Light Blocker - HtoA

[Andrew_Wilkins1]

Good day,

Regarding the "Light Blocker" in HtoA

https://docs.arnoldrenderer.com/display/A5AFHUG/Light+Blocker

This node is supported in HtoA but is an initial implementation and is not very user friendly. It lacks the viewport preview to move and control the blocker shape.

Very much agreed!

Any ideas when the view port manipulator would be implemented?
This feature sees heavy use and atm unusable out of the box compared to Maya.

Found a post from 2018, with a work-around that would be tedious to manage on an actual production:

https://answers.arnoldrenderer.com/questions/8618/houdini-165-arnold-light-blocker.html

A bit worrisome we're in 2021 but this hasn't been implemented yet.

All the best,
Andrew

[Stephen.Blair · Accepted solution]

There's no ETA

I see there is this:
https://bhavesh7393.gumroad.com/l/halbt?fbclid=IwAR20kXmq3-Q-2vVnuBkXC9nJMLXbQE85O9jfgqgCReyipwN-hEF...

[Andrew_Wilkins1]

Hey there,

Thanks!

This should actually help a lot. Let me try it out.
I was already starting to code something myself. 🙂

[Stephen.Blair]

Also, I added your name to the list of customers asking for this feature...the bigger the list the better (for getting the feature done 😉

[Andrew_Wilkins1]

Alright sounds good! :hot_beverage:

Somehow these light blockers become bread & butter for artists, I've easily seen between 15-30+ in shot.

This script works great btw, thanks again for finding it.
needs some adjustments though, doesn't seem to handle creating multiple light blockers for the same light etc.

[Anonymous]

i may be too late, its a good idea, ill update my script to attach single light blocker to all selected lights, thanks for the suggestion, right now script is creating blocker per light.

[am_wilkins]

Hey Bhavesh,

Thanks so much for the script!

Np, yeah it's just a good idea to re-use as many blockers as possible. Keeps the scene / light setup a bit more manageable. 🙂

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I have worked on a tool to attach Light Blocker to multiple lights, which works with all Light Filters.

https://bhavesh7393.artstation.com/pages/houdini-arnold-light-filter-manager

[aman4]

Hi,

Is there any way to link more than one light blocker to a single light ? @Anonymous 
Currently as per the HDA, I can only link one per light, that is why I am asking. 

[supervisorAlone]

Hi,
there's something similar in solaris? Or there's a way to move easily a gizmo with geometry matrix?

thanks

[am_wilkins]

Hi,

I actually haven't re-created this tool/code to create these more artist friendly light-blockers for Solaris.
Although might be on my list to do in the near future.

TBH, might be worth just using geo cards instead.

I do wish the Arnold team would make their features actually usable by artists without any extra dev or setup work.

best,

amwilkins

[supervisorAlone]

Hi andrew,

what do you mean by geo cards? plans that block the light?

[am_wilkins]

Yeah exactly, geometry planes that don't contribute to the scene only casting shadows.
Can add ramp material to them to adjust opacity falloffs if needed and also do light-linking so they only impact certain lights.

amwilkins

[supervisorAlone]

thakyou for your support