HtoA 3.1.0 - Arnold for Houdini

22 August 2018

This is a major release, bringing texture baking, operator serialization, and alembic procedural improvements.

Installation

This release uses Arnold 5.2.0.0 and OpenVDB 4.0.0.

Binaries available for the following Houdini, Houdini FX, Houdini Indie and Houdini Education production builds:

and for the following platforms:

Please note that Houdini Apprentice does not support third-party renderers and thus cannot run HtoA.

Texture baking (htoa#1075, core#6091, core#7206)
Operator serialization (htoa#1057)
Conversion scripts for alShader utility nodes (htoa#1088)
Assign material ROP (htoa#1069)
Improved sampling of spherical lights (core#5534)
Faster adaptive subdivision: Adaptive subdivision is now up to 2x to 3x faster even on a single thread. (core#2311, core#7186, core#7201, core#7229)
The [matrix_multiply_vector](/pages/createpage.action?spaceKey=HTOAUG&title=Matrix+Multiply+Vector&linkCreation=true&fromPageId=157966977) and [matrix_transform](/pages/createpage.action?spaceKey=HTOAUG&title=Matrix+Transform&linkCreation=true&fromPageId=157966977) shaders have been reinstated. (core#7243)
Cryptomatte AOV shaders and filters are now being included as a part of the Arnold core package. (core#7301)
Edge detection can now be controlled using a STRING type user data called [toon_id](/pages/createpage.action?spaceKey=HTOAUG&title=Edge&linkCreation=true&fromPageId=157966977) . This feature is enabled when user_id is checked. (core#7125)
A new [cell_noise](/display/HTOAUG/Cell+Noise) shader has been added which can create many different useful cell-like patterns. (core#5985, core#6051)
The standard_surface shader supports a new, energy-preserving sheen
effect designed to render cloth-like microfiber materials such as velvet (core#7234)

Displacement/Bump scale issues with packed alembic primitives (htoa#1049, core#7286)
Alembic procedural curve attributes (htoa#1086)
Translation errors with subdiv_face_iterations (htoa#1077)
Alembic procedural curve's width rendered incorrectly (htoa#1071)
Camera projection bug: camera incorrect for initial render (htoa#1064)
Remove old SHOP OTLs from the menus (htoa#1092)
Curves in alembic procedural cut short (core#6916)
Alembic curve user data expansion (core#7355)
Alembic curves sets radius on curves and points to width (core#7261)
Fix alembic array attribute expansion for regular properties (core#7242)
Skip invalid curves (core#6947)
Rename user data parameters that clash with shape nodes in alembic expansion (core#7076)

See also the Arnold 5.2.0.0 release notes for the full list of core enhancements and fixes.