Per request I would like to start a new thread and ask any and all Houdini Users if they would, as of now prefer working in H8.x, or H9.x

My self, I was anxiously anticipating the new liquid solver and volumetric tools H9 SESI had been showing us. Upon using it, I felt I was a different piece of Software, some things were the same, but overall this is almost a new package. It has been suggested that perhaps calling it Penn & Teller v1 would have been a better idea, and I agree.

I have come to a compromise though. I will do my volumetric stuff in Maya, which is reliable and I can use with a certain amount of efficiency, and I will continue doing particle work in H8, which is also reliable and I can work with a certain amount of efficiency.

My verdict on H9 - it's a myth and it's been busted.

My rankings of products.

1. Team Fortress 2
   
2. Portal*
   
3. Houdini 9 (Penn & Teller v1)
   
4. Houdini 8.2
   
5. gvim
   
6. Eve Online (pew pew pew)
   
7. Everything Else
   
8. Windows Vista
   
   *-Only until I beat it every which way.

Ok, my turn:

1. Dr.Katz
2. Sea Lab 2021
3. Robochiken
4. Futurama
5. South Park
6. Simpsons
7. Parice Hilton
8. Windows Vista

Nice list wolfwood and Madjestic, here is mine

1. Starcraft broodwars
2. Planescape Torment
3. Coffee (i know it isn't software but i need it with every software package i use…)
4. Music (see 3)
5. gvim
6. Penn & Teller v1 (i mean i could use houdini 8.2 but, but, resistance is futile, got to keep up with Jones's etc. etc.)
7. More coffee (maybe know with a bit of cognac or whiskey)
8. Some Finnish like OS

Little rant in defense of Phenom (if he needs any) there are some annoyances with h9 like suddenly tabs in your input field after accidently touching your scroll wheel and by that, destroying your twenty line hscript (…hmmm, it's a MS mouse running under Linux, maybe that is asking for trouble), and well, it somehow feels less robust than h8. BTW, could the little buttons at the bottom of the houdini main window (the auto-update etc) be moved next to the Auto Takes checkbox plenty of space there and somehow they feel a bit lost in the interface.
Rant off

Pagefan
… there are some annoyances with h9 like suddenly tabs in your input field after accidently touching your scroll wheel and by that, destroying your twenty line hscript (…hmmm, it's a MS mouse running under Linux, maybe that is asking for trouble), and well, it somehow feels less robust than h8. BTW, could the little buttons at the bottom of the houdini main window (the auto-update etc) be moved next to the Auto Takes checkbox: plenty of space there and somehow they feel a bit lost in the interface.

This is good constructive criticism; I'm sure Phenom could just a more satisfying answer and perhaps some action from SESI (bug-fixes and RFEs and such) if he expressed exactly what some of his issues are. I think we all know that H9 is buggy but are willing to endure the tough times while SESI tighten up 9 and 9.1 for the sake of the cool new tools.

Reasons to change the name from Houdini to Penn and Teller

Flashy, Stylish, Controversial, and a lot less magic.

As long as we're making it a running joke.

And I don't know, but it seems like the whole goal here was to make Houdini easier for the first time user, but it seems to me that is difficult to navigate and get set up. A lot of work has to be done to counteract the better gui, to make it more usable, and still I feel like I'm moving at a snails pace. That's my main gripe I guess, just moving through quicksand with a deadline isn't much fun.

deal with the bugs, or just wait for 10, or one that doesn't feel like a beta and keep using 8, I here stories that H4 was a little like this, and a lot of veterans used H3 till 5 came out. don't know, opened H4 and was lost so I didn't pick it up again till 7.

Ok, last thing and Its your turn

Houdini 8.x
HDTV's
Battlestar Galactica
Heroes
PS3
Everything Else
M$ anything
H.9x

Is 8 the upper limit? Ok, here's mine:

1) vim
2) vim
3) vim
4) vim
5) vim
6) (…still analyzing…)
7) Everything else
8) TheCluelessAlex

1. “H8 was better” is passe, boring and basically useless. I'm so sure the houdini community could find much better topics, which could actually be useful to the advancement of Houdini,
2. H9 is actually a much better product than H8
3. H9 UI is better than H8 UI but needs more tuning and refinements
4. H9 is buggy
5. SESI should do more marketing
6. Traditional Houdini users are important
7. New users are also important
8. It's very possible to use H9 much in the manner of H8, by linking panes, using multiple parameter panes, colorizing pane headers and ignoring the shelf/using only the tab menus.

Dragos

Hello,

I followed this thread with intereest because I am a new user

I've always heard as houdini as a very powerfull software, and I've always wanted to test it on some very specific ways (procedural modeling especially).

So far I didn't really have the time to try it, and I just started a few days ago. I must say that I have been quite impressed by the effort that have been put on the GUI. As a DT and software engineer I am greatly concerned by the GUI and the ergonomy of tools for the users. Tools can be easy to use and still extremely efficient.

So it didn't took me long to get the basis of the user interface and so to concentrate into deeper functionnalities. They are some stuff I don't really like, some (important) that for me are missing (or maybe I have not found yet), but overall H9 seem far more accessible, so far, that what I've seen so far.

Nevertheless it seems buggy and incomplete at some stages, especially documentation, example scenes and tutorials.
I am also surprised by the few amount of properties and parameters we can find on some types of objets and it doesn't seem to reflect the power of the software.
Some ideas could be taken from other software, like, on the GUI aspect and if the will is to open it to a wider audience, the Basic /Standart / Advanced interface of Cinema 4D (Advanced showing far more options).
Of course this could be targetted to an already experienced public.

I will continue learning Houdini, and I will enjoy to help make it better. I would appreciate, though, that SideFx listen and react to the suggestions we could give.


Hope that help…

Some ideas could be taken from other software, like, on the GUI aspect and if the will is to open it to a wider audience, the Basic /Standart / Advanced interface of Cinema 4D (Advanced showing far more options).

There are a couple ways that are used to do this: Presets, operator example files.

One is presets on operators. Make sure you know how to find them. Given that, there aren't that many depolyed by default in Houdini. There should be IMHO.
I know that a lot can be done with tools. It is trivial to have several instances of an operator with different names. One example that just came up yesterday was “how do I triangulate geometry?” The answer was an obvious “use the Divide SOP”. Moments later I had a "Poly Triangulate tool on my shelf and in the tab menus that placed a Divide SOP with the proper parms set.

Houdini operators are not that well aligned to having static menus with preset values. Somethings are dynamic (group menus and the Attribute Transfer POP gives you a listing of bound attributes). That is the role that operator presets play. As well, there are the example files that come with most node help. These example files show how to use a particular node in context. I still can't conceive anyone mastering houdini without opening up some example files and studying each node in context.

Attributes on geometry and local variables are quite dynamic. I rely on a lot of the default variables but more and more I use my own attributes/variables and VEX/VOPs to access and manipulate them. Those will not show up in the help. You have to learn how to querry, unsderstand then use them to best advantage.

We need to work on getting those power users from the first UI intro steps and in to the deep end of Houdini. It doesn't take much at all really.

jeff
It is trivial to have several instances of an operator with different names. One example that just came up yesterday was “how do I triangulate geometry?” The answer was an obvious “use the Divide SOP”. Moments later I had a "Poly Triangulate tool on my shelf and in the tab menus that placed a Divide SOP with the proper parms set.

RFE: allow us to add a “provide” tag to each nodes help. (ie, pertinent keywords that describe each nodes function; ie, divide, triangulate) then allow the TAB type ahead to return a list of hits from the “provides” tag in nodes help. maybe to the side of the “name” hits.

…this would allow people to find the functionality they're looking for much faster.

paul
RFE: allow us to add a “provide” tag to each nodes help. (ie, pertinent keywords that describe each nodes function; ie, divide, triangulate) then allow the TAB type ahead to return a list of hits from the “provides” tag in nodes help. maybe to the side of the “name” hits.

…this would allow people to find the functionality they're looking for much faster.

Great idea!

Although I wouldn't put it in the help. Since the Tab menu is just another interface for the Tools why not a new Tags entry under the Edit Tool-> Options.

So, it will make it in a new build of H9 or we have to wait for 9.1?
:idea:

Dragos

RFE submitted - 27655
Cool idea

You guys have just blown the whole Tab typing thing wide open!

The only problem with Wolfwood's idea is that Tab>awesome will show every operator in Houdini, because Houdini is awesome.

Wolfwood
Although I wouldn't put it in the help. Since the Tab menu is just another interface for the Tools why not a new Tags entry under the Edit Tool-> Options.

I think the TAB Submenu Path already satisfies most of this as it is a list of tags. Of course, you end up with long TAB menus.

Then you end up doing what I am up to already: Creating new tools that are simple subsets of existing nodes and new names/Labels. Either way you will pollute/add to the Tab list. With this approach I can modify the state of the node as placed. I type so fast that I never even notice the first huge list anyway. Hunting and pecking through the tab menus would be more cumbersome.

Somehow I think this is already happening with 100's or even 1000's of DA's in play at some facilities.

Jim's/Paul's idea makes it easier to add tags which would work with say Divide+Triangulate, Cookie/Boolean, metaball/blobby, etc.