Ok, this is about the final chapter here. I have about 4 hours till I have to hit the final render button. Will I make the deadline for the Houdini Cook-Off?
My promises to myself include:
- Keep the title, “Food for Thought“.
- Use a brain.
- Have it be cooked and/or eaten.
- Create reusable assets.
- Make sure I’m packed and ready with my desert gear for Burning Man… TOMORROW??? We still have an RV and trailer to pack.
Progress so far…
- I started with a model I couldn’t use, because I didn’t build it, so how do you easily build a brain in Houdini?
- I tried to use MRI data to build my own brain geometry… via voxels. I got something working… BUT… I couldn’t make anything solid. It was very ghostly looking so I tried some nodes in Houdini which allowed me to create geometry, but the input data from an MRI scan is pretty dirty. I knew I need to somehow build a solid brain quickly. So, I’m stopping this R&D and I’m saving the MRI results for when I get my own personal brain scan next month (no joke). My Wacom isn’t working under windows (I know… weird), so this was helping me avoid 3DCoat for my sculpting.
- Starting over, I used a low-res smooth brain-like shaped object and painted on it. Using some procedural point operations, I created the wrinkle/sausage (gyrus?) things on the brain.
- I don’t know Houdini’s shaders well enough to make realistic looking brain bread baking, so my limited time was spent on shaders, and all I’m really looking for is more BANG for my buck. So, I’m setting aside my “baking bread brains” in coffee shops… for now! MWAHAHAHA!!!
- Serendipity occurred and I ended up filming the Vancouver Zombie Walk from last weekend. While I was there, I ran into an A&W and asked for a paper cup. I marked it up with “X”s and triangles, thinking, “Hopefully make-up covered actors won’t feel too silly… eating a paper cup.“
*note: Blanket hanging on chair in attempting to get rid of the echos while recording.
Now, here I am with some undesirables that I’m trying to overcome.
Using Windows, not Linux.
Using a small USB hard drive as my project drive.
Going to be recording my own audio (zombie acting… whaaat?)
Doing my composting in Houdini.
I changed the direction last minute (oh those crazy directors… hehe).
We’ve pulled our RV off the road for a nutritious meal at McDonalds, somewhere in Oregon, and now I’m uploading my entry to the Houdini Cook-Off contest. Although my submission could be better, I don’t have the CPU horsepower, nor the time to re-sim or re-render. Oh yeah… and I’ll be in the middle of the desert in a few hours.
