polyknit - this tool was removed, its role being supposedly filled by the
topobuild node. The way it's currently implemented, topobuild does not successfully replaces the extinct polyknit. The latter also had a lot of problems making it almost impossible to use, but the replacement could be a lot better IMO.
Topobuild feels way less “snappy” than what I'm used to in XSI and it's a problem, not just a matter of preference as it affects the speed I draw with.
Houdini's topobuild is not as smart as XSI's “polyknit” as it's not adaptive: XSI's polyknit snaps to both points and edges while Houdini expects only points and there's no edge snapping.
Here you'll notice XSI's polyknit snapping to either points or edges and the snap feels very robust and precise.
Changing the starting edge can be done on the fly without any key pressing, but by just passing the mouse cursor over the desired edge (towards the end of the animation).
Houdini's current topobuild is slower as you can't snap but to just points and you have to click twice, for each edge end point in order to complete the new polygon. Also, the mouse cursor should probably lead with a point not an edge. Of course that would not be optimal when you're doing retopo, but it would be in the case of poly-knitting and if this particular matter is not sufficient to convince anyone that multiple functionality crammed into a single tool is often not the best to way to go, I don't know what is.
If you start by clicking a point, since it's not adaptive, you'll have to click each and every point in order to complete a new face.
The same in XSI - starting with a point.
As I and others have said countless times, small things like these add up and make for a much better experience when working.
The solution I'm proposing is to either:
1. bring back the polyknit tool; it's preferable, as smaller, more specialized nodes are better IMO than those with a ton of features and prefs - they're easier to manage and it's possible that at one point you want to add a functionality that could be impeded by the tool's underlying workings.
2. make topobuild function akin to XSI's polyknit tool for quick interaction. Also you should be able to draw on “empty space”.