Ive been reading page after page about Houdini. And it has come to me that Houdini isn't the main software serious 3d artists use. I see alot of people utilizing Houdini for specific tasks, then jumping back to other pieces of software. For example, I have read alot of people using Silo and Modo to model, Houdini for particles and dynamics and Maya,max and SoftImage for animating and rendering.

Obviously each of these programs can do it all by themselves. But, Im really curious on what exactly do you guys “NEED” Houdni for, and what do you not need from it? (Need particles, not need to model in it, etc.) I want to further my education with Houdini, but I want to get an idea of what you all use it for. If its not exactly modeling, or what not, Id like to know why. So I can move else where and focus on Houdini's strengths.

Along with its weakness' what are its dominating strengths?

Houdini is SOPs. Everything else is there to support SOPs or to create pretty pictures from SOPs.

SOPs are the Geoemtry Surface OPerators. They are modeling tools. Very procedural modeling tools. That is what Houdini artists do. Model stuff. Lots and lots of stuff. Change a few parms and new stuff comes out. All atutomagically.

EVERYTHING passes through SOPs and invariably will be modified either a little or alot to the point of completely rebuilding the datasets on-the-fly. Again SOPs = Modeling.

So to say that Houdini isn't for modeling tells me that you really haven't gotten in to Houdini much at all. Best advice? Just dive in and learn. Good Houdini users make fantastic Maya users btw (frustrated too ).

Depending on the facility, the type of work they are currently doing, it's religion (long standing archaic politics) which implicitly dirives the pipeline, the preferences/comfort zones of the leads on the shots and the competency level of the current bodies on staff, they'll use a particular set of tools.


Houdini can be used for every part of a production pipeline as I have directly witnessed on many occasions. Only large areas that aren't covered at this point in time is sculpting and 2d painting of textures.

Have a look at the customer stories on the Web Site. You will see everything from visual effects simulations to custom character deformers to aid in tracking character deformations and everything in between. Then ask questions a wee bit more specific than this please.

jeff
Depending on the facility, the type of work they are currently doing, it's religion (long standing archaic politics) which implicitly dirives the pipeline, the preferences/comfort zones of the leads on the shots and the competency level of the current bodies on staff, they'll use a particular set of tools.

Ya I am new to the product. What I did before dedicating myself to something is read the forums and see what people say. It became apparent to me that people who were high end users, or said they were, were using specific programs according to their strengths. This post was my trying to acquire more information not about what can be done, but what do you guys do. Im coming in the game too late to try to re-invent the wheel. I figure Ill learn from everyone else' experience. The top quote has been the most helpful to me in understanding how things work depending on the place you work at and how you work.
I appreciate the feedback, everything you have said has totally opened my eyes to the functions available. But as usual I would request to know why exactly, with such a great feature why wouldnt this product be on the higher end of their lists for modeling. Of course Im not saying people dont use it, Heck I dont know. Its me asking you guys, what do you use and why. For some strange reason, im taking a liking to Houdini, and I do know Maya and Max, Im just trying to inquire more about what else is great about the program that Im not seeing. But over all, your input was awesome. It has guided me on understanding how things work. I look forward to learning more.

If I may ask, why do you think Houdini isnt as “popular” or widely used as Autodesk options?

Don't forget all those artists who use Houdini because it is the most fun you can ever get with 3d.

The big problem/advantage of Houdini that you need to have a bit of a technical head to get the most out of it and that's not to everybody's liking.

Perhaps that's one of the reasons why it's less popular than Autodesk /Mentaldelay , etc,

And don't forget that for a long time it was very expensive to get your hands on it. A bit like massive and naiad nowadays I guess; powerful, magical apps that aren't really available to most people but that doesn't mean they aren't any good.

Actually I have found Houdini to be way more artists friendly than many other options out there. I have been using many different apps all these years. And I have found Houdini to be much more fun and much more sophisticated to work with. Also Houdini is a software that is done right or at least nearly done right in many levels. No part of Houdini will feel flakey to you once you start using it seriously.

Use Houdini to make simple or very sophisticated stuff. It is just a tool but once you learn it, it limits you way less than many other software out there will limit you. With Houdini you do not need developers to develop stuff for you, you just build them if you are little more technical than average.

wow awesome advice. Thanks guys. For some strange reason, I know a decent level or max, but I really really want to do Houdini. Heres the kicker, Im not really that technical of a guy and im finding it a little harder to pick up. But unlike Maya and Max, It feels like a fun learning experience rather than a chore like the others.

I cant explain it, considering I know little to nothing about 3d. It might get crazier as I wanna get more in depth. The only thing that kills me is that getting a variety of tutorials is some what tough. Ive been finding alot here and there, but some times there arent any that answer “How do I do this or that” kinda thing. Im sure itll come over time.

No words about mantra !? :shock: More and more production houses transferring their rendering pipeline to Houdini/mantra. Mantra is very powerful, very efficient and very flexible renderer. Mantra have very tight integration with houdini. But for effective rendering in Houdini, you should be skillful in shading ,understand what's going on under the hood, have a bit of math knowledge. Well, i just want to say , that the more you learn Houdini and Mantra (via Renderman) , the better your images will be. And then you wiil be happy. If you want just make nice pictures and animations, just to show your friends, and not going to work in VFX industry, then i think you should probably stick with Maya/XSI/Modo/Blender/Max….. Houdini IS for production!

what exactly do you guys “NEED” Houdni for, and what do you not need from it?

After long time using Maya/MentalRay i came to rendering pipeline in Houdini. Modeling, texturing, animation - Maya. Then drop it to houdini using geometry cache. All lighting, shading and rendering - in houdini.
P.S. If you want rendering interiors , than you probably don't need houdini at all. Good Luck!
P.P.S Sorry for my English.

Stalkerx777
Well, i just want to say , that the more you learn Houdini and Mantra (via Renderman) , the better your images will be. And then you wiil be happy.

Yes.

And yet, you can find some amazing applications of houdini in modeling - check out e.g.:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuvXylVS6HM [youtube.com]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eS9r8rlY50 [youtube.com]

… or see what bugg(y)s Swann on another forum thread:
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_forum&Itemid=172&page=viewtopic&t=19143 [sidefx.com]

Cheers,
Greg