DavidKahlVFX
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An Unreal World
🕑 Added 2020-12-01 09:21:38 +0000 UTCI started a learning journey for unreal engine. I wanted to do that for ages but since I got a bit sick, so recording was not possible, I used the time to dig into gathered learning material.
Incorporating unreal into my personal know how seems to be the logical step. Epic with unreal seems to pull ahead in the constant battle of the game engines, while their investment into SideFX makes it even more interesting for us Houdini guys.
As I just shared on the discord - there is a new channel about that and I already did something.
On Black friday I snatched a cyberpunk environement package to create an interesting look for AI experiments. The pieces by themselve don't look that impressive but put together it is gorgeous.
A quick video is seen on the discord or here
https://twitter.com/DavidKahlVFX/status/1333329671681871873
While that is all well and fine - but first I wanted to get your feedback. Unreal wasn't something you came for and there is still alot to do for the rail and tools like the wrangle library.
So let me schow you what I want to try first.
Besides AI shenanigans this package gives a good opportunity to show unreal people the power and possibilities of Houdini. While the map is nice - it is handcrafted. That means the creator placed every item by hand.
It could be interesting to build a pipeline around taking a package like this and build the houdini generator around it to build new maps from scratch, but easy and procedural. It would include the following:
- export unreal assets as fbx to houdini (hopefully automated with python)
- create a procedural ruleset to convert simple shapes into placed assets
- extract that data with an hda
- build new maps in houdini - utilizing the fully textured assets in unreal
There is a great example for this process - this japanese castle done by Radu Cius
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuVNgjPXZX4
The whole thing feels very powerfull - question is - what can be automated.
And the cherry on top would be if the system allows for easy adjustments to switch to a totally different content package. At least in my mind all of that sounds very interesting.
But now let me hear from you - is that something you are interested in or would you skip possible unreal content anyway?
Let me get a feel for your interests.
Cheers
Dave
