Hi… I'm new to 3d modelling and I'd like to build an application that shows a hazard simulation. For example… the user selects a board house and chooses to simulate a Category 3 Hurricane. I know Houdini may be used to create the different models.. the house etc.. and can also do animations (the house being demolished or destroyed by flood waters)… What can I do with these models/animations.. what do I need to plug them into to get a full working application that a user can interact with?

It all depends on what kind of application you're talking about.

At it's simplest form, you could do various animations in Houdini, render it as video, and build a web page that lets the user easily move between the different pre-rendered videos.


At it's most complex form you need a team of highly paid programmers to build you software that will do complex simulations in real time with a user friendly gui designed by some artists…

You could do this with Flash or Director if you have experience with them.

Flash can export a standalone executable (EXE file) or .app for the mac, so it doesn't have to be a web based application.

I need a model I can interact with in real time… not pre-rendered videos.

good luck with that

You'll probably need to find some programmers who are good with CUDA or GLSL type of work.

you might want to use a game engine…
I really don't know much about it but I know there are some free ones around or you could license one - then use the ready made editing tools to build your simulations…
Torque?

you could use houdini's little brother. Find it at touch077.com

I would suggest the Torque Game Engine for an ‘interactive’ simulation environment.

It can be ported to run thru a web page, or can be compiled into a binary for redistribution.

The Torque Engine ‘Community’ is quite large and is involved with many different type of ‘interactive’ simulations.

Good luck!

If you are going down the game engine route I'd take a look at unity www.unity3d.com [unity3d.com]