Hello Forum,

I have a stupid question. I study animation using Maya and I also do modelling in Zbrush.
Now I like to go even deeper into Computer Graphics by learning Houdini. I started out with a Houdini 101 course on Lynda and also did a ton of tutorials. Now I'm reading the Houdini guide on a day to day bases. Most of what I'm reading I understand, other thinks a bit less, but when it comes to Expression functions, HScript commands and Vex I'm lost.
The explanations in the Houdini Guide for each function don't make sense at all. Often I google the words I don't understand and I get sends to a wiki page about some math subject, which most of the time doesn't help.
It's for certain my problem is a lack of the English language, coding and math in general.

So my question is, how do I overcome this obstacle? I'm already doing a course on coding and math on Khan Academy, but maybe there are other ways dealing with this problem, especial when it come to programming inside Houdini.
In the near future I like to develop my own concepts and work them out inside Houdini. I don't want to rely on tutorials any more. Most of the time they don't explain what is really happening underneath. So if you got any suggestions dealing with this dilemma, please share.

Getting a solid grasp of scripting languages and coding is a huge bonus, continue to do that. You'll find that things start to come into more focus the more you do things. I knew Maya MEL pretty well before coming over to Houdini, that definitely helped, but I don't have a background in coding and I don't think that's a necessity unless you're focusing completely on tool development.

Break things down into their smallest components and build up from there. Ditch the Point SOP and learn to do those things in VEX instead. What initially looks daunting in VEX will reward you with MUCH simpler setups and workflows.

Keep notes, whether by hand in a notebook or file on your computer (or both), notate things in your HIP files. I keep a directory on my computer with example HIP files contextually organized, so I'll have a folder devoted to instancing, POPS, RBD, VEX functions, Pyro, etc. I call this my Cookbook and I'm updating it all the time.

Finally, don't give up! Keep at it, Houdini is the most powerful and versatile CG software out there so it's totally worth it.

Also, this brief post on od|force [forums.odforce.net] may help clarify the differences between Houdini's various scripting systems:

3. VEX is a C-like programming language for shading and geometry processing tasks. Typical VEX program defines some context function operating over inputs and writing (exporting) some results.

http://forums.odforce.net/topic/31314-numpt-vs-npoints-vex-vs-hscript/?tab=comments#comment-173815 [forums.odforce.net]

Cyzor, I will certainly check out the info on Odforce on vex and hscript and
AndyW thanks for the inspiring words, I really like the Cookbook idea. I get really frustrated with the program sometimes , but the whole principle of Houdini is just so amazing, so I wound give up.