I am thinking about trying some texturing program and I am a bit at lost, which one you guys will recommend. I have being checking out Quixel, but a lot of people seem to go towards MARI. Any recommendations? and opinion on how well it integrates your recommendation with houdini? I am only thinking on working on it on my indie work so it will need to have some good integration.

it depends of what kind of work you're expecting to do…
I'd also look at Substance Designer/Painter

arctor
it depends of what kind of work you're expecting to do…
I'd also look at Substance Designer/Painter

Mmm… I know my question was a bit too open. But I guess that is where I am right now, exploring the options and wanted to hear what users think of this or that program that may help me decide where to start.

what kind of work are you going to be doing?
film/tv? Games?
knowing the end result will help determine what applications will best get you there

arctor
what kind of work are you going to be doing?
film/tv? Games?
knowing the end result will help determine what applications will best get you there

I work on Film/TV. But the texturing is kind of a hobby for me, though I will aim at Film/TV workflow: As my first project on texturing I was planning to do a sci-fi spaceship as a test….if that helps. I have been texturing for a while now, so I am pretty confortable with the concepts, but always within the 3D program and photoshop for maps. I just felt is time to try something new.


Ohh and the node system in Substance looks really interesting.

I use Quixel with Houdini all the time. Between Substance, I like Quixel more, and you can work at any resolution. The workflow is a little weird but once you get used to it, it is very powerful. It has many different presets including Disney PBR , and CGX which translates well to either shader. I would say between the two Substance is more stable, but I find Quixel really nice to work with and the results are great. You can then just paint directly in PSD, which with substance you would need another program.

I would also say, Houdini's new baking engine, and vops are also a very powerful tool, with very high quality results. The new curvature, triplaner vops, along with the best noise stuff going are really awesome.