Hello,

My name is Tanel.
I am from Estonia.
I started learning Houdini.
Before i have used Adobe After Effects and a little Cinema 4D
I am in no professional user.
Here are some examples i have made used Adobe After Effects)and one project was done in Cinema 4D.
Here are some examples of level where i want to get:
https://vimeo.com/groups/xpchallenge/videos/133500158?ref=fb-share&1 [vimeo.com]

https://vimeo.com/133562823 [vimeo.com]

https://vimeo.com/132289126 [vimeo.com]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOu1qjc9Twg [youtube.com]

I am no near to that level.
Here are some examples what i have created based on tutorials.

(Created in After Effects)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbp6ZHnIvKc [youtube.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHe1lQEDkY4&feature=youtu.be [youtube.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEATmdTvWtI&feature=youtu.be [youtube.com]

And this is my latest (Created in cinema 4D):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOby6S2KOvk [youtube.com]

My goal is to learn and get to the level that i am able to do motion graphics like small commercials, design logos and animate them in 3d.

And then i discovered Houdini.
I did see many Cinema 4d workshops on youtube also the “noseman” ones.
All were interesting. But when i piced up Houdini i discovered it is complex tool and before i start dooing advanced stuff i need to know the basics. I watched different tutorials that i was able to find on Youtube (some are good some are bad).
Why some are good and some are bad?
Because some people explain stuff in tutorials and they speak too fast and you have to rewind back and listen what they say again and again and some people use shortcuts abut they do not explain how they opened some window. Or they do clicking and selecting so fast that you have to rewind and look video again to understand it. (For example some functions work only when you mouse cursor is hovered over that window or area).
But back to the question.

Please can some one explain me nodes better.
There is Geometry view and Scene view.

I can create objects in Scene view and also in Geometry view
In what cases should you create object in Geometry view and in what case should you create object in Scene view.


Please don`t hit me for having stupid questions. I realy want to understand and learn.
I am too stubborn to quit.

Added additional attachments also.

In first picture you can see my view in the Scene level and on another picture you see Geometry level for the sphere

Goal atm was to make sphere move up and down, and smaller spheres follow the path for the biger sphere I went inside of geometry level for the sphere and created new sphere there and connected them but i cant see the animation for them in Scene level. In Scene level i see only the first sphere move up and down (animated that one in Scene level)


Is there a difference animating in geometry level or in Scene level?

Hi Tanel,

Scene Level is a more for scene organization, while geometry level is for modelling and similar stuff.

For example if you have a car you would like to have all the car parts inside one geometry node, as it is one object made of many small objects.

But if you would have a second car you would create a separate geometry node for it, because it is an independent object from the first car.

So if objects belong together, keep them together in one node. If they are separate, use different nodes to control them individually.

In your case you would like to have all of your spheres within one node.

You can only see objects which are within the pipeline of the node with a display/render flag. Display and render flag is the very last bar on a node (display - blue | render - purple). If just click on them both flags will be activated. Within a geometry node only one node can have a display and one only a render flag, or both at the same time on one node.

In order to see multiple objects, you need to first merge them together with a merge node and set the render/display flag on the merge or on any other node after the merge. (See pics)

Btw you con split display and render flag with Ctrl-Click (Render) and Alt-Click (Display). Display means visible in the viewport. Render means output for rendering.

I hope this helps

Regards to Estonia

Thank you for this answer. It helps a lot.
Got another question. I hope u do not mind.

Atm i have it like this that in geometry level 2 nodes are connected and i can see both on Scene level.
What if i want to animate so that box follows specific path (for example circles around the sphere) while i move the sphere.
Should i do the animation like this:

1.) Enter to Geometry level where i have Sphere and box merged together and go to “Windows” >> “Desktop” >> “Animate”
And animate it there?

My idea is that i create object and then animate it moving along specific path and same time object changes and deforms.
and different parts object have different textures.

Hi Tanel,

if you like to have other objects moving circular around one object, the easiest way to achieve this is to have a circle path parented to it.
So you could animate the small spheres on the path of the circular line.
The animate desktop is just for your panel layout, but it is not to explicit layout for animation. You can set keyframes easily in the parameter panel. Just right-click on the channel you would like to animate and click on keyframe.

In order to check it completely, just upload your hip file.

For further information about the motion path check the documentation:
http://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini15.0/shelf/followpath [sidefx.com]

Best regards,

Jacob