well im really interested in the Animation/gamer world, i do model airplanes mainly but i also am inerested in PC pretty much anythign techy i like. Anyways i saw the Houdini Apprentice im currently downloading it now, but i was going to ask. What exactly can you do in Houdini? I mean can you build your own video game? I have yet to try it out, but judging from the pics it looks like a fantastic program, thank you guys for having it free, i like free stuff lol, but yeah im intersted in creating my own game or at least have a nice 3D software that will create the objects that i can then import into my own video game. But i have far more to learn to be near this stage so could you guys just tell maybe show me hwat you can do in houdini?

thanks much!

Houdini is not a gaming engine, so you cannot actually make a (decent*) game directly inside Houdini, however it is a full fledged 3d package so you can certainly model, do visual effects, and animated cycles that you could potentially export out to a game engine.

Apprentice HD is compatible with the Torque Game Engine [garagegames.com] from Garage Games, so you may wish to explore that avenue.


* Note that some people have been able to make Space Invaders/Pong games inside Houdini, and interfaced with controllers such as the Wiimote.

GreenAce92
What exactly can you do in Houdini?

That is literally governed by experience and imagination. I dont think there is much, if anything you cannot acheive inside of Houdini. That is one of the main reasons that keeps me excited about Houdini. Never ceases to amaze me what people can squeeze from this application.

A small suggestion from me would be to watch lots of tutorials to get you familiar with the GUI and the methodology surrounding the node-based workflow (there are plenty of video's here and at 3dbuzz to get you started). Just give yourself a lot of time to play with it. Create WIP threads and you can get advice and idea's as you want them, and just ask questions.

Good luck and have fun!

Ahhh cool see once i get to know how to create objects im thinkin of making a fantasy ww2 aircraft attack scene(like Crimson Skies) should be pretty sick and some other random ideas i come up with, i especially like Mechs pretty sweet gundams i guess.

thanks for the advice and help

Ahh ok i see, see i wanted to create flight simulators that had deccent graphichs but didnt use too much paging file.


Oh and heres a random question, in theory if you knew tons and tons about PC's could you write a program on just about anything you wanted to write a program on? i mean i see people creating their own games, own 3D dimensioning and designing softwares, so if you knew how to could you make your own Antivirus or spyware stuff like that?

just a random question sorry about that just wanted to know.

I think it would be a brilliant understanding of Operating Systems (especially the one you wish to design a game/engine for) and a solid understanding of C#/C++

Im not a coder so there are probably much better qualified people on here to answer that question for you.

Yeah someday i may not have to buy anything for my PC because i can just make it! lol

Well i still have to figure out how to make a simple object/person

do you know how to turn off shader? My graphics card wont support it.

I would suggest researching the various SOP's for deforming geometry and the methods of generating animation rigs; compared against your target engine's requirements for the assets. Not all game engines read all 3D formats….some take binary proprietary formats, some will read ‘standardized’ DCC formats.

The Torque Game Engine DTS/DSQ ROP is well constructed and gives excellent results for the feature list of the two binary formats. The Apprentice HD EULA will allow commercial use of the HD platform for Torque Game Engine content/effects.

Having worked HD for TGE content for a little while, I have observed HD's abilities and I'll go out on a limb here and say with a little more ‘scriptSavy’ artist, you could probably get HD to generate some scripts for TGE as well…setting up shape dataBlocks, etc…I see potential for a wider application of this software beyond mere shape/geometry rendering/binary output.

Good luck! Have fun!

yeah well before i have any fun i have to first figure out how to make a simple object, then learn how to annimate it, i mean like would you turn a camera on(that is a constant streaming camera) and just move the parts manuallY? i mean can you choose what part you'd like to move?

I'd recommend checking out the videos at 3D Buzz: http://www.3dbuzz.com/vbforum/sv_video.php?v=11 [3dbuzz.com]

Thanks man, yeah il have to mess around with the program more later, got school just started sigh…

Cool, well as a word of advice; I often wish it had occurred to me to get into 3d when I first gained access to computers.

I'd highly recommend getting a “hobby” like modeling or something to occupy your after school hours if you would otherwise only be watching reruns of your favorite tv show or replaying your favorite game.

OH but i do my friend i build Rc Planes. ill post some video links below of some of my work. Im 15 so im in high school god its crazy. Anyways im really interested in PC/programming you know technology at its best, anyways have you ever tried the game RoR? its a simulation game and you can build your own vehicles in it, you can build boats/cars/airplanes/helicopters i mean the graphics arent the best but you do basic scripting i think its called like so:

Name of truck
—-Globals
——–1000, 0.0, tracks/semi
—–engine
——-min rpm, max rpm, 1st gear, and soo on… its pretty understandable but i got really annoyed quick, making load models and importing them into the game were no problem but these “load” models are basically crates, or stuff you'd load into trucks, anyways when i actually tried to build cars because my goal was to make a pipercub for a flight sim kinda thing(the game simulates airplanes too) but it was so annoying, because my so called script the program that was used to write it it kept deleting parts of my scipt, so one of the most important parts was —end which is at the very bottom of everything and it kept dissappearing so it would always crash on me.

So anyways back to animation, im good with CAD like creating airplanes but ive never done actually like cartoons but what im interested in is to make mechs or giant robots that fight, i also would like to try that realism mixed with animation like a video on youtube with the ashphalt destruction were a hole just erupts in the middle of the road.

im really interested in this software, i do have computer limitations(this is why it tells me i gotta turn off shading because my graphics card wont support it) i am planning on gettign a new one since upgrading seems like it wont be worht it. I got a Dell Dimension 4500 for desktop, i mean its a pretty nice computer advanced back then because my parent used it for 3D Studio stuff kinda a coincidence lol

Im still trying ot figure out how to make a simple stickman dance then how to animate him lol

thanks for your help man

oh some of my videos from previous built planes:

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/scratchbuilt-pipercub/2053481964 [video.aol.com]

http://www.vimeo.com/1040069 [vimeo.com]

http://www.vimeo.com/1084548 [vimeo.com]

http://www.vimeo.com/864471 [vimeo.com]

http://www.vimeo.com/1439947 [vimeo.com]

yeah sorry there are soo many and i have many more on like 4 different video sites but im proud of my rc creations. Im getting into 3D flying but i gotta order parts from china

RC planes is good hobby. I never actually got to fly any as a kid, although I did crash a few control-liner planes.

Anyhoo I think you should build me a Mooney Bravo (M20M) . Id love to fly the real thing. I was supposed to do my pilots licence this year, but never got around to it

Oh man thats a bummer! a friend of mine owns a sweet Yellow Supercub, he took me up in it in Alaska ahh it was sweet.