Hi, I'm now starting out with Houdini and would really appreciate some guidance on how to complement it, since I still love traditional modeling. My background is using Autodesks Fusion 360 for years which has been super valuable for me during my years in school. Then I started using Blender for a while now and fell in love with more or less everything including the procedural capabilities. And that everything is in one program is something I appreciate. I however am determined to go all-in on procedural and really use whatever is the best procedural tools for years to come. So am going to use Houdini.
My first question is if you would recommend me to use Maya together with Houdini, or Blender and Houdini separately? I really like to have an all-in-one program, but forward compatibility is also very important for me since I don't want to have to learn new programs after a while. And just overall is using the Houdini plugin for Maya as good as using Houdini stand alone?
My second question is if I should maybe be even more sort of ambitious and future thinking right from the start. I think game development is on a trend to impact more or less all other 3D industries. And to me, it seems like real-time 3D and interactive work even for non-games is the future of 3D. I looked at the career pages for "Rockstar Games" which arguably are the most technically innovative company in the gaming industry. And they seem to be using 3DS Max and Houdini together with their own engine. So maybe I should then be using 3DS Max and Houdini together with Unreal Engine. Not that I plan of making a game, but to be able to create the most advanced 3D imagery/videos and be real-time proof for the future with the software I choose to spend my hard-earned time learning?
Would really appreciate some thought on this.