doncasteel8587

I want to thank everyone for all the great input.

Don't worry, I've already been watching the available videos, and have tried out some of the included tutorials and demo networks.

So far it looks like the most difficult part, as with learning any new software, is going to be figuring out which tools do what. Something like polyface>extrude in Maya is more than likely called something different in Houdini. This is expected, but frustrating none the less.

One thing so far that I can't figure out is, the connections within a network from one node to another aren't labeled, this makes it difficult to understand what attribute in one node is connected to what attribute in the next node. Mouseover “tool-tips” would be an excellent addition to this software.

Since there aren't any labels, how does one find the details of a particular connection? Since the application is network based, and the networks are the key to the workflow, I really expect this to be in the first tutorial.

Anyway, I'm having a lot of fun playing around even though I have no idea what I'm doing.

Thanks again everyone, I promise to try not to be a nuisance.

Both replys so far are pointing in the same direction which is great. And I can see there is a huge advantage to working this way. It sounds great especially if I just want to experiment and play and see what I come up with.

But…. If I have a very specific idea in mind, something not easilt built from primitives, how do I learn where to start?

Don't get me wrong, I know I'm a beginer, and I don't expect to be doing great work anytime soon.

I'm just trying to get a feel for how to aproach some of the ideas cluttering up my head.

Quoting Tim(“segulin”) from 3DBuzz
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“The procedural paradigm flows through modelling as everywhere else in Houdini. ……… If you can learn the Side Effects procedural mindset and model in SOPs you can produce not just geometry but………………..
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I really liked Tim's description, it's encouraging to know that Houdini uses a whole different ”Mindset“ than what I'm used to. I've been through that before with Parametric CAD software. At first I thought it made no sense at all, but after learning the mindset, there is absolutly no better way to work.

That said, can anyone point us ”noobies“ to a good mindset description. So far Tim's post has come closest to something that will ”click“ in my head, but he wasn't trying to explain the mindset, he was just letting us know it's different.

I need a really simple but clear explination of the ”Houdini Mindset"

Any comments or links would be appreciated.