Hi all!

Im currently learning houdini and Im wondering what is the FX workflow companies use.

Do you export the sims into Maya and render them? or better to render within Houdini? Also would like to get my hands onto VRay and Arnold to get some nice renders.

thanks!

it really depends on the studio pipeline

some places export out of Houdini if their lighting pipeline is based in Maya (or Katana or whatever), and some stay in Houdini to render with Mantra, Prman etc

as for vray, arnold etc…
if you're new to Houdini I'd stick with Mantra - it is a VERY good renderer, and can give you the same results as the others…unfortunately it's never enjoyed the same kind of popular status as the others - right now arnold is very ‘trendy’ but this isn't a true reflection of it's actual quality/use, what you render in depends on a ton of things beyond how pretty an image in a gallery might be.

You can export your pyro simulation to the Maya with Houdini Engine or VDB.
But I suggest you to render your Volumetric effects such as PyroFX with Mantra.
It's really fast and perfect for these subjects , I did some test for rendering Pyro Effects and Environment Lighting with Mental Ray , Arnold , Mantra and Mantra was really faster than others.
But about another simulation such as distractions , Ocean , Cloth , Flip and etc , you can export your final mesh to the Maya with Alembic format , this format is really fast for reading large files.

Ive decided I'll export to maya via alembic. Is there any issues with the export I should look out for?

Exporting sims like dust particles. Do I make them as spheres and then export to maya?

thanks!

Yes , I think you should convert them to small spheres , Of course maybe you can export particles to Maya with Houdini Engine.

The interesting thing is you can Export Maya particles to the Houdini very easily , But Maya can't import Houdini particles , even it can't import it's own particles with own Alembic format !!!