Best Software choice for project?

ioannespavlvsxcix

Hey guys! i'm currently making a 3d scene involving some pirate ships and a large ocean in it for the render, so i'm confused about which software is the best for rendering and simulating oceans and particle systems, and also the best one for exporting the mesh back to my render software.

So i wanted to know, according to you, which is the best software for me to use in my project for that purpose? i know that Houdini has amazing simulations but i'm not sure how to export this single mesh to another software, so i'm looking for another options, as well as a way to export them (in houdini's case for example).

SebKaine

- In what IDE do you plan to import the data ? Max / Maya / C4D ... ? 
- what is your render engine V-Ray / Arnold / Redshift ... ?

The best tool imo for complex water simulation is definitly houdini. Houdini will give you 3 types of data in output 
- ocean geo -> easy to export as .abc
- volumetric foam -> easy to export as .vdb 
- foam particles with attributes -> it's notoriously famous that importing particles with attributes in Maya or C4D is a huge PITA. as native tool doesn't support that. 

But render engines can supply this gap with their native format and gateway. vray vrmesh / arnold .ass for exemple / vdb loader of vray / arnold. and Redshift 
When working on heavy project like the one you plan to do , the best way to avoid trouble is to render directly in Houdini if your render engine is supported. Arnold is maybe the only render engine that can give you a relatively acceptable workflow if you work in maya, Vray will be able to export things but you will have to use their command line geo converter. For arnold you will have to install arnold for houdini and export as .ass. Other options is to use houdini engine to import your particles but you need to use a plugin on each rendermachine of your renderfarm to be able to use that.

ioannespavlvsxcix

SebKaine said:

- In what IDE do you plan to import the data ? Max / Maya / C4D ... ? 
- what is your render engine V-Ray / Arnold / Redshift ... ?

The best tool imo for complex water simulation is definitly houdini. Houdini will give you 3 types of data in output 
- ocean geo -> easy to export as .abc
- volumetric foam -> easy to export as .vdb 
- foam particles with attributes -> it's notoriously famous that importing particles with attributes in Maya or C4D is a huge PITA. as native tool doesn't support that. 

But render engines can supply this gap with their native format and gateway. vray vrmesh / arnold .ass for exemple / vdb loader of vray / arnold. and Redshift 
When working on heavy project like the one you plan to do , the best way to avoid trouble is to render directly in Houdini if your render engine is supported. Arnold is maybe the only render engine that can give you a relatively acceptable workflow if you work in maya, Vray will be able to export things but you will have to use their command line geo converter. For arnold you will have to install arnold for houdini and export as .ass. Other options is to use houdini engine to import your particles but you need to use a plugin on each rendermachine of your renderfarm to be able to use that.

I'm making the render on a real-time based render engine like Eevee in Blender or the one in Unreal Engine, maybe i could use some ray-tracing engine, but i'm not so sure how it would look like being rendered in two different engines, do you have any idea/tutorial/guide of how to make an ocean simulation in houdini as well as a way to export the ocean geo and the volumetric foam as files that i can use in any of these softwares?

SebKaine

this might be interesting : 
https://vimeo.com/261901539

For RT you just need to generate :
- displacement / normal map in Houdini
- foam map / emision map 
- i would create the particles in unreal directly, you have new tools to export houdini particles but i never try them ( gamedev tool / niagara exporter )

but if you have no houdini experience, starting by doing a maelstrom shot of ocean , and render it in a real time engine. is like starting alpinism by trying to climb everest by the north face. but it's a nice challenge. i can't talk for blender as i don't know it.

Cheers
E