We've recently acquired Houdini for a trial, but the documentation and tutorials are quite out of sync. Some features are missing, while other processes and functions don't work at all. Is there an earlier version available that will work with the current documentation or do we have to wait until SideFX has had a chance to update?

Case in point — the video “The Secret Language of Houdini” references a for-each loop that uses a @primnum variable to cycle through SOP primitives. The video shows a simple “for-each” loop, but that is no longer available, neither is @primnum a listed variable (only prim).

In other places, such as the “Houdini Fundamentals” PDF, there are portions of the document that are simply cut off. See page 4, bottom right corner. Labels pointing to areas of the screen, but only the lines are visible. There is no indication of what they are pointing to. It's clear this hasn't been subjected to editorial review or quality checks.

All in all, this is a very negative first impression. Does SideFX premiere customer support also lack this level of due diligence? It makes me uneasy to think that such simple details are overlooked. What else could be breaking in a robust production pipeline? If anyone has any experiences to share, we'd like to hear them. The software appears to be powerful / flexible, but it looks like things could potentially change or even break with successive releases, with little to no documentation.

VisionaryMind
In other places, such as the “Houdini Fundamentals” PDF, there are portions of the document that are simply cut off. See page 4, bottom right corner. Labels pointing to areas of the screen, but only the lines are visible. There is no indication of what they are pointing to. It's clear this hasn't been subjected to editorial review or quality checks

What an epic first post… the pdf is for a book, so it's dual pages but not sure how you missed that with your due diligence.

lol…although…maybe the OP was reading on one of those teeny weeny screeny ? Hush…a friggin' handheld device ?

So by the time page 5 rolled around, page 4 was just a distant memory….snorrrt, pretty funny still.