Hi guys;

Is “SideFX Houdini” a complete 3D software, or just an advanced FX package..?





Thanks.

It's not so complete, for now. While it's very advanced in some aspects but really lacks some very basic functions.

Hi Masoud can you explain with more detail what is “a complete 3D software”?
Is a little difficult explain what Houdini is capable without some direction ;-)
After you tell to us a little bit more about what you want probably a lot of user can help you.

It's complete, you can model, animate, light and render all within it.

It does have it's strengths and weaknesses though. From my limited experience modeling isn't quite as fast as say 3dsmax and I think most character animators might feel the animation side is a weakness. Where as FX and volumes are big strengths.

EricSheng
It's not so complete, for now. While it's very advanced in some aspects but really lacks some very basic functions.

That’s exactly what I was thinking.
It's very complicated in most cases and you always should pay attention to what’s under the hood.

harryabreu
Hi Masoud can you explain with more detail what is “a complete 3D software”?
Is a little difficult explain what Houdini is capable without some direction ;-)
After you tell to us a little bit more about what you want probably a lot of user can help you.

Can you use it as your main 3D software, without using MAYA, 3DSMAX or C4D? I mean Modeling, Texturing, Animating, Rigging, Material, Scene layout…

Every good Houdini artist has come from a solid background in other 3d packages. That background gives you a safety net to fall back, and a framework to abstract the details, that you have to deal with in Houdini.

goat
Every good Houdini artist has come from a solid background in other 3d packages. That background gives you a safety net to fall back, and a framework to abstract the details, that you have to deal with in Houdini.

That's not true. There are many Houdini natives, myself included. Houdini is the framework with which I abstract.

@jsmack, and what's your training before 3d? Computer Science degree, huge interest in the technical side of comuputing etc

Thx!

Masoud
Hi guys;

Is “SideFX Houdini” a complete 3D software, or just an advanced FX package..?

You're opening up quite the can of worms, and my guess is that it won't take too long for this thread to spiral into chaos.

My personal take coming from C4D is that Houdini is capable of everything that I personally need to do, which involves some modeling, look dev and texturing, and rendering in Redshift.

Now…is Houdini as capable as, say Z-Brush for modeling or Substance Painter for texturing? Hell no! But neither are C4D, Maya and Blender. There is no substitute for very specialized apps like those.

In closing, the answer to your question is going to be very subjective because everyone's workflow is a bit different. Some will say yes, some will say no, but neither of these answers will be useful to you because we don't really know your needs.

goat
@jsmack, and what's your training before 3d? Computer Science degree, huge interest in the technical side of comuputing etc

Thx!

I have no formal training in 3D. I learned Houdini by doing shots.

Edit: I misread your question. I studied photography, and had an interest in computer graphics from a young age.

Masoud

EricSheng
It's not so complete, for now. While it's very advanced in some aspects but really lacks some very basic functions.

That’s exactly what I was thinking.
It's very complicated in most cases and you always should pay attention to what’s under the hood.

It's just like when you create a good function HDA to procedurally generate some complex geometry with input curve. And when you start to use the HDA to do real work, you find the Curve Node is so hard to use, it even can't select/move multiple points once a time. It's just how Houdini makes me feel, there're indeed very great functions which other DCCs doesn't have, but some basic functions in Houdini really sucks.

Masoud
Is “SideFX Houdini” a complete 3D software

yes, but not for everyone; you will need to use vex/vops at some point.
I believe the original vision was to provide a suite of atomic operations that can be used in combination to create a wide variety of artwork. However:

- Work on these nodes seems to have slowed in favor of integrating 3rd party projects (with some exceptions) or re-arranging existing ones into HDAs and calling them new nodes.
- Some nodes have been left in an unfinished state for many years.
- Artists are increasingly relying on vex to make up for the shortfall in OP capability vs client expectations.
- There also hasn't been much progress in improving the capabilities of vex (like multi-dimensional arrays or file i/o).

So it seems the landing-gear is down for Houdini (or at least the idea of practical low-level OPs), but I don't see anything that comes close to replacing it. I suggest you get the most out of the program while its still eminent… also master vex and GLSL, as both will stand you in good-stead in the future.

Oh, this thread again.
@OP Just start using it and file RFEs along the way. Or ditch it if you think it's not for you. No one can really tell you whether you should use it for what you're looking for. What are you doing here, looking for someone to tell you what you should do? Mere opinions? From a sample of self-selected people?

Just use it and start posting issues you encounter and maybe follow up with a RFE if you think you know a fix or workflow improvement.
I'm amazed by the number of replies… I'm amazed that I replied.

Masoud

harryabreu
Hi Masoud can you explain with more detail what is “a complete 3D software”?
Is a little difficult explain what Houdini is capable without some direction ;-)
After you tell to us a little bit more about what you want probably a lot of user can help you.

Can you use it as your main 3D software, without using MAYA, 3DSMAX or C4D? I mean Modeling, Texturing, Animating, Rigging, Material, Scene layout…

Hi Masoud let do it in small parts OK? ;-)
Maya is strong in character animation
C4D is very good to Motion Graphic in 3D
Blender is very capable to non organic modeling and cartoon with sculpting
Mari or Substance Painter for Texturing
Maya, Blender, Houdini can Rigging very well
Maya, Blender, Houdini can use material but Houdini is better in procedural Material

The Big Question is what you want to do and how much effort you will put in Houdini?
But a lot of people use Zbrush with Maya, a lot of people use Maya and Houdini and so on.
You can do a lot of work in Houdini if you use Houdini Indie.
If you have no budge my suggestion is Blender + Houdini + Substance Painter -> if you need more suitable render time + Redshift 3D or Octane Render.
My answer is not Yes or Not why? Simple because every tool have a place.
If you like character animation and have plan to use a lot of motion capture? Maybe Maya will be good for you.
But if you will do character animation with key frame and do not have hurry you can use Houdini and Mplay I tryed it and liked a lot.
The most important thing is to know what you want to do.
The SideFX is a company tha listen their costumers.
Houdini have became more and more friendely and powerful to be honest you can put more effort in different areas and it will be good to you.
Have a nice day.

Midphase

Masoud
Hi guys;

Is “SideFX Houdini” a complete 3D software, or just an advanced FX package..?

You're opening up quite the can of worms, and my guess is that it won't take too long for this thread to spiral into chaos.

My personal take coming from C4D is that Houdini is capable of everything that I personally need to do, which involves some modeling, look dev and texturing, and rendering in Redshift.

Now…is Houdini as capable as, say Z-Brush for modeling or Substance Painter for texturing? Hell no! But neither are C4D, Maya and Blender. There is no substitute for very specialized apps like those.

In closing, the answer to your question is going to be very subjective because everyone's workflow is a bit different. Some will say yes, some will say no, but neither of these answers will be useful to you because we don't really know your needs.

Hi “Midphase”;

I was not intended to compare Houdini to tools like Z-Brush for modeling, or Substance Painter for texturing.
But some basic features are missing in Houdini,(say “Align Objects”,…)

EricSheng

Masoud

EricSheng
It's not so complete, for now. While it's very advanced in some aspects but really lacks some very basic functions.

That’s exactly what I was thinking.
It's very complicated in most cases and you always should pay attention to what’s under the hood.

It's just like when you create a good function HDA to procedurally generate some complex geometry with input curve. And when you start to use the HDA to do real work, you find the Curve Node is so hard to use, it even can't select/move multiple points once a time. It's just how Houdini makes me feel, there're indeed very great functions which other DCCs doesn't have, but some basic functions in Houdini really sucks.

Working with curves in Houdini is overwhelming. Houdini displays bezier curves handles same as main points (LOL) so you can't distinguish them…

pickled
Oh, this thread again.
What are you doing here, looking for someone to tell you what you should do? …

Hi “Pickled”;

Yes, I'm here to find someone to tell me what should I do with a amazing 3d software that it's developers just focus on very advanced features, but they missed some simple basic features…(They add rotation to nodes in H17, and rotation snap in H17.5 and… they missed these simple option for 17 versions… (sorry my english))

Thanks.

harryabreu
harryabreu

Hi “harryabreu”';
After 25 years, I tried to shift from another 3d software to Houdini because I thought it's much better. It is, but in Houdini I achieved some amazing features, and I lost some amazing features that I had before switching

Thanks.

@Masoud, before you leave Houdini, what are the top three things you would like to see improved? i.e. curve tool, alignment(can you give an example), etc

@jsmack - cool stuff, cheers!