Hi guys,
I have heard that when you get the licensed version of houdini, several hip files are provided, each one being an example for a specific operator. First is it true? or was I dreaming when I saw this?
Then, I was wondering if these examples could be provided for the users of the non-commercial version ( well, I think they are not, but I may have missed them ). I am quite in an urge, as I am developping a tv project and I need to decide if we are going to use houdini or not. So, I need to understand the posibilities and workflow of this soft quite quickly. I have undestood that houdini is really powerful and would be ideal for the works we will have, but…i am really lacking tutorials or any such help, and this is a big obstacle.
So, any help about this will be really apreciated!!

Thanks in advance

I have heard that when you get the licensed version of houdini, several hip files are provided, each one being an example for a specific operator. First is it true? or was I dreaming when I saw this?

Actually, these are being updated - they weren't in the last 5.5 release. I'm not sure on the status of these for the v6 release(still waiting on the disk), but perhaps someone from SESI can comment on this?

So, I need to understand the posibilities and workflow of this soft quite quickly. I have undestood that houdini is really powerful and would be ideal for the works we will have, but…i am really lacking tutorials or any such help, and this is a big obstacle.

Well, I wouldn't rush it. Some folks have huge brains and can get complicated apps quickly , but for the most part, I would recommend doing some training before rushing into production, where you'll have enough headaches.
When you say lacking tutorials, you mean apart from the existing html and vid tutorials? The “by example” hips are really just hip files with a few comments in them, not tutorials. Frankly, that's all I ever had to train with , but the newer tuts are a better way to learn. Once you've got them under your belt, the hips you refer to would be a good next step.
I hear your pain, though. I'm famous for rushing into production with betas and implementing new apps since that's where you learn the fastest. Fact is, you can do *anything* with Houdini, it's just a matter of *how*.

Cheers,

J.C.

Hi, and thx for your answer.
actually, I made most of the tutorials provided by 3d buzz and watched most of the videos from sidefx. They cover a large part, and this is really enough for getting addicted to houdini. But… for getting into production with it, you need to be sure and be aware of every tools available. So I tried experimenting many SOP for instance, but they were a few I could not understand to point or how to use them. So, examples with them would have been very welcome. So I hope the SESI guy may comment on this.

Thanks

Guillaume

The easiest way to get to the old demo directory is to get your hands on the second CD that shipped with Houdini5. Ask around on some of the forums and see if someone will burn you a copy.

The demo directory is about 350Mb of hip files split in to two directories. One was opspecific and the other was production. The opspecific directory contained a hip file for most of the operators in houdini showing how to use each node in a context.

Unforutnately the old-school use of “tubes and spheres” was deemed not appropriate for mass distribution along with the load problems. The files required a great deal of maintenance through the transition of H5 and H6.

I personally think that the demo files are an excellent vehicle to master the finer points of houdini. Many users have gone through them and gained a much more deep understanding of houdini.

Let's see if I can find the time to recreate them as OTL's. Not for a while, anyhow.


-jeff

Any chance they can be posted somewhere, with a caveat? Obviously we don't need them , but I agree - they are tremendously useful - even with error warnings on load.
Assuming SESI doesn't have a problem with someone sharing the data - it seems to make sense to post them alongside the online demo stuff…

Cheers,

J.C.

I was going to put one of the old site's tutorials on line but Mr. Magee got angry…and I didn't like him when he was angry…

Yep.

They are pretty old-school. Old and tarnished. Needs much polishing. Not much appreciated these days. :cry:

Just email the user list and see if someone has an old CD that they can give you. The best vintage is the Houdini 4.0 and 4.1 release as this was the last complete incarnation of the demos and was a separate CD that was a directly readable file system. No installation to go through.

-jeff