I'm totally new to Houdini (15 years 3dsmax user). Im wondering if to achieve quality vfx in Houdini is coding required? I watched few tutorials on the web and some cool lookig stuff there is always some funky coding. Whats the take on that from long time more artistic users than mathematicians

IMHO Yes.I don`t have one shot where I have not written at least a single line of vex. I am not a mathematician either.

I don`t think it´s required. It´s just the longer you use Houdini the more efficient you will get.

lukx
Whats the take on that from long time more artistic users than mathematicians

You'll find a lot of coders, not programmers, don't even know trigonometry these days.

They are essentially ‘data-movers’ or ‘data-clerks’

I would say yes and no. The procedural nature of Houdini can do a lot with nodes which you'd need huge scripts to do in other apps (if you could even script it). On the other hand, many people write simple expressions into parameters, and as you get more familiar with that the VEX Wrangles don't look nearly so intimidating. VOPs also allow you to create shaders and operations with nodes instead of code, and if you're interested to can view the code they generate, but otherwise they'll do their job without you ever seeing the code.

I was just talking to someone about this. After you use Houdini for awhile, you'll want to know enough coding to toss VEX snippets into your scene script because its just the most straightforward way to get things done, develop an interesting look, etc.

Given the number of excellent tutorials running around these days, it's not too hard to learn VEX or Python but my 2¢ from experience, start with tutorials from artists. Houdini has a sort of natural line between artists and T.D.s. T.D.s are interested in building tools for other people to use. They have a skill known as career stability and start their day at ye olde command line and their tutorials often rightfully involve greater technical skills and a deeper focus on interface and proceduralism than you might want right away. Tutorials from the games guys have yet another layer of technical focus called how-to-squish-all-this-into-a-small-frame-buffer as well. Save those for down your particular road.

On the other hand, artist tutorials are often awkward because part of their job doesn't involve communicating complex operations to others like a T.D. does all day long. Find authors you like that know how to communicate concepts and methods. Matt Ebb's CGWiki blog is a great start, Rohan Dalvi's tutorials are great for beginners, Entagma's for intermediate users or those with some prior coding, etc.

Good luck.

Er, that's Matt Estela's CGwiki, ie the other MattE.

Oops, thanks.

also used max for ages, initially used vex/vops for the same reason as using maxscript: avoiding tedious & repetitive manual work. Nothing stopping you from manually keyframing everything though.

Coding can be very helpful, however the fx lead I have ever had cannot code at all. If you have a good eye and can figure out clever ways to do something,there is usually nodes for whatever you are trying to accomplish. In my personal experience I have found too many FX TDs get to wrapped into their coding that they can lose track of the big picture, or end up wasting a lot of time coding something that there is already a node that does the same thing.

For anything that doesn't have sop node, there is always VOPs.

tricecold
IMHO Yes.I don`t have one shot where I have not written at least a single line of vex. I am not a mathematician either.

+1000

Nail->Head
Absolutely agree.

Coding can pull off some amazing things but one thing I like about Houdini is that there are many ways to skin a cat.

I know a bit of coding/vex gubbins but mainly like to work in an ICE way, more visually. I find uber zen coders can be very useful for long form show pipeline tools etc, but often really not worth the effort for simply doing shots. Often it takes just as long (if not longer) as the ‘simple, non elegant’ way but is much, much more likely to go very wrong at the last minute and becomes super unfixable late on a Friday night before a delivery.

Since moving from Soft I am doing far more complicated/challenging shots but finding I code much less. I used to do a lot in VB back in XSI (rip) to prop up ICE a little.

codystoof
Coding can be very helpful, however the fx lead I have ever had cannot code at all. If you have a good eye and can figure out clever ways to do something,there is usually nodes for whatever you are trying to accomplish. In my personal experience I have found too many FX TDs get to wrapped into their coding that they can lose track of the big picture, or end up wasting a lot of time coding something that there is already a node that does the same thing.

For anything that doesn't have sop node, there is always VOPs.

Also the question was whether coding is *required*. And as VOPs and VEX are almost identical, the answer should probably be ‘no’ (unless you want to solve things elegantly or if you need python).

But I am not working in VFX, so maybe you absolutely need it.