futnuh
Think of Houdini like karate. While most of the world is awed by a black belt, practitioners will say that the first “dan” is only the start of the training. They realize the potential, and know it is a lifelong process of learning - in our case, learning not about the interface/menu/etc but exploring the possibilities it allows.

the “first dan”. that's a good way to look at it. because when i so often hear of people talking about many “years” to master Houdini, rather than the months it takes for other related positions (such as rotoscopers and/or compositors?), it is very intimidating. but, thinking of it in terms of your analogy, once one gets their first black belt, they are ready to roll with some real work, while mastering the higher nuances of the discipline at the same time.

it's more about the “seat time” than the calender time anyway, i assume. but it's hard to stay consistent with it sometimes. especially when the perceived maturation date to reach the pro-user levels seems so far away. sometimes i contemplate switching to learning something that might take less time to earn a “seat” somewhere, and then picking up the Houdini skills once i get my foot in the door.

i do have the book since november, and have downloaded all the tuts from the sesi website too. it just takes time to go through it all, even on the rare occasion i dont make mistakes doing the exercises!

g'day mates…