Hello,

I am somewhat experienced 3D artist who likes to explore all the different CG related software, and I decided to give Houdini a try. I would like to create this thread where I will be posting things that I find counter-intuitive for new users, along with suggestions on how to fix these issues so that Houdini learning curve is not so steep for new users.

I would like to start with 3 weird things that I immediately noticed.

1, Viewport background color:
It's rather embarrassing for a software that's been on the market for over 20 years to not have an option to simply change viewport background color. Having an option to dig deep into software folders and edit configuration files does not really cut it. Not everyone likes this “by programmers for programmers” design decision where you are told that you can tinker with everything but you need to go extra mile to do that.

When you launch Houdini for the first time you are greeted by somewhat messy, but relatively professionally skinned user interface and a super bright, noon on the Sahara desert themed viewport background, which feels like getting stabbed by a knife right in the eye. Yes, you have an option to swap to pitch black hole theme, but that doesn't really help either. I personally like to have my user interface looking nice, clean and uniform, and I am sure majority of the people do to. Therefore, ability to have control over viewport background is essential.

Solution: Simply add viewport background color option to preferences.

2. Environment light gizmo
So you open Houdini a proceed to try to make the simplest test scene, sphere on a plane lit by an HDRI. You go to the lights shelf, and drop in environment light, when you notice that your environment light is tilted? Who would want HDRI tilted by default? So you immediately delete it under impression that you accidentally moved the gizmo during creation, and proceed to create a new one from scratch. It's tilted again!

So I decided to ignore it for the moment, plug in HDRI map, and render, just to notice that my HDRI is not tilted. The confusion grew further as I started interactive render session and noticed that the gizmo orientation does not affect HDRI orientation in any way.

Why? Why would you confuse users so much? Why would the environment light come by default with a gizmo that not only immediately implies some sort of specific orientation, but also has no effect on the actual environment light orientation? Why doesn't environment light have regular, dome or sphere shaped gizmo.

Solution: Change environment light gizmo to something self-explanatory and non-confusing.

3. Renderers
Houdini by default comes with 4 (5) rendering engines that are presented as equally important. Official documentation does not do very good job at explaining which is good at what. Only after some amount of googling one arrives to a conclusion that PBR is probably the best one, yet it defaults to ray tracing.

What adds to the confusion is having “ray tracing” option in the same dropdown as “Physically based rendering”, implying that the PBR does not utilize raytracing, and that user has to make a choice between raytracing and rendering with PBR.

There should be at least some basic clarification about in which practical exemplar use cases it pays off to choose micropolygons instead of raytracing.

Solution:
Ideally deprecate Ray Tracing renderer and replace it with modern PBR only. Remove micropolygons as a rendering engine choice and instead introduce it in a form of checkbox “Render using micropolygons”. Remove Photon Map Generation option as a renderer choice and replace with a checkbox “Generate Photon Map only”

This way, you will end up with only single renderer, and the confusion is gone. Users then have simple option to make this single renderer render through micropolygonal rasterization.

It seems to me that ray tracing renderer is there only for legacy compatibility with older shaders based on light loops. This architecture turned out to be very inefficient, and proved to be demise for Mental Ray renderer. No need to follow the same path with Houdini.

I will be adding more things as I find them.

Welcome new user! You may want to log some RFE's for some of these ideas.
https://www.sidefx.com/forum/topic/25347/ [sidefx.com]

Your Point 1 was in my upcoming list of RFEs and I couldn't find any other such request. Glad I am not alone.Viewport aesthetics might needs to be looked into, considering that Houdini is making its foray in a more hands on approach to modeling ( as of now ).

“…1, Viewport background color:
It's rather embarrassing for a software that's been on the market for over 20 years to not have an option to simply change viewport background color. Having an option to dig deep into software folders and edit configuration files does not really cut it. Not everyone likes this “by programmers for programmers” design decision where you are told that you can tinker with everything but you need to go extra mile to do that….”

I guess you mean the choices of background colors?(3)

Because otherwise it can be done quickly,

Press d (while mouse is hovered over viewport) and it brings up window and you'll see background tab.

You have strange problems, I can rotate my HDRI however I want.

I'm a new user and none of these issues would be on my list. I think you may have spent to much time on a package that's only development was interface tinkering. AD comes to mind.
If I could some up the learning curve for Houdini.
First, you migrate from another package, 3dsMax in my case.
You start to do some tutorials and you think, why so complicated. Then a little further down the road the procedural penny drops. When you start to understand and use expressions… the door closes on ever returning to your old app.
The last thing you're concerned about is the colour of the background. Trust me, just persist with your learning, you won't regret it.
The one thing I would like to see is Mantra on a GPU… Although Vray is coming.

BabaJ
“…1, Viewport background color:
It's rather embarrassing for a software that's been on the market for over 20 years to not have an option to simply change viewport background color. Having an option to dig deep into software folders and edit configuration files does not really cut it. Not everyone likes this “by programmers for programmers” design decision where you are told that you can tinker with everything but you need to go extra mile to do that….”

I guess you mean the choices of background colors?(3)

Because otherwise it can be done quickly,

Press d (while mouse is hovered over viewport) and it brings up window and you'll see background tab.

Yes, you obviously did not read my post thoroughly. I mentioned you can change the default sky gradient to completely black color. And I mentioned that doesn't cut it.

Dan Bertilsson
You have strange problems, I can rotate my HDRI however I want.

You did not read my post correctly. I was talking about how default environment light gizmo confuses new users by implying specific orientation of environment map while not having an actual effect on environment map rotation. I never said you can not rotate HDRI. To explain it in a more simple manner - if you create environment light you are presented with strangely tilted gizmo, that you can move around, but it has no effect on the orientation if your environment light. Why have such a confusing gizmo then?

Ralph Pinel
I'm a new user and none of these issues would be on my list. I think you may have spent to much time on a package that's only development was interface tinkering. AD comes to mind.
If I could some up the learning curve for Houdini.
First, you migrate from another package, 3dsMax in my case.
You start to do some tutorials and you think, why so complicated. Then a little further down the road the procedural penny drops. When you start to understand and use expressions… the door closes on ever returning to your old app.
The last thing you're concerned about is the colour of the background. Trust me, just persist with your learning, you won't regret it.
The one thing I would like to see is Mantra on a GPU… Although Vray is coming.

It's honestly a significant concern to me. Using same software for 8+ years, I want to to spend my 8+ hours a day looking at something that looks visually and aesthetically appealing. If I have to be motivated to dig into my work every day, having a nice looking user interface in front of you definitely helps.

I am very well aware of strengths of Houdini. I am also very well aware of strengths of procedural workflows, as I utilize them as much as 3ds Max allows me. But there's always that big discouraging factor when I try any new software and get stuck on complete basics, the implication that “if they get something so basic wrong, then how could they possibly get advanced things right?”

Ludvík Koutný
But there's always that big discouraging factor when I try any new software and get stuck on complete basics, the implication that “if they get something so basic wrong, then how could they possibly get advanced things right?”

It might be an issue for you to but I never found the interface a problem and finding my way around. Anyway, I use Houdini to create beautiful things, I hope they continue to invest their time on the quality of tools than the look of a button. Where icons matter, like in the network editor, they have made it much easier to navigate large networks which is what's important.

@Ludvík Koutný I've filed a RFE/bug report a while ago regarding that light thing…
You should do the same - the more users point out a problem the higher the probability of it being fixed.

Regarding your problem with Houdini's interface - yes, there are problems. SESI is working on this front, every new version proves it, so my advice to you is to file as many RFEs as you can as well as discussing them in the forums, ideally keeping the rant level as low as possible - I know it's hard, we're all struggling

p.s. I love that “anaconda” vehicle of yours.

Yes, you obviously did not read my post thoroughly. I mentioned you can change the default sky gradient to completely black color. And I mentioned that doesn't cut it.

Actually I did read your post thoroughly but you also said

“Not everyone likes this “by programmers for programmers” design decision where you are told that you can tinker with everything but you need to go extra mile to do that.”

So did you mean you felt pressing d, selecting backgroung tab then black background is needing to go an extra mile?

Which is why I put the question mark.

Why not just say you would like more background colors readily available?

BabaJ

Yes, you obviously did not read my post thoroughly. I mentioned you can change the default sky gradient to completely black color. And I mentioned that doesn't cut it.

Actually I did read your post thoroughly but you also said

“Not everyone likes this “by programmers for programmers” design decision where you are told that you can tinker with everything but you need to go extra mile to do that.”

So did you mean you felt pressing d, selecting backgroung tab then black background is needing to go an extra mile?

Which is why I put the question mark.

Why not just say you would like more background colors readily available?

Obviously I meant custom background color. It kind of emerges from the context. Pressing D will not let you pick custom background color. It will just swap it to completely black one, which is equally as unpleasing as the superbright default one.

If you want custom one, you need to go to ./hfsXX.X.xxx/houdini/config/3DSceneColors or bw3DSceneColors.wb and edit those config files. That's what I meant by “by programmers for programmers”

I do not want more colors readily available. I wan't one color swatch where I can pick my own RGB color, like in pretty much any other 3d software that has some 3D viewport. Yes, almost any. If you set for example diffuse color for your material when shading, a few pre-defined colors would not work there either, would they?

You did not read my post correctly. I was talking about how default environment light gizmo confuses new users by implying specific orientation of environment map while not having an actual effect on environment map rotation. I never said you can not rotate HDRI. To explain it in a more simple manner - if you create environment light you are presented with strangely tilted gizmo, that you can move around, but it has no effect on the orientation if your environment light. Why have such a confusing gizmo then?

Actually it does (the orientation has an effect)…but because you haven't attempted to explore all of the elements of this light ( environment ) you are making false assumption.

And I'm not going to tell you what that is because you are off to a very self-imposed frustrating start in working with Houdini.

A change in attitude will go far if you are to get the most out of Houdini. And for other software for that matter.

The so called sky to sahara background you speak of actually has a reason behind it.

And again, I'm not going to tell you why. I will let you discover it yourself.

It's not something that was put in/used as an after thought.

I'll give you a clue as to why. I've used SolidWorks for over 10 years now and it has as its' default the same default background that Houdini uses.

It serves for practical purposes and reduces the need in most cases of having to change the background to be able do some work on your project.

Obviously I meant custom background color. It kind of emerges from the context.

Actually it wasn't obvious to me. What emerged to me were different contexts.

Pressing D will not let you pick custom background color. It will just swap it to completely black one, which is equally as unpleasing as the superbright default one.

Which is why I suggested more color options from pressing d and selecting background tab. I did not imply a

few pre-defined colors

Obviously

Ralph Pinel
I'm a new user and none of these issues would be on my list. I think you may have spent to much time on a package that's only development was interface tinkering. AD comes to mind.
If I could some up the learning curve for Houdini.
First, you migrate from another package, 3dsMax in my case.
You start to do some tutorials and you think, why so complicated. Then a little further down the road the procedural penny drops. When you start to understand and use expressions… the door closes on ever returning to your old app.
The last thing you're concerned about is the colour of the background. Trust me, just persist with your learning, you won't regret it.
The one thing I would like to see is Mantra on a GPU… Although Vray is coming.

Interface tinkering has its reasons. It is the part of the software that defines the user experience and the Joy of using a software. Also it defines efficiency. Not one of H's strengths if you ask me. You need a lot of unnecessary mouseclicks for everything (up to 1.5.) so defaults that prevent that are really helpful.
To be able to follow that thought I encourage you to at least try to do projects in all available packages. Only then you'd be able to judge where houdini stands.
Some people think easy handling is “posh” and convenience is for babies. The opposite is true. Convenience helps making money.

Also I recommend trying Redshift for houdini. I simplifies shading a lot and is fast as hell.

@Ludvík

1. There is an experimental Python panel for this. RMB on a pane tab, select Python Panel, click the top right help ‘?’. Scroll down and click on Python Panel Editor and under Examples is the Viewport color editor. You want to modify BackgroundBottomColor and BackgroundColor I think. Make sure to hit the ‘Save’ button to see the changes!

2. That handle is the sun handle that comes with the Sky Light. It just doesn't do anything the Environment light and should be quite easily be removed in the future.

3. Ray-trace is the current leading renderer - you use a computelightingVop to convert PBR VOPs.

Artye
@Ludvík

1. There is an experimental Python panel for this. RMB on a pane tab, select Python Panel, click the top right help ‘?’. Scroll down and click on Python Panel Editor and under Examples is the Viewport color editor. You want to modify BackgroundBottomColor and BackgroundColor I think. Make sure to hit the ‘Save’ button to see the changes!

2. That handle is the sun handle that comes with the Sky Light. It just doesn't do anything the Environment light and should be quite easily be removed in the future.

3. Ray-trace is the current leading renderer - you use a computelightingVop to convert PBR VOPs.

Thank you very much, this is actually quite helpful.

Could you possibly explain differences between available renderers in a nutshell? After reading some old threads on this forums, general consensus was that PBR is way to go.

Also sorry to BabaJ for sounding too harsh. I will try to be a bit more elaborate next time.

MicroPoly is Reyes - so can be faster for something and less memory too I think, but, is not being developed anymore.

PBR doesn't do anything that you cant do with Raytracing and ComputeLightVOP afaik. The ComputeLightVop was added after PBR renderer so it consolidates the the two renderers into one.

Photon Map Generate is the current method for GI light and Caustic light I believe.

Overall the differences are only important at the start of using Houdini Later on you just use what works.

Mantra is the highly advanced renderer included with Houdini. It is a multi-paradigm renderer, implementing scanline, raytracing, and physically-based rendering. You should use the physically based rendering engine unless you have a good reason to use another engine.

First sentence of the first topic when you go the Rendering section of the docs.

Also sorry to BabaJ for sounding too harsh. I will try to be a bit more elaborate next time.

All is good Lutvik…I could have very well left things alone…but I was in a wrestling mood today…and just happened to come across your post

@DaJuice - that's dopey to just follow the manual - the docs can be out of date or have bugs in them. Test it yourself - there is no difference.

For further reading:
http://forums.odforce.net/topic/18787-h13-difference-between-raytrace-and-pbr/ [forums.odforce.net]