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SI Users » Softimage to Houdini guides
- AmmonsHorn
- 12 posts
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I have a really stupid small question: is there a tool in Houdini equivalent to the tweak tool in SI? I've looked a lot and failed to find it.
SI Users » SI and Houdini
- AmmonsHorn
- 12 posts
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I'm a professor learning to model anatomy for course materials, and just this past week had started to learn ICE with the hope that I could start doing things like animate biological processes. I started with Softimage after using trials of it, Maya, 3DSMax, Lightwave, Modo, and I think Cinema 4D. I chose Softimage for ease of use, well-roundedness, and what was the most intuitive of interfaces for me personally.
This is why I didn't continue with Houdini. Out of the several packages I tried out, Houdini seemed particularly specialized and I had a lot of trouble with the modeling tools. Additionally, the lack of available training materials compared to other packages made it simply easier to get over the first bump of the learning curve with other software. (At Digital Tutors there are more than 5 times as many lessons on Softimage and 3DSMax, and 20 times as many on Maya, compared to Houdini, for example.)
If you improved those two things, I think you could expand your market share. Most if not all of the professionals that I talked to in exploring software options started on something other than Houdini and only moved to because a job required it (although it was encouraging to hear their opinions after the move). In general, people tend to stick with what they know and can work with efficiently, so if you make it easier for the novice to get started, you'll hook more people and keep them around.
I'm back to looking at Houdini because I'm sure it will allow me to do the things that I'd like to eventually do, but also partly in reaction to Autodesk- I'm not happy with them killing Softimage, while I think it would be easier for me to move to Maya I feel Sidefx would be more dependable in the future. I don't see any reason to ask my department for money to spend on a product if the company isn't committed to it.
As far as this forum goes, it might be helpful to group threads on Softimage–>Houdini conversion based on area into subforums- like one for modeling, one for dynamics, one for rendering, etc.
halfdan
While Houdini is often regarded as a pure TD and VFX tool, we're always looking for ways to make it more artist friendly, and expand its usage beyond its traditional VFX roots.
This is why I didn't continue with Houdini. Out of the several packages I tried out, Houdini seemed particularly specialized and I had a lot of trouble with the modeling tools. Additionally, the lack of available training materials compared to other packages made it simply easier to get over the first bump of the learning curve with other software. (At Digital Tutors there are more than 5 times as many lessons on Softimage and 3DSMax, and 20 times as many on Maya, compared to Houdini, for example.)
If you improved those two things, I think you could expand your market share. Most if not all of the professionals that I talked to in exploring software options started on something other than Houdini and only moved to because a job required it (although it was encouraging to hear their opinions after the move). In general, people tend to stick with what they know and can work with efficiently, so if you make it easier for the novice to get started, you'll hook more people and keep them around.
I'm back to looking at Houdini because I'm sure it will allow me to do the things that I'd like to eventually do, but also partly in reaction to Autodesk- I'm not happy with them killing Softimage, while I think it would be easier for me to move to Maya I feel Sidefx would be more dependable in the future. I don't see any reason to ask my department for money to spend on a product if the company isn't committed to it.
As far as this forum goes, it might be helpful to group threads on Softimage–>Houdini conversion based on area into subforums- like one for modeling, one for dynamics, one for rendering, etc.
Houdini Lounge » New to Mantra
- AmmonsHorn
- 12 posts
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circusmonkey
Phong, Blinn, Lambert are specular shading models. So for instance if you drag a basic surface from the material lib into a shop .Then select the specular tab of the material under specular type you will see a drop down list
Rob
Thanks so much!
Houdini Lounge » New to Mantra
- AmmonsHorn
- 12 posts
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I have a quick question as well since I'm just starting to mess around with Houdini's rendering options; are there standard materials like Phong, Blinn, Lambert available? I can't seem to find them in the material palette, although I know I've seen screenshots of Houdini with these materials available. I'm using Apprentice if that makes a difference.
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » optimizing houdini performance?
- AmmonsHorn
- 12 posts
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SYmek
So if not so much big difference means thousand of dollar… you have the picture.
Thanks for the input. There are a lot of rebates for 7000/8000 series video cards right now, so I could reasonably get a card for under $70; I might just take the risk and try one of those out to see if it solves my problem. Other than that I'm not too savvy with drivers/software issues, so if it's gonna be slow, then it's gonna be slow. Thanks again though.
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » optimizing houdini performance?
- AmmonsHorn
- 12 posts
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SYmek
Gee, my gforce7300GT for a 80$ is more than enough! You really want this card, don't you?
Don't blame Houdini for this
Quite the contrary, I'd rather not spend any money at all on a new card, but neither of the ATI gamer cards are working out for me, and everyone seems to vote Nvidia. However I'm concerned that I'm going to run into problems going that route if I try another gamer level card. So that's why I was looking at the workstation cards, but I don't have any experience with them and wanted to make sure that if I did spend any more money, I wouldn't be shortchanging myself on performance.
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » optimizing houdini performance?
- AmmonsHorn
- 12 posts
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Thanks for the replies.
I'm considering just getting a Quadro card, since both the ATI cards I have access to aren't performing great. I was looking at the selection at www.newegg.com, and the FX570 seems like a reasonable price for my budget; the FX1700 is more than twice as expensive for twice the amount of video RAM. Performance-wise, would the FX570 be adequate for a hobbyist just looking to learn the software and fool around, or will I end up kicking myself 6 months down the line for not going for 512 MB RAM?
stevenong
Unfortunately, ATI drivers do not have proper OpenGL support. Please search through the forums to see what driver versions other ATI users are using.
I'm considering just getting a Quadro card, since both the ATI cards I have access to aren't performing great. I was looking at the selection at www.newegg.com, and the FX570 seems like a reasonable price for my budget; the FX1700 is more than twice as expensive for twice the amount of video RAM. Performance-wise, would the FX570 be adequate for a hobbyist just looking to learn the software and fool around, or will I end up kicking myself 6 months down the line for not going for 512 MB RAM?
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » optimizing houdini performance?
- AmmonsHorn
- 12 posts
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Hi, I was wondering if there were any guides available for optimizing the performance of Houdini Apprentice. I get a lot of delay between commands that really makes it inefficient to use. Currently my computer's specs are an Intel E6400 processor, 5 GB RAM, ATI Radeon HD 2600XT with 512 MB RAM, and a western digital raptor (10,000 rpm) primary disk drive. I know the video card is a gaming card and not a workstation card, but I'm getting a lot of delay after commands when I'm using fairly simple scenes- modeling with less than a few thousand polygons, no textures or anything else. I'm running Vista Business 64-bit, which I know isn't great, but I'm still surprised to see so much delay when all my other software runs okay. Am I missing some general settings or obvious tweaks?
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Problem with OBJ import
- AmmonsHorn
- 12 posts
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probbins
In any of the file chooser you'll see an option to “Show Sequences as a Single Entry”, turn that off and you'll not have that problem.
Thanks for the tip!
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Problem with OBJ import
- AmmonsHorn
- 12 posts
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Thank you very much for the replies, apparently when I was importing the file it was changing the name of the file. My file had the number 2 at the end of the name and houdini was changing that number to “$F” for some reason; manually typing the actual filename into the import dialog box allowed me to import my geometry.
Houdini Indie and Apprentice » Problem with OBJ import
- AmmonsHorn
- 12 posts
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I'm having a problem importing an OBJ that I made in Silo. Everything appears to go okay, as far as there being a node in the panel on the right, but nothing appears in the viewport except the manipulator.
Am I missing something as far as import options are concerned? I'm using a radeon X550 video card, but I can't find any exhaustive list of supported cards so I'm not sure if this is the problem. This is my first experience with houdini (I was excited to see the Apprentice starving artist edition come out and wanted to try the free version to make sure it would work on my computer before spending the $99) so unfortunately I'm not experienced enough to troubleshoot very well.
Am I missing something as far as import options are concerned? I'm using a radeon X550 video card, but I can't find any exhaustive list of supported cards so I'm not sure if this is the problem. This is my first experience with houdini (I was excited to see the Apprentice starving artist edition come out and wanted to try the free version to make sure it would work on my computer before spending the $99) so unfortunately I'm not experienced enough to troubleshoot very well.
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