MOPs

I wrote a little article here for VFX artists about what environment variables are, how to manipulate them, what various .env files are actually doing, and how to roll your own pipelines to organize your projects at home. Look here: www.toadstorm.com/blog/?p=1010

The Conservatory of Flowers is one of the best indoor collections of tropical plants I've ever seen. It's a must-see if you're a plant person.

sorry i misspoke, i meant boints

yeah that's software-dependent. maya labels this behavior "segment scale compensate" on joints and is on by default... child bones will be translated by the scaled parent but will apply the inverse scale to themselves to stay the same size.

controllers are the front-end for interfacing with the skeleton. you'll often have very complicated constraint structures and multiple skeletons driven by the controls that blend their outputs together into the final skeleton that's exported to the game engine.

The MOPs website (and toadstorm.com) will be offline for less than 1 hour for some maintenance and improvements. Thanks for your patience!

A new Experimental release of MOPs is now available! This is mostly just minor bugfixes and QoL improvements. Details on the release page: github.com/toadstorm/MO...

I'm looking for software developers who can help me write a floating license server for MOPs+. Some experience in Houdini is a plus but not required. If you're interested or know someone who is, please reach out to me at henry@motionoperators.com.

Apex is still pretty scary and new for most existing Houdini artists, but there’s no need to be scared anymore! Matt (@cgwiki.bsky.social) will provide a jargon-free explainer of Apex at #EPC2025!

Get your tickets now: everythingprocedural.com

#everythingproc #ProcGen #Apex #GameDev

I wrote a little primer on rigid body dynamics in Houdini after seeing a lot of similar questions online. Bullet is a pretty deep rabbit hole to fall into and there's a lot of legacy stuff that's very confusing for new artists... hopefully this helps you get started!
www.toadstorm.com/blog/?p=1123

A new release of MOPs+ is now available! This adds the new MOPs+ Rig Aim node, as well as a new streamlined version of MOPs+ Collision Geo. More details on the MOPs Blog: motionoperators.com/blog/index.p...

Used to freelance as an artist for many years in LA. Get an accountant, especially if any of your income isn't W2. Please DO NOT go to H&R block or similar, they will have absolutely no idea how to prepare taxes for anything that complex (I tried doing exactly that when I first started)

It absolutely could, although there's existing constraints for that. This is more about gradually bending chains towards a target, for things like tentacles, tails, trees, etc.

An animation of the Paul test geometry bending to face a target object like some kind of mutated drinking bird toy

I'm trying to get another fun new toy done for the next release: MOPs+ Rig Aim. Enjoy watching it wave Paul around!
motionoperators.com/blog/index.p...

Some info about the upcoming improvements to MOPs+ Collision Geo:
motionoperators.com/blog/index.p...

I've updated the MOPs blog page to use a new Wordpress format so it's easier to post about updates and development in general, and so people can use RSS to get updates instead of social media. The updated page is here: motionoperators.com/blog/

🚨 Black Friday sale! Today through 12/1, get a MOPs Plus license for 20% off using the coupon code MOPSFRIDAY2024.

breadshift

18 incredibly good-looking everything bagels cooling on racks

a close-up of the sexiest bagels you've ever seen

one sliced bagel dressed with cream cheese and smoked salmon and a few thin red onion slices. i am going to eat myself sick

i know this is a business account or whatever but i just baked some really good bagels and you can't stop me from posting them

YouTube video by matt estela apex overview

Little Apex explainer targeted at experienced Houdini folk. It's rough (got a cold, ugh), but figured it'll be useful to people like me who were simultaneously interested and apprehensive. Will likely re-record later when my voice recovers and I learn more things... www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9-e...

manual painting of delegates really sucks but it is just so much faster than the alternative, nothing else is going to match that speed

either of you nerds have a preferred course for learning it that isn't going to try to explain to me what a polygon is?

A new build of MOPs Plus is now available! This introduces Infection Falloff 1.1, with a better interface and support for "healing" and reinfection, some improvements to MOPs Typography and Apply Attributes, and more! Details on the changelog: www.motionoperators.com/changelog/

Release MOPs v1.10.0 · toadstorm/MOPS A new Stable release! This includes all Experimental changes between 2023-12-14 and now. Highlights include: Added official unit tests for developers! (please contribute T___T) Fixed a broken chan...

A new Stable release of MOPs is now available! Lots of bugfixes, nitpicks, UI improvements, and a unit testing module for developers. Details on the Release page: github.com/toadstorm/MO...

HIVE Horizon 2024 | SideFX HIVE Horizon 2024

The Houdini HIVE Horizon talks from Toronto are now available online, including my talk about MOPs and UX in Houdini! Check them out here: www.sidefx.com/houdini-hive...

A typical installer dialog box depicting the automated installation of a Houdini package

Trying to solve an age-old Houdini problem here. Whenever it's done, I'll release the full toolkit for creating self-installing Houdini packages as open source software. Doing my best to keep making Houdini easier!

I'm going to be presenting at Houdini HIVE in Toronto next month! Hope to see some of you nerds there...

www.sidefx.com/houdini-hive...

Please note that this discount will not apply if your subscription is paused past the renewal date or is cancelled. Best of luck out there everyone!

Hi MOPs+ Users,
I know times are tough for motion designers right now, and every subscription you need for your job can start to add up. To that end I'm applying a 15% discount to all active MOPs+ personal license renewals, effective immediately...

Release MOPs v1.9.2 Experimental · toadstorm/MOPS Updated the group mask channel link in MOPs Plain Falloff. Fixed another group mask dropdown in MOPs Pivot. The MOPs Instancer should no longer accidentally generate duplicate id attributes from me...

A new Experimental release of MOPs (1.9.2e) is now available. This fixes a number of minor UX errors and an issue with the MOPs Noise Modifier. Details on the release page: github.com/toadstorm/MO...