Cjkr

syme
Cjkr

You could also look into this open source software, while not python, it is similar…I think it's 2D only…but it's pretty cool 2D, so it may or may not work for what you need:

http://processing.org/ [processing.org]

Yeah I've seen that before. Pretty cool, but based on Java I believe, and therefore quite unable to handle the memory loads of what I have in mind. Other reasons too I would not use it, such as no widget support, no way to build UIs, no python, etc. But very cool technology.

jason_iversen
You might want to know that Houdini 9.5 now has:
# Better OpenGL2 support in the viewport.
# Support for GLSL shaders in SHOPs.

Also, along with the regular Python language freedoms, you can use nodes like the Network CHOP to receive data (if your source data to visualize is coming from a remote source). Also, all the filename fields support http/ and ftp/ protocols, etc.

Aren't network chops only for communicating between two Houdini processes? At least that's what the docs make it seem like, unless I'm looking at the wrong thing.

Thanks for all the other feedback. I think Houdini can handle what I have in mind, especially since there are 64bit versions and its designed to handle very large data sets.

arctor
have a look at http://www.derivativeinc.com/tools/touchdesigner.asp [derivativeinc.com]

“TouchDesigner is a full 3D animation tool designed for realtime performance.”

Derivative spun-off in 2000 from Side Effects

Interesting, does that mean in your view that H9 is not performant enough for what I'm interested in?

The problem with Touch is that it lacks Python, which is a must have for what I am doing. Also, Houdini is obviously better supported and has a larger financial incentive behind its long term growth.