Friendlypersonnel

Joker386
I working with both Maya and Houdini , But I really Love Houdini !
You can do too many awesome projects with Houdini only with it's own powerful nodes and networks , But in the Maya , you have to use expression and MEL (Maya Scripting Language) ,even in some situations you should just use Plug-Ins !
In the Houdini , You can create your custom tools.

If you just wanna be a modeler or animator , Maybe Maya is good , But if you wanna be a Generalist , FX Artist , TD , Procedural Modeler choose Houdini.
Also as Jeff said , you can working with Houdini aside of another apps such as ZBrush.

However , if you wanna choose any 3D application for first time , I think it's not hard for working with Houdini for first time , Houdini has too many perfect sources for learning such as cmiVFX tutorials , Sidefx Tutorials , 3D Buzz , FXPHD and etc.

Also I believe Houdini's Forum is best , It's so active and you can find your problem with help of Forum's guys very fast !

Just close your eyes and choose Houdini :wink:

Excellent man sounds good. I got my build running and updated. The production build is what was prechosen for the trial download (was gonna go look to buy a truck this week)

tinyparticle
Effects (FX) is a broad term used in the industry to cover digital effects such as liquid and fire simulations, particles, dynamic simulations like rigid objects colliding each other, breaking each other, soft body dynamics like cloth animation etc. I say broad term because this term encapsulates several different items.
Having said that, FX is only one of the many departments within a greater workflow. And I was trying to imply that Houdini is stronger in FX department than the others.
Since you are starting fresh, I would encourage you to start with the terminology and the basics. 3d animation and visual effects in general is a deep subject and it is easy to get lost in it. If you feel lost always go back to basics.
You should start out and see for yourself. Get Houdini apprentice and start with the tutorials. There is no better way to learn than doing it.

Friendlypersonnel

tinyparticle
If I could've started over and learn from scratch, I would've started with Houdini too. When I look back, I see that a lot of my time invested in learning various software has gone down the drain throughout the years. But when I read an old Houdini book even today, it still works and helps. In that regard, I see Houdini as one of the foundations of the industry. It has its strengths and most of them lie in the FX department, but I believe the more people start using it for other tasks, the stronger it will get in other departments than FX. Even though it is known for FX, I find Houdini as one of the best look-dev/lighting tools available considering its toolset and procedural workflow.
If you have enough time and patience to invest in a software I would say Houdini would be the most rewarding at the end. But be warned, it might not be the most rewarding at the beginning which I would say is a fair trade off.

When you mentioned that houdini is mainly on the fx side… Im assuming your talking about guardians of the galaxy where star lord has that metallic mask that allows him to breath in space; Just the way he takes it off (push of a button) its clear that it was CG. Anyway another example would be that guy on youtube who records his little son jump on a puddle and he edits it to make it look like he fell through. He put out way more videos and apparently is a professional.. But would houdini help me replicate that type of work?

Excellent thank you so much that is what i needed to be told.

Luke Letellier

When you mentioned that houdini is mainly on the fx side… Im assuming your talking about guardians of the galaxy where star lord has that metallic mask that allows him to breath in space; Just the way he takes it off (push of a button) its clear that it was CG. Anyway another example would be that guy on youtube who records his little son jump on a puddle and he edits it to make it look like he fell through. He put out way more videos and apparently is a professional.. But would houdini help me replicate that type of work?

While I may lose all credibility on this site for saying this - my personal advice would be to look at a few VideoCopilot tutorials (After Effects) as well as a few GreyscaleGorilla videos (Cinema 4D) just to get an idea of what working in relatively simple 2D & 3D programs are like; it'll also help you learn some of the basic terminology.

It's very easy for an expert to look back in hindsight and think that certain things weren't that helpful or important to getting where they are now because they don't remember learning certain things, but it is often those “worthless experiences” that work under the surface to prepare you for the big game.

Thank you so much for the references. When i was using anime studio i was thinking the same in regards to the worthless experiences. So speaking of chocolates… What is Maya to Houdini?i had a friend with maya and it looked like she was making a human character and she mentioned it took her 3 days to finish what looked like a human in an anatomical position.