Hello, i'm testing out Houdini 17.5 for direct modeling and i encountered some problems while modeling.
My main software is Maya that i used it for 5 years so for some questions i'll make a comparison with it.

1) When i activate the viewport subdivision preview the hull of the original object remain around the subdivided mesh. I'd like to work with the wireframe directly on the mesh like in Maya when you press the 3 key for smooth preview mode. Is there a way to do it ?
Ex.

In Houdini:



In Maya:



2) Sometimes when i perform a polyExtrude on multiple faces the extrusion is not equal in height. This also happens in Maya if i use the normal scale tool after the extrusion tool because of that there is a particular option in the extrusion tool itself called “Thickness” where you control the height of the extrusion and automatically make it equal for all the faces.
Ex.



I noticed that by freezing the transforms on the mesh the problem go away but i'd like to know if there is a faster way to do it like in Maya where you simply move a slider instead of using the scale tool.

Houdini used to have GPU subd implemented, that would do that, but it's now only CPU IIRC, which seems to have lost the wire edges.

goat
Houdini used to have GPU subd implemented, that would do that, but it's now only CPU IIRC, which seems to have lost the wire edges.

Thanks for the reply, for some reason the images that i uploaded had some problems so now they are back online.
Back to the question, i suppose there is no work around then ? And what about the extrusion stuff where i need to freeze the transforms to get an equal extrusion on all faces at all angles ?

Andreicus
And what about the extrusion stuff where i need to freeze the transforms to get an equal extrusion on all faces at all angles ?

I'm not sure what you're expecting to happen here. The transform at object level is completely ignorant of the geometry within, and likewise with the operations on the geometry being ignorant of the space the geometry inhabits above. Fetching the world transform before applying a geometry operation would add unnecessary animation dependency and possible instability. You can explicitly do this if you desire with an object merge node before and after your polyextrude, but I recommend against it. In general, avoid transforming the object where possible, except for animation. Non-uniform scales on objects should be avoided altogether. Most houdini users never transform objects at all, working entirely with geometry operations. I think they have their place in animation, but often aren't worth the trouble in other disciplines.

jsmack

Andreicus
And what about the extrusion stuff where i need to freeze the transforms to get an equal extrusion on all faces at all angles ?

I'm not sure what you're expecting to happen here. The transform at object level is completely ignorant of the geometry within, and likewise with the operations on the geometry being ignorant of the space the geometry inhabits above. Fetching the world transform before applying a geometry operation would add unnecessary animation dependency and possible instability. You can explicitly do this if you desire with an object merge node before and after your polyextrude, but I recommend against it. In general, avoid transforming the object where possible, except for animation. Non-uniform scales on objects should be avoided altogether. Most houdini users never transform objects at all, working entirely with geometry operations. I think they have their place in animation, but often aren't worth the trouble in other disciplines.

I understand, thanks