Why do we always need different build of third party renderer for every single new build of Houdini. What exactly changes in between two builds? Is it just on purpose to make it harder for third party developers and users of v-ray, arnold or renderman.
To make it shorter: WTF is going on?

Welcome to Houdini.

Unlike Maya, houdini doesn't really have an API. When you are working inside houdini, you are pretty much working
inside the guts of the application, so changes to the HDK, etc will almost always break 3rd party plugins.

Contrast with Maya, which has a proper API, but also it's release cycles for updates are 6monthly ish, not daily/weekly.
It is the core of houdini, no they are not trying to make Devs life's harder, to be honest it's usually not a huge issue
to compile for newer builds, but it is what it is. If you want stability in the traditional API dev cycle sense,
you need to go to Maya, but well, you'd be in Maya.

L

tinyhawkus
Welcome to Houdini.

Unlike Maya, Houdini doesn't really have an API. When you are working inside houdini, you are pretty much working
inside the guts of the application, so changes to the HDK, etc will almost always break 3rd party plugins.

Contrast with Maya, which has a proper API, but also it's release cycles for updates are 6monthly ish, not daily/weekly.
It is the core of houdini, no they are not trying to make Devs life's harder, to be honest it's usually not a huge issue
to compile for newer builds, but it is what it is. If you want stability in the traditional API dev cycle sense,
you need to go to Maya, but well, you'd be in Maya.

L

Thank you for the clarification. But your last sentence is the gist of Houdini's followers. No, Maya is NOT Houdini, but also Houdini is NOT Maya. Every software has its strengths and weaknesses. Maya will never have such powerful simulations like Houdini, but conversely Houdini will never be a modeler or animator like Maya. Doing CGI and VFX is always about combining different applications to get the best results. No room for worshiping.

J

So, my statement about Maya is in reference to trying to use Maya for the equivalent things you are using Houdini for.
You generally don't opt into using Houdini for any other reason than it's strengths, so having a more stable API in Maya
is of little consolation considering you'd have to use bifrost, etc to mimic even some of the Houdini workflows/strengths.

There's no worship here, I've used all applications and continue to do so, but thanks for the lesson on Computer Graphics,
I'll be sure to remember this the next time I'm being helpful.

L

tinyhawkus
So, my statement about Maya is in reference to trying to use Maya for the equivalent things you are using Houdini for.
You generally don't opt into using Houdini for any other reason than it's strengths, so having a more stable API in Maya
is of little consolation considering you'd have to use bifrost, etc to mimic even some of the Houdini workflows/strengths.

There's no worship here, I've used all applications and continue to do so, but thanks for the lesson on Computer Graphics,
I'll be sure to remember this the next time I'm being helpful.

L

I said thank you for the clarification. My statement was more of a poke than seriously. C'mon man. Don't be such a sissy :-)
And you are absolutely wright. But I'll be sure to remember to put a smiley or two next time.

Cheers

Hehe,

Put 3!