assigns. Does he need to redo all of the material assigns to the component material node? or there has a portable way?

[@carlosrivadulla8903]

First of all, thank you for the excellent presentation. I have one question, sir: Is there any difference between Karma Volume VOP and MtlX Volume VOP?

[@NineBetween]

No problem! As far as I know, the Karma Volume VOP generates a VDF and EDF MTLX shader inside of it (much like in this tutorial). Either one works 👍

[@Mati_Motion]

Cool, My question is what if I get file with LOP import camera, but need to render this in redshift inside houdini, I cant create DOF, if its a way to convert LOP import camera with animation to classic camera node to control redshift DOF ?

[@rickvdvulkaan]

Awesome stuff! I haven't been able to test this so far, but does this USD workflow in combination with materialX mean that if we set up our scenes correctly, we can have a seamless way to unreal for rendering? I heard Unreal did support materialx in some way. I started learning houdini like a year and a half ago. The most confusing part for me was "deciding" if i would go straight for LOPS instead of OBJ when starting something, as i wanted to use karma anyway. it felt like it didn't make sense, why these 2 completely overlapping workflows? But it slowly became a little more clear what the big power is of solaris. especially this video helps with that! But that still keeps me wondering if the OBJ level is getting more and more redundant and maybe even phased out/merged over time. anyway, the thing i really don't like about your video's is when they end, and i have to wait for the next one :) keep it up!

[@SuperMyckie]

Obj is not getting redundant.. it is the core of 3D...

[@michaelybecker]

Unreal currently supports the core MatX standard surface shader.

[@maschinelab8598]

Hi! Great teacher, great tutorial! I have a question thou. In the Component Builder chapter, when building our component builder for the gummy, the geo appears as a Scope primitive. Why it is not a Xform primitive? If I understood you correctly, geo is normaly Xform. Thank you

[@NineBetween]

Hey! Good question. In this case, the geo is held in an xform because we won't move it directly. However, if you look at the component itself (the /ASSET primitive), it is an xform. As far as I can tell, this is because when moving the primitive, you would move the complete asset, and not what's inside of it. I may be wrong, but that's how I understand it. I hope that helps👌

[@maschinelab8598]

@@NineBetween ok. I get it. It is a complicated concept to grasp for a newbie like myself. Thanx again! Keep up the good work! Cheers

[@NineBetween]

No problem! I'd suggest not focusing on it too much. It's good to have a broad idea of what these things mean, but it isn't necessary to understand them perfectly.

[@meme_tunnel]

Bro can u also cover how install moonray renderer for houdini. As it is free and absolutely amazing.. Please🙏

[@karimoh3154]

Is it just me or are the volume shaders not working with XPU? H20

[@HapZungLam]

Is it preferable to setup solaris in /stage? or in /obj with the lopnetwork node.

[@NineBetween]

Either is perfectly fine. It depends on how your scene is set up. If you'd like multiple stages, then the lopnet node will allow individual setups to be made. Hope that helps!

[@HapZungLam]

@@NineBetween Thanks a lot :D

[@ahmednasr93]

what if it was the other way around like someone sent me a USD scene containing multiple objects then I want to extract it to normal sops to work on it? how can I do this?

[@NineBetween]

Hey! There's a USD import node at the SOP level, which imports a USD file and brings in a selected primitive. Alternatively, you can bring a USD file into LOPs and then use the LOP import node at the SOP level to bring that in.

[@ahmednasr93]

@@NineBetween thank you this will help. but this way I think FBX is better option for bigger scenes with maybe 100 different objects that needs sim maybe. when I import the FBX it will split and arrange the objects into its own geo/sop without having to extract every object in the file manually by hand, right?

[@rpgamer8917]

Where is Link I am searching xd please provide

[@NineBetween]

Hey, it's in the description, right at the top 😁

[@prraneth-skyop1374]

Brother can make anything like massive water Fulid stimulation how to use water body flud..😊

[@NineBetween]

Hey! I don't think we'll be making a massive fluid sim tutorial any time soon, but there are a lot of great tutorials out there already. We will be covering FLIP soon and explaining how it works, we'll touch on ocean simulations as well.

[@prraneth-skyop1374]

bro you are best i can unreal eassly and i rewatch our videos again again to speed up my traininig process . I did't seen any tutorials on massive scale .they are but paid and not understandble . question 2;- did we have to create sperate sperate elements and to create massive vfx or all at a time ? thanks you brother for your reply @@NineBetween ❤

[@NineBetween]

@@prraneth-skyop1374 Thanks for the great comment! When we create massive simulations, they are usually broken up into smaller simulations. For example, if you are creating a shot of a spaceship landing in the ocean, you only simulate the area around the impact. The rest of it is just a grid with an ocean spectrum for displacement. Then you add all of the secondary simulations such as white water, splashes and mist. Also, many large simulations are either wedged (many smaller simulations put together) or distributed (a big simulation which is cut into separate parts for simulating). I hope that helps! I'll try to create an Ocean series in the future.

[@DarkW1zard]

Включи пожалуйста возможность, людям переводить и добавлять субтитры на своём языке.

[@Blank-eb3ew]

Please stop waving the mouse cursor all over . Other wise great tutorial :)

[@sqworkshop]

It turns out to be very stupid and pointless to create one asset with several variations of materials and geometries. Since in the layout node you cannot conveniently switch between variations. But you have to search in graph like a fool, right-click, and select the geometry and material. Couldn't it have been made more convenient?

[@NineBetween]

That would be true if the Layout Node was the only node that uses variants. If you're manually importing your assets, you can choose from a variety of pre-made variations of that asset. That alone is powerful, but combine that with things like the instancer, and you can get a lot out of variants

[@bramcardondbd]

The cake_base.usd is empty in my Houdini (20.0.547). A fresh download didn't do the trick. The rest is loading fine!

[@michaelthomas1148]

Love this. clear and concise explanations throughout. Why do I get a console error every time that I try to paint instances? brushpanel.py:1047 AssetWorkingSetPanel.onEventCallback layout1 {'event_type': nodeEventType.SelectionChanged, 'layout_node': }