Hey guys, I'm a little new and would like any help that is thrown my way. So I have found this wonderful place of Houdini thanks to one of my favorite VFX companies “mainroad post”, and since I'm an aspiring Filmmaker, I thought it would be of great value for me to grasp this amazing program! So let's get down to the questions.

Q1: So I noticed you could either get Houdini FX as the program alone or you could get a Engine that would serve as a sort of Plugin for Maya. Since I'm also interested in learning Maya, what seems more reasonable to get? Also are their any differences between the two (Houdini FX and Houdini Engine for Maya)?

Q2: I've seen plenty of tutorials around, but is there one that starts right from the beginning? Going over the interface and such? Kinda like a Training Essentials type of thing.

Q3: I've come across things like Houdini 15, 13, etc… Are these software updates?

Q4: Finally, Terminology. One thing that has always taken me some time was memorizing Terminology. In what I've found in Houdini and the 3D world, there's a lot. So what would be the best way to learn theses terms? Tutorials, Forms, etc?

Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

-Aiden

1: Maya is complete software package. It does everything well. Personally I think it is better than its reputation. It excels at getting expanded with plug-ins and scripts. It tends to occasionally crash and not safe the file, or safe a corrupted file. So turn on autosafe. Note that all 3D programs crash sometimes. Personally I think it has the best outliner (scene organization) in the business, but that's debatable. I strongly recommend using version 2016 or higher.
Houdini is a complete software package. It is harder to get into than Maya, a worse modeller, but it is far more technical. It can be used fully procedural so that you can reuse assets you make on various projects. But creating and debugging these assets (HDAs) takes quite some time.
Houdini Engine is a plug-in that requires an installed Houdini (but not another Houdini license) that allows you to run HDAs in other programs. You cannot create HDAs with Houdini Engine.

2: Look at the official SideFX tuts and read the official help documentation.

3. 13 14 15 etc are versions. There are many software updates inbetween (daily builds have bug fixes and sometimes add new minor features). A new version comes out about once a year or so.

4. Read the official help documentation.

Do you realise you can't even open 2 outliners in Maya at the same time?

FYI XSI has still today the best “outliner” by miles but unfortunately Autodesk killed the software so we are stuck.

DASD
Personally I think it has the best outliner (scene organization) in the business, but that's debatable.

I never touched XSI, so I might be missing out. Will check it out. But yeah, I never considered XSI, because it's dying out.