Why does one software slow down when receiving data from another via UDP (python)?

Question

I'm constantly sending a camera's position matrix via UDP from Houdini and setting it in Cinema4d. Both are 3-D software programs. The data sends fine but Cinema4d freezes and is slow when updating the matrix from houdini. Why is this happening?

here is the python code i'm sending from Houdini:

import socket

UDP_IP = '192.168.1.8'
UDP_PORT = 7864

cam = hou.selectedNodes()
camerac4d =  hou.node('/obj/obj_andcamera/cam1')
xform = camerac4d.worldTransform() #get the camera matrix
data_string = str(xform)

sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET,socket.SOCK_DGRAM) # UDP
sock.sendto(data_string, (UDP_IP, UDP_PORT))

UDP receiver in Cinema 4d:

import socket

def main():
    operateon = doc.SearchObject('Camera') #get cinema 4d camera

    UDP_IP = '192.168.1.8'
    UDP_PORT = 7864

    sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET,socket.SOCK_DGRAM)
    sock.bind((UDP_IP,UDP_PORT))
    data_string,addr = sock.recvfrom(1024)


    data_string = ast.literal_eval(data_string) #converts string list


    #set houdini matrix to cinema 4d camera

    off = v(newlist[3][0],newlist[3][1], -newlist[3][2]) 
    v1 = v(-newlist[0][0],newlist[0][1], newlist[0][2])
    v2 = v(-newlist[1][0], -newlist[1][1], -newlist[1][2])
    v3 = v(-newlist[2][0], -newlist[2][1], newlist[2][2])

    mat = c4d.Matrix(off,v1*-1,v2*-1,v3)

    newpos = operateon.SetMg(mat)

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 06 '17 at 17:51

so i figured it out i just had to stick the matrix setting in a while loop that died after 5 tries so that cinema4d wouldn't crash and then had to update the viewport in cinema with a line of code that refreshes the viewport everytime the matrix gets updated at the end

def main():

operateon = doc.SearchObject('Camera') #find and set the cinema camera

##UDP receive transformation matrix from houdini##

UDP_IP = 'localhost'
UDP_PORT = 7864

sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET,socket.SOCK_DGRAM)

sock.bind((UDP_IP,UDP_PORT))
##kill the connection after 5 viewport updates/works but stupid/but it stops cinema from freezing on an endless while loop
die = 0
while die < 5:
    die += 1
    data_string, addr = sock.recvfrom(1024)

# set each vector component 
    data_string = ast.literal_eval(data_string) #converts string to list 

    #a hou matrix is 4x4, cinema is a 3x4 matrix consisting of :off=position data, v1,v2,v3 stores the scale,rotation and shear
    index = 3  #Delete column 3 
    newlist = [ (x[0:index] + x[index+1:])  for x in data_string]
#print newlist
#---------------------set vectors for matrix---------------------------------#
    off = v(newlist[3][0],newlist[3][1], -newlist[3][2]) 
    v1 = v(-newlist[0][0],newlist[0][1], newlist[0][2])
    v2 = v(-newlist[1][0], -newlist[1][1], -newlist[1][2])
    v3 = v(-newlist[2][0], -newlist[2][1], newlist[2][2])

#---------------------create a matrix and set it---------------------------------#

    mat = c4d.Matrix(off,v1*-1,v2*-1,v3)
    newpos = operateon.SetMg(mat)


    #update the viewport with the new matrix 
    c4d.EventAdd()
    c4d.DrawViews(c4d.DRAWFLAGS_ONLY_ACTIVE_VIEW|c4d.DRAWFLAGS_NO_THREAD|c4d.DRAWFLAGS_NO_REDUCTION|c4d.DRAWFLAGS_STATICBREAK)

Why does one software slow down when receiving data from another via UDP (python)?

1 Answers1