Houdini14 Sneak Peek

[pluMmet]

I think Houdini + Blender + Zbrush can be ultimate power and flexibility in 3D and VFX.
No need waiting for future.

I think that Houdini is best used in place of one of it's true competitors.. Real Flow, Krakatoa or any other particle engine.

[MauricioPC]

I think Houdini + Blender + Zbrush can be ultimate power and flexibility in 3D and VFX.
No need waiting for future.

I think that Houdini is best used in place of one of it's true competitors.. Real Flow, Krakatoa or any other particle engine.

And BiFrost. Although is a Autodesk product, Naiad was the best water simulation around. If they are able to do that, for water at least, Houdini will have some problem.

I was talking to a buddy who is a FX artist in Max and he said that he loves to blow stuff up, but that it's to much boring to do that in Houdini, too technical. He prefers Max + plugins to make the same stuff.

So ... there's room for everybody!

[Mathaeus]

I was talking to a buddy who is a FX artist in Max and he said that he loves to blow stuff up, but that it's to much boring to do that in Houdini, too technical. He prefers Max + plugins to make the same stuff.

So ... there's room for everybody!

Agree. At the end of the day, most important is how some software fits into habits of some people. What it can do, that's second, actually. From that point view, and 'habit' of big players to use Linux, where Max does not exists - poor Max and his plugins, they are always forced to fight for existence in such environment.

On completely another side, because my very personal "by hand" modeling and animation habits in, for example, C4d, are equal to Houdini "by hand" modeling and animation habits, that is, everything at zero level - for me, Houdini ( not Houdini FX) is a best mograph tool. Don't even need to talk how is stronger, also how Mantra is stronger than both renderers in c4d, together.

[SamHowell]

The most fascinating to me is that Side Effects still sells "Houdini" (stripped of all the particle and dynamics stuff, which you get when you buy "Houdini FX"), while most of the "shortcomings" of the product would be most evident in this simplified package and one would think that people who are not looking for particles and dynamics would look elsewhere. After some experience with the Apprentice edition, I'd for instance take my modeling to some other product.
So does anyone know if Houdini sans FX sells well?

My understanding is that studios often have a ratio of 5:1 or 3:1 for Houdini and Houdini FX. Layout, lighting and animation can be done with Houdini and extra functionality can be brought in from Houdini FX via Digital Assets.

[MauricioPC]

I wonder if something like Silo + Houdini could be the ultimate generalist bundle for motion graphics, FX and illustration.

[nDman]

Houdini is not all about Particles, simulations or motion graphics:





Or watch this, something like "HDR Light Studio" right inside Houdini just for 1$!!

[MauricioPC]

Thanks for the videos.

I'm considering jump head in into Houdini as my general go to software. Something like what I would do with Softimage. I'm just searching for a modeler to help, probably Silo or Blender.

[Mathaeus]

I wonder if something like Silo + Houdini could be the ultimate generalist bundle for motion graphics, FX and illustration.

I'd say, again it really depends on personal preferences, knowledge, habits.... I'd be able to find a tons of arguments, why for example Syflex in SI (old one) is stronger (for me) than anything comparable in Houdini, but I'll forget how long it took to get some Syflex skills. When it comes to modeling, that's not what I'm doing everyday, but, when I do, it has to be done enough fast to meet the deadline - so, no room for experiments here. It seems I'll stay somewhere in Max - SI - Blender area forever (comprehensive set of modifiers + user friendly tweaking). Silo and even Modo are off. Because Blender is free, end of story.
My colleagues game programmers, hard core Maxers too, will have their long list of reasons, why Max and not Houdini in their shop. Actually they already have some sort of procedural tools, for various purposes, now there is that Houdini thing, aiming to replace their work - no way, didn't worked even in XSI 4 times.

Anyway, imho BIG problem with "Houdini for ordinary people" is a lack of 'middle level' tool. For one example ( and ten more examples if needed, so no need to argue ) Mantra Surface, as all-purpose hard surface, full blown PBR shader - has almost everything you want in PPG style, without nodes. BUT, if you want just one more bitmap for diffuse color (or anything else) - suddenly you have to dive in into around 50 nodes which are parts of main shader - and some of that 50 contains another set of ten, twenty inside. Deleting is not good idea, because parameters are linked to main toolbar.
But, let's wait and see if there is something new about shading workflow in 14.

[MauricioPC]

I wonder if something like Silo + Houdini could be the ultimate generalist bundle for motion graphics, FX and illustration.

I'd say, again it really depends on personal preferences, knowledge, habits.... I'd be able to find a tons of arguments, why for example Syflex in SI (old one) is stronger (for me) than anything comparable in Houdini, but I'll forget how long it took to get some Syflex skills. When it comes to modeling, that's not what I'm doing everyday, but, when I do, it has to be done enough fast to meet the deadline - so, no room for experiments here. It seems I'll stay somewhere in Max - SI - Blender area forever (comprehensive set of modifiers + user friendly tweaking). Silo and even Modo are off. Because Blender is free, end of story.
My colleagues game programmers, hard core Maxers too, will have their long list of reasons, why Max and not Houdini in their shop. Actually they already have some sort of procedural tools, for various purposes, now there is that Houdini thing, aiming to replace their work - no way, didn't worked even in XSI 4 times.

Anyway, imho BIG problem with "Houdini for ordinary people" is a lack of 'middle level' tool. For one example ( and ten more examples if needed, so no need to argue ) Mantra Surface, as all-purpose hard surface, full blown PBR shader - has almost everything you want in PPG style, without nodes. BUT, if you want just one more bitmap for diffuse color (or anything else) - suddenly you have to dive in into around 50 nodes which are parts of main shader - and some of that 50 contains another set of ten, twenty inside. Deleting is not good idea, because parameters are linked to main toolbar.
But, let's wait and see if there is something new about shading workflow in 14.

I see what you are saying. Thankfully, this year has been of a lot of experimentation for software. It's good I have a job that pays the bill, so I can play with this.

But on the subject ... I still feel more comfortable than all in Max. But hell ... I smell a "the future is bright" for Max and that troubles me. Will they kill Max? I think not ... lot more users than Maya ... but Max may enter the Softimage update cycle and that is bad. They urgently need to work on the interface and improve performance in Max. If you talk to some crazy good character modelers, they all say Max chews RAM like is candy. Hope they address that as well.

Maya for me looks like a option when BiFrost is complete. Until then, it's just better to wait. I don't know ... Maya is not procedural at all.

/back to studying

[Werner]

What I noticed over the last couple of months sins we all heard the dreaded news about Softimage,
was that everybody in our shop jumped on Maya in their spare time. This went on for almost two months.
The amount of complains was staggering...me included. Our whole team decided to stay with Soft until it no longer works on Windows.
I just could not see myself learning software that was sooooo far behind Softimage. Even with the "new" modeling tools that was pulled from Soft, everything else felt bolted on. Animation was more or less the same...I can honestly say I hate Maya, and would much rather move back to Lightwave.

I decided to give Houdini a try and started to watch lots of online video tutorials. Some people around me started to jump on the band wagon out of their own free will. It takes a bit of time to get used to, but I am enjoying 3d again. Kind of had the same experience when we decided to invest in Arnold two years ago.
True that Houdini is lacking in some basic workflow and modeling/animation areas, but the power that it gives, is amazing. Rigging is a joy, and in some cases it is more powerful than Softimage(without scripting).

We like what we see, and with two ex Soft devs on their team, I'm glad to move away from Autodesk
...and enjoying it at the same time.

[MauricioPC]

Is that the node structure for the model on the right?

As far as what you guys decided ... thanks for sharing your thoughts. I guess I could just continue learning Softimage and buy before February 1st 2016 and use it as long as it works + Houdini Indie.

[Werner]

Is that the node structure for the model on the right?

As far as what you guys decided ... thanks for sharing your thoughts. I guess I could just continue learning Softimage and buy before February 1st 2016 and use it as long as it works + Houdini Indie.

Yes, that is the node structure. I closed the node editor while modeling to see if it was possible to work without spending too much time connecting nodes. Soft or Maya would come to a grinding halt with a history like that. There is no slowdown in this Houdini scene.

The areas I found lacking was selection workflow(This should be easy for Sidefx to fix) Just too many clicks to select and edit. We need a good Tweak tool with visual feedback in the viewport. Edge sliding is also missing. Temp snapping like in Soft is also missing.
Most of the slice and dice tools works well with more options under properties tabs. The lack of proper local space while modeling also plays a huge roll. Lets see what H14 brings. Most people here model in zbrush/soft anyway, so it wont be a show stopper for us.

Even our Max guys shows interest in Houdini. Our directors were the only ones who flipped when I sent them links to pricing. Since then they found out that you only need 1 or 2 FX seats to build and export OTL's(digital assets), that can then be used throughout the studio on normal Houdini licenses.

I'm on rigging now and there are lots of cool little things in Houdini that really makes it fun. Powerful stuff. Pooby would love it

[Bullit]

Thanks for feedback werner.

[Pooby]

Yeah I took a look at Houdini and was impressed. If I were to choose another package now, it would be Houdini for sure.

The reason I haven't jumped in is that primarily, for what I'm doing currently, SI and ICE is quite enough and for my future plans, I'm holding out for Fabric 2.0's Visual Programming.

I'm increasingly working on tools that shift whats currently known as 'Post production' into the realtime arena (driven by mocap) and current DCC's (even Houdini) aren't appropriate for that except for asset creation. Whereas Fabric is perfect for making standalone software to do whats required.

[nuverian]

If they keep on this track there wont be anything left of Autodesk in couple of years.

Absolutely

[Werner]

3 days to go. Can't wait.