kodra
A quick question: how did you jump from PolyBevel SOP to Tube SOP at 10:16 here:

https://youtu.be/ROcOJfJhKQQ?t=614 [youtu.be]

PageUp and PageDown for going up and down the stream of nodes and Home and End to jump to 1st and last node in the stream. Those keys are above your keyboard arrows (beside delete and insert).

In my case I bind those to my mouse buttons which makes things super fast and convenient to use.

raincole

PolyMarvels
Thank you, I don't use it at all, if I do, I assign it to Shift+Tab in the viewport or call it from Node Network with just Tab. The point of modeling things like this is to actually avoid typing to call nodes. I have everything I need within shortcuts and Radial Menus + shelves.

Calling something from Scene Viewer and Network View can result in very different behavior, even the name is the same, so they're not interchangeable. I guess Shift+Tab is good enough though.

Again, the point was not to use it at all because it's not the way to do modeling, thus, I have put CP on Tab, as I am using that a lot, just like I set Accept/Enter to `shortcut. It saves you a lot of pain in the long run. Reaching Enter all the time is annoying and tiring.

raincole
That's cool, but it seems that you hijack tab key for construction plane. Then how do you call the tab menu in scene viewer? It doesn't feel like a good idea to change how tab works, as it's THE most used hotkey in Houdini.

Thank you, I don't use it at all, if I do, I assign it to Shift+Tab in the viewport or call it from Node Network with just Tab. The point of modeling things like this is to actually avoid typing to call nodes. I have everything I need within shortcuts and Radial Menus + shelves.

kodra
Where is the discord server link though?

Here you go https://discord.gg/hux3DkbrMx [discord.gg]
, also this is my YT channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqXuTLiaL-jqvn3LK1XlwHg [www.youtube.com] , I just uploaded new video.

Enter The VFX
Thanks for sharing your insights and experiences, Igor! The modeling environment sheet looks really helpful!
Cheers!

You are most welcome. If you have any questions feel free to ask or join the PM discord channel. 😊

Hey folks, it's been more than two years now since I started diving into modeling in Houdini. While I was hearing only bad things about modeling , I wanted to see if there was more than people might know about it. And the short answer is, hell YEA!!!

Not only did I manage to find a way to do modeling in Houdini, but I also found a way where one can have a nice flow while modeling, and honestly as someone who modeled in pretty much all DCC's, even Plasticity, I can say that Houdini does some things much better then any other DCC, not to mention the fact that things staying procedural, even if you call it destructive modeling. That's why I started to call modeling in Houdini Hybrid modeling.

In case there are people interested, here you can find the environment and setup I am using plus some of the modeling I did:

https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVP06Hcz4=/?share_link_id=829218827858 [miro.com]

It's all Houdini and some of the textures are from Greyscalegorilla. I did not use any plugins. I also spent more than 3000h exploring/researching all of this.


Now, is everything perfect, no. Is there a potential, hell yea... a huge one, but in the end, its up to SF to decide where it pushes modeling if ever they decide to do something about it.


Cheers and stay well fellow artists.
Igor

P.S. - I have no intentions to argue against or for Houdini's modeling capabilities, I don't, I am only here to show what is possible if you try, hard.

I wasn't here for a long time so I missed this. Awsome modeling. Lover the model and the fact you are doing it in Houdini. Any updates on this? 😊

I try to restrain myself from commenting here as I most definitely would sound arrogant at times, but I can't just stand aside and read what I read without having some kind of "damn, if only you knew" reaction. I will say this, modeling even in this state of Houdini is possible, and there is a legit workflow that allows a flow, there are most definitely great tools, and then some less great, but the fact is that there a almost 120 tools that you can use and abuse for modeling and some here are confusing toolset with UX. Of course, tools can always be better, but with what you have now, you can already do a lot which I have proved. I use no plugins! What you seek, is better UX, which I understand, some things can be improved, but yet again, even with what you have now, you can create an environment that can be as fluid as in any other software. I would say some things are harder to do some things are easier to do and some things are unique to Houdini. As everywhere!

My proposal would be if you guys are for it to make a Google Meeting and simply start discussing modeling in Houdini. And see if we can come to some kind of consensus on where modeling in Houdini is and what has to be done to make things better. And if someone would like, he can show their biggest struggles etc.. I can show how I model in Houdini and I would like to see others doing the same. The reason why I am proposing a live meeting is due to communication because writing and reading here can always give wrong impressions and things can be taken out of context.
We could simply make a modeling community and see how many people are interested, and then SideFX could start investing more time in UX for modeling if the number is big enough. Otherwise, few of us not gonna accomplish much, especially when some bashing for no good reason.

As long as you need something specific, 3D modeling will be the thing.

GCharb

Alexey Vanzhula
3D-Coat is a wonderful program. I'm really glad that the developer is working on classical modeling. But for now, it's more of a solution for low-poly modeling. You can model in 3D-Coat with subdivision, but it's not comparable to other programs. I particularly insist on SubD modeling because it hasn't been phased out and is still popular, even considering the growing popularity of Plasticity as a convenient solution for hard-surface modeling.

I don't like Blender and its development policy, but YouTube is flooded with videos on subdivision modeling in it. Therefore, it's strange to read about your apparent hatred towards it, at least for this reason.

There is no hatred, I only make an honest assessment of Blender's shortcomings, the Blender modelling tools are over 15 years old, the BI has been promising to update them for over 10 years, and like I said, I like to limit the number of applications I use, it just makes no sense to me to add another application to my workflow for modelling when I already have Houdini and 3D Coat for that, besides, I rarely model these days, it's usually much faster to just hard-surface sculpt what I need using 3D Coat voxel-sculpting and then do an auto retopology, than to actually model anything, classical modelling is becoming a thing of the past IMHO!

Blender without addons cant do much, actually cant even compete with Houdini, even in the modeling realm. Houdini have more than 100 nodes to be used within modeling.

P.S. - I have modeled in pretty much all DCC's, and for some reasons, I am always coming back to Houdini.

One thing to clarify, in case people still don't know. The reason why I am not using Modeler is due to the fact that at the moment I am using Houdini as an enthusiast and because I am in Houdini alpha/beta so I do a lot of testing and for testing having any kind of plugins is just not recommended. So its not berceuse I am not liking it or something similar.

Hey folks seems like a good opportunity for me to chime in and clarify some things around modeling in Houdini. Before I start, just wanted to say thanks to @GCHarb for recommending my videos.

Now, I've been exclusively studying/researching modeling in Houdini for past 2 years. I am still learning and the amount of things to learn is just crazy. So no wonder people have no clue where to start and how to actually properly model in Houdini. Actually, not just properly model but also doing it effectively with some kind of flow where one can actually model without to much hiccups. And all those tutorials where people constantly reaching for Tab for node menu doesn't help either. Hundreds of tutorials I have watched never showed me a different way of placing a node into a stream, or even showed me different approach, and there is one. At this point no matter what I do, I am bearly reaching for the node menu.

Biggest issue is that Houdini is not set for modeling from the get go and on top of that there is no one to teach you about what needs to be done to start, simply because not many cared about modeling in Houdini for past 30y, including SideFX, even though there is a lot they have improved and implemented in past few years.
I believe I managed to find a way to do proper modeling in Houdini and to actually support what I am saying, I had to model different assets to make sure I am not delusional. So, in the attachment, you can find my small collage of the models I did in past 2y, most of them was done in H20 alpha/beta period for testing purposes, thus not so great renders. By the way, what you see on the pictures is all Houdini, with some models having GSG textures applied.

Now, good news is that setting up modeling environment is really few clicks away because, we can actually save and export important things like hotkeys, radial menus and layout so setting up modeling environment while preserving all defaults is really really a good things. In case you didnt know, hotkey system is kinda powerful in Houdini which makes our lives easier.

I have also made a modeling sheet that I wanted to share at some point, but as we are having this discussion, if you check the link, you can see how I have setuped my modeling environment etc.


Here is a link to modeling sheet/setup https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVP06Hcz4=/?share_link_id=862477513081 [miro.com]
This is something I am still optimizing and figuring out as I go. At the moment I am using Pulse to see what are the most used shortcuts etc. But, even in this stage, this is pretty much solid and what I am using as environment for past few months.

To sum up. You can model pretty much anything hard-surface related in Houdini and you can for sure do some abstract things, no doubt about it.

Can you share an example image of what you would need to do, or create?

Some props which will serve as side asset, probably something like pedant as easter eggs...

Hey guys, while making a bigger project which will take me some more time, I decided to do a mini project to give you a glimpse of what's coming next. This model is basically a part of bigger project and it will be used in different way then showed here. Anyway, hopefully you learn something new...




Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjZkvPsldTW_-pF_BaFA28aw0CjsD37mw [www.youtube.com]

Here is an update...so far I've been using Pyro, KineFX, Vellum and more to create this piece. I still have plenty to do and if this ever becomes a tutorial, its gonna be a long one...

Hey folks, just wanted to continue sharing some of the things I've been working on and with this one I think I have a good material for a next project type tutorial. It's all vanilla stuff, with exception of using QRemesher due to the fact one is coming from SideFX hopefully with H20, until then, I am just exploring workflows and possibilities as always, so far here is the result...if you have any questions, please feel free to ask or simply join PM Discord.

Aaaaand to continue in positive note, here is a little update...

osong
still, this is definitely not a masterclass

Ok, Ill ask SideFX to change it, not a problem.

osong
This is not speed modeling, it is a sped-up video of modeling. Not the same.
Also, on the front page it is under "Masterclass" section. A non-narrated video that is x10 of original speed has nothing to do with masterclass (can't edit my comment there, so clarifying here).

I am not sure whats the point of your comment but let me clarify as it seems that you are jumping to conclusions far to easy.

So, first things first its called speedmodeling cuz everyone calls sped-up video speedmodeling, so I did it too. Second thing, uploading a videos doesn't give much flexibility when comes to choosing beginner, intermediate or masterclass, so I was like, ok this is definetly not beginer stuff, not even intermediate so I chose Masterclass because I had to choose one. Also, I was aware that this is not tutorial as you said, so BEFORE I uploaded that video, I asked SideFX is that ok or not, and they said its ok, so I shared the video for two reasons here. 1st to make people aware about my channel and to ake people aware what you can do in Houdini even though many says its no for that, so hopefully this clears a bit things for you. On the other hand, I do have plans to make new modeling tutorials as I came up with a lot of new things and workflows in past 6 month while not recording. Hopefully that helps clear few things for you.

And you as a content creator, I would expect more respectful comments then just 'lmao', at least proper feedback or constructive criticim. It makes me a bit sad as I pretty much watched all your videos and respect what you do. Fro all people you should know making tutorials is not easy, especially when you have full time job.