Now that it supports python, I am thinking of using it to perform realtime visualization. The question is whether there is too much overhead in its structures and whether its viewports are optimized enough for realtime views?

I am not talking about fancy shading and appearances, I am more interetsted in using its node based architecture and some simple geometry and surfaces for representing data. With a modest but still powerful NVIdia 8800 GTX card with 512MB, and an Intel Core Duo 2 at 3Ghz, am I going to have much luck?

have a look at http://www.derivativeinc.com/tools/touchdesigner.asp [derivativeinc.com]

“TouchDesigner is a full 3D animation tool designed for realtime performance.”

Derivative spun-off in 2000 from Side Effects

arctor
have a look at http://www.derivativeinc.com/tools/touchdesigner.asp [derivativeinc.com]

“TouchDesigner is a full 3D animation tool designed for realtime performance.”

Derivative spun-off in 2000 from Side Effects

Interesting, does that mean in your view that H9 is not performant enough for what I'm interested in?

The problem with Touch is that it lacks Python, which is a must have for what I am doing. Also, Houdini is obviously better supported and has a larger financial incentive behind its long term growth.

Houdini is good and capable for that, but Touch is optimized for it.

Dragos

You might want to know that Houdini 9.5 now has:
# Better OpenGL2 support in the viewport.
# Support for GLSL shaders in SHOPs.

Also, along with the regular Python language freedoms, you can use nodes like the Network CHOP to receive data (if your source data to visualize is coming from a remote source). Also, all the filename fields support http/ and ftp/ protocols, etc.

Cjkr

You could also look into this open source software, while not python, it is similar…I think it's 2D only…but it's pretty cool 2D, so it may or may not work for what you need:

http://processing.org/ [processing.org]

jason_iversen
You might want to know that Houdini 9.5 now has:
# Better OpenGL2 support in the viewport.
# Support for GLSL shaders in SHOPs.

Also, along with the regular Python language freedoms, you can use nodes like the Network CHOP to receive data (if your source data to visualize is coming from a remote source). Also, all the filename fields support http/ and ftp/ protocols, etc.

Aren't network chops only for communicating between two Houdini processes? At least that's what the docs make it seem like, unless I'm looking at the wrong thing.

Thanks for all the other feedback. I think Houdini can handle what I have in mind, especially since there are 64bit versions and its designed to handle very large data sets.

syme
Cjkr

You could also look into this open source software, while not python, it is similar…I think it's 2D only…but it's pretty cool 2D, so it may or may not work for what you need:

http://processing.org/ [processing.org]

Yeah I've seen that before. Pretty cool, but based on Java I believe, and therefore quite unable to handle the memory loads of what I have in mind. Other reasons too I would not use it, such as no widget support, no way to build UIs, no python, etc. But very cool technology.

Not that I want to completely take your focus away from Houdini but why do you need Houdini for real-time visualization? Houdini ´s selling point is not real-time and derivative´s codebase is not up to date even if it is “optimized” for real-time. If it is exclusively Python in a 3D app you’re looking for I would suggest having a look at Blender actually. Seeing from its latest development on its Game engine I would highly recommend it, perhaps you can use both Houdini and Blender. And Blender is one of the fastest app when it comes to viewport interaction and animating objects with fast playback. If you’re good at python I think you can squeeze a lot from Blender and really have no problem to have Houdini and Blender work together. Check out http://www.yofrankie.org/ [yofrankie.org] to see where blender Realtime Game Engine is heading.

Check out www.unity3d.com [unity3d.com] nice little scriptable realtime 3d engine.
It can use javascript, boo (python derivative) and c#
Cheap too. Runs on Mac but can publish to PC, Mac and web.