It seems like there are fewer and fewer commercial tutorials for Houdini.

Since it's not profitable anymore and AI has stolen the spotlight, fewer and fewer people are willing to put so much time and effort into learning CG software.

wanglifu
Since it's not profitable anymore and AI has stolen the spotlight, fewer and fewer people are willing to put so much time and effort into learning CG software.

Although it's the same reason I thought it was, it still made me very sad to hear it.

Creating paid tutorials comes with a big burden of expectations. You will have to create unique free tutorial to get the attention of viewers, but for paid one's uniqueness becomes a necessity, and also you have to make it feel premium.
I don't think ai is much big of an issue, with all the ml related lower level toolsets + the higher level tools, it will make better effects and cgi creatable for even an individual, just like the effects we created with cgi softwares we couldn't with only a camera.

Umang_Raj
Creating paid tutorials comes with a big burden of expectations. You will have to create unique free tutorial to get the attention of viewers, but for paid one's uniqueness becomes a necessity, and also you have to make it feel premium.
I don't think ai is much big of an issue, with all the ml related lower level toolsets + the higher level tools, it will make better effects and cgi creatable for even an individual, just like the effects we created with cgi softwares we couldn't with only a camera.

I still think this arises from the shock of AI

I think it's because it's not really financially beneficial for the person creating the tutorial. I was approached once or twice to make paid tutorials by a 3rd party, and you basically get a small flat fee for spending months on making a tutorial that will have many revisions, and requires you to give feedback and reviews of students' work for a long time thereafter. Basically 3-6 months work for about $5-10k

I'm still creating commercial Houdini training. My Pragmatic VEX course actually received a major update recently, and I'm currently working on Volume 2 as well, which I hope to release soon.

From my perspective, producing this kind of material is definitely a significant investment of time, especially when you want to cover more advanced topics in depth and keep the material updated as Houdini evolves. But I don't think commercial Houdini training is disappearing entirely. There are still people creating it

Yeah, I’ve noticed that too. Houdini has always had a pretty steep learning curve, and making good tutorials takes a lot of time. With AI getting so much attention now, I guess fewer creators see CG tutorials as worth the effort. It’s a bit of a shame though, because there’s still so much to learn with Houdini.

happybabywzy
even Houdini channels on YouTube aren't releasing new lessons.

I've noticed though that SideFX has increased their output of tutorials over the years.

I've been using Houdini since about 14.0.

Have you seen what SFX are featuring on their Youtube channel these days ? According to them, the best way to do stuff in Houdini now is to use Claude with MCP to 'make' stuff and then ComfyUi to 'render' it. No tutorial required. So why would any professional bother with (paid or otherwise) ?

isamarsh  伊萨马什
Have you seen what SFX are featuring on their Youtube channel these days ? According to them, the best way to do stuff in Houdini now is to use Claude with MCP to 'make' stuff and then ComfyUi to 'render' it. No tutorial required. So why would any professional bother with (paid or otherwise) ?

Are you saying Houdini has abandoned its existing workflow ?

isamarsh
Have you seen what SFX are featuring on their Youtube channel these days ? According to them, the best way to do stuff in Houdini now is to ...

I think that is quite some distortion.