Sidefx Houdini / Solaris - 5 Must-Know Rendering Tricks with Karma !

In this video, we'll explore 5 nifty rendering tricks that you can use with Houdini's Karma engine to help create stunning visuals and boost your workflow.
00:00 - Introduction
00:56 - Render Gallery
02:38 - Ray Visibility
05:01 - Camera Effects
07:00 - Product Update
07:27 - Depth of Field
10:50 - Context Option Editor
12:56 - Outro
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As mentioned updated "Ultimate Terrain Workflow Project Files" on gumroad and artstation with a solaris version of the scene I created long time ago. (Note a bit of delay on artstation update, will come soon after I figure out a couple of things)
adrienlambert.gumroad.com/l/u...
And more globally I updated the AL Tools on all the package that were featuring AL AdvancedScatter on gumroad, artstation, Orbolt...
- Full set ofALtools for Houdini Indie/Limited Commercial and Apprentice License available here (not compatible with houdiniFX but cheaper) :
adrienlambert.gumroad.com/l/NZtu
Houdini FX / Core / Full Commercial and Studio License of AL_AdvancedScatter (not full pack, just advancedSCatter) available on Orbolt (doesn't include other HDAs unfortunately, scatter only) :
orbolt.com/asset/AdrienL::AL_...
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Social Medias :
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gumroad.com/adrienlambert
adrienlambert.artstation.com
vimeo.com/adrienlambert
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[e-mail]

[@jimenagrueso2740]

Thank you for these tips! Very helpful!

[@vfxskull6208]

Super cool, thank you so much!

[@usernoice]

Super useful! thanks for sharing.

[@claotonno4115]

Very helpful, thanks!

[@wewantmoreparty]

Awesome please make more solaris

[@StephaneSOUBIRAN]

Merci, c'est tjs interessant !

[@ahahlex]

thanks for all these tips ! it helps a lot, concerning lens shader, for the moment it seems that effects like streaks, bloom are not implemented but they are pretty easy to add in post

[@Gyanevlogs]

you are awesome sir

[@chillsoft]

Very nice! :) Since H20 it seems it's time to dive into Solaris!

[@totorobert1848]

Thanks a lot

[@pinkmoon5332]

just starting out w karma, sort of. Can anyone say if the physical lens is availalbe outside of the /stage/materiallibrary? That is to say, I'm doing tests using karma stand-alone in the /out editor, so I'm not building anything in /stage.

[@larskorb1395]

Thanks you very much for this overview. Super helpful!
it seems that some things have changed for H20, specifically, the lens shader seems to be missing, and also the Karmarendersettings node has changed quite a bit

[@joschw]

I thought the same, but the node still exists in the material context and can also be referenced. Just create a material network and there you find it

[@colbywinfield]

Great video! I was hoping you'd touch on rendering volumes quicker in Karma. I've got a simple smoke simulation covering the screen and it's taking awhile, with 24 samples and still grainy. Any tips on speeding up volume rendering in Karma?

[@arq4ngel15]

Great, as always, valuable content. Adrien, a question, what do you think about the performance/quality of Karma if we used V-Ray as a reference? Thanks in advance. excellent

[@AdrienLambertvfx]

For CPU performance VRay maybe faster and more optimized. For GPU rendering Karma is pretty strong, maybe faster than VRay but some lighting incompatibility like emissive geo lighting isn't supported by GPU with Karma while Vray can handle it fairely well. So all depends what you try to render and with what hardware.

[@arq4ngel15]

@@AdrienLambertvfx thanks my friend

[@user-ru5hl6kz3v]

@@AdrienLambertvfx UE5 is faster

[@MathiasJ89]

Thanks Adrien :) how do you feel USD/Solaris is progressing in the industry?
Seems like it's starting to be time to get into it lately. Especially as an environment artist.

[@AdrienLambertvfx]

In terms of use in the industry I can confirm it's here in almost every company at different levels. Some companies use it entirely, some partially just for usd layout. I can see Solaris will just keep growing especially now that Clarisse is kinda out of the game.

[@baldoski]

Thanks for the tips! Do you see Karma as a future replacement for Mantra specifically in FX shots or 3rd party renderers (Arnold/Prman) would be better because they've been tested in production for years?

[@AdrienLambertvfx]

Really depends on the FX use case, some companies got very deep roots with Mantra so makes it harder to give up. Depends also on hardware of the company, Karma is great but mostly when it comes to leverage GPU rendering. Otherwise other parties like Prman seems like a good alternative for production in general but don't know much how convenient it is when it comes to rendering FX.

[@baldoski]

@@AdrienLambertvfx Thanks for reply. They'll need to drop Mantra in some day, it's supported till 2025. Maybe Karma will grow up when that moment comes hehe

[@artadecram_9624]

I think there is not enough video-material on karma - can I study mantra before karma? How manrta is comparable to karma?

[@wolfman202]

Just purchest from orbolt, but it appears its not updated like the one from gumroad, i think its an older version on orbolt

[@AdrienLambertvfx]

Could be sidefx's orbolt is still in process of reviewing the upgrade. Will get there soon hopefully. :)

[@hotkar]

Did I hear it correct, that the snaps will store the lighting and some other data and once restored it will revert back the settings to the snapped render version.

[@martinkindl83]

Looks like Xsi was doing it 8years ago ;)

[@AdrienLambertvfx]

You heard correctly ;) the whole Solaris stage get stored so will also revert both layout and lights, volumes, basically any primitives hood in stage

[@nonenone2748]

Houdini is famous for its deduralism, and Karma is as procedural as polygonal modeling?

[@AdrienLambertvfx]

Not sure what you mean haha Karma remains a render engine and is a great solution for lookdev, assigning material with expression and creating lightrig. It's like houdini meets Katana the way I see it.