Anyone tried this? I like have a portable work computer where I can start projects and tinker. Then I move it to my work station or grid markets. I need to find a new ergonomic option that is portable and semi-powerful. MacBooks seem out of the question due to poor Stability and after exhausting rounds of trying laptops (Man they all suck when used as a laptop and not a faux-desktop). Anyway, so far the surface book seems to be usable as is with no mouse.

Moin,

not a surface *book*, but I have been using Houdini on my “rock steady off road” Surface 2 pro to showcase its (Houdini's) usage to a client I was working with.
He now seriously considers buying a few (Surfaces).

Marc

I have an old surface book (2015) and it's ok for quick sketches in Houdini. Using it without mouse is ok too, provided that you set some touchpad gesture to simulate the middle mouse button.

Would be super nice to have the touchscreen usable in Houdini (!!) and in this regard, I invite you to support this request: https://www.sidefx.com/forum/topic/50571/ [www.sidefx.com]


cheers

Andr1
I have an old surface book (2015) and it's ok for quick sketches in Houdini. Using it without mouse is ok too, provided that you set some touchpad gesture to simulate the middle mouse button.

Would be super nice to have the touchscreen usable in Houdini (!!) and in this regard, I invite you to support this request: https://www.sidefx.com/forum/topic/50571/ [www.sidefx.com]

On the MacBook I downloaded “better touch tool” that lets me use three finger press as middle click. I have read up that there are many way to achieve the same thing on various Multi touch trackpads that run windows 10.

cheers

Noboru Garcia
MacBooks seem out of the question due to poor Stability and after exhausting rounds of trying laptops

Where do you get this idea? I run Houdini on my Macbook Pro all the time flawlessly. I honestly don't think I ever had a single crash and its lightning fast.

There are a few more advanced viewport rendering features that are disabled on the Surface Book due to the Intel GPU, but otherwise it works quite well. I have one for testing & debugging purposes.

On the MacBook I downloaded “better touch tool” that lets me use three finger press as middle click. I have read up that there are many way to achieve the same thing on various Multi touch trackpads that run windows 10.

cheers

Nice, but I was referring to the lack of touch screen support in Houdini…

Though I tend to prefer macOS, Microsoft's Surface Pro line would be ideal for many purposes. But I can't tell if the current generation of N-trig technology has the features (like multiple buttons) that anyone who relies on drawing tablets relies upon. Aside from twod, there seems to be dearth of people reporting encouraging experience with 3D programs on them.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/accessories/surface-pen [www.microsoft.com]

Something like Wacom's MobileStudio Pro could be even better, but I've lost some confidence in their craftsmanship lately.



http://www.wacom.com/en-us/products/pen-computers/wacom-mobilestudio-pro [www.wacom.com]

chrono1081

Noboru Garcia
MacBooks seem out of the question due to poor Stability and after exhausting rounds of trying laptops

Where do you get this idea? I run Houdini on my Macbook Pro all the time flawlessly. I honestly don't think I ever had a single crash and its lightning fast.

I have a 2012 that has operated flawlessly until Houdini 16. In Houdini 16 it's become very volatile, this is also happening in the new 2017 models… I was planning on getting one until this crashing issue has come up. Then I took to the forums and found that it's wide spread. If you don't have a supported GPU the experience is disastrous. But as of H16 even my “Supported” 650M is crashing constantly.

twod
There are a few more advanced viewport rendering features that are disabled on the Surface Book due to the Intel GPU, but otherwise it works quite well. I have one for testing & debugging purposes.

Are we referring to the same device? The surface book as a Discreet GPU in the keyboard section.

Cyzor
Though I tend to prefer macOS, Microsoft's Surface Pro line would be ideal for many purposes. But I can't tell if the current generation of N-trig technology has the features (like multiple buttons) that anyone who relies on drawing tablets relies upon. Aside from twod, there seems to be dearth of people reporting encouraging experience with 3D programs on them.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/accessories/surface-pen [www.microsoft.com]

Something like Wacom's MobileStudio Pro could be even better, but I've lost some confidence in their craftsmanship lately.



http://www.wacom.com/en-us/products/pen-computers/wacom-mobilestudio-pro [www.wacom.com]

This is cool too.

If you happen to have an iPad Pro, then something like Astropad [astropad.com] might be a partial solution for mobile work. Houdini's redraw rate was slightly slower than usual the last time I tried Astropad Studio, though other 3D apps seemed to work flawlessly.

But I haven't tried under macOS Sierra 10.12 yet, which has better Metal [developer.apple.com] performance.

Noboru Garcia

twod
There are a few more advanced viewport rendering features that are disabled on the Surface Book due to the Intel GPU, but otherwise it works quite well. I have one for testing & debugging purposes.

Are we referring to the same device? The surface book as a Discreet GPU in the keyboard section.

The surface book has an optional Nvidia GPU in the keyboard on the higher end models. The low-to-mid range models only have the Intel GPU.

twod

Noboru Garcia

twod
There are a few more advanced viewport rendering features that are disabled on the Surface Book due to the Intel GPU, but otherwise it works quite well. I have one for testing & debugging purposes.

Are we referring to the same device? The surface book as a Discreet GPU in the keyboard section.

The surface book has an optional Nvidia GPU in the keyboard on the higher end models. The low-to-mid range models only have the Intel GPU.

Yes, thats the one I would be looking at… however Surface Book 2 seems to be right around the corner. Soooo I should probably wait.

Cyzor
If you happen to have an iPad Pro, then something like Astropad [astropad.com] might be a partial solution for mobile work. Houdini's redraw rate was slightly slower than usual the last time I tried Astropad Studio, though other 3D apps seemed to work flawlessly.

But I haven't tried under macOS Sierra 10.12 yet, which has better Metal [developer.apple.com] performance.

I use Astropad now. My problem is that Houdini 16 has not been a friend to My MacBook Pro, Also folks I talk to who use the 2017 model experience the same level of constant crashing I do. Never happened with 15. I could just go back to 15.