eikonoklastes

Gaalets
noise

Remember guys. Don't feed the troll, and they will go away. Everyone have a nice day.

lol. as much as his messages were exaggerated and annoying there way some truth to it. I do agree that Houdini is anything but artist friendly. From naming the nodes to naming the parameters to describing the parameters to documenting them - all of this seems to be an afterthought.

My personal gripe is when i divide UI into more columns than default, and the parameter dropdowns become hidden behind the scroll I think someone mentioned that already
I would also suggest getting rid of old lingering stuff like those old renderman nodes from shop context that simply do not work.

eikonoklastes

Gaalets
noise

Remember guys. Don't feed the troll, and they will go away. Everyone have a nice day.

I feel every post here are all realistic concerns. No matter how harsh peoples comparison with Blender and other software are, it is more than evidant that the current Houdini UI, interface, and node naming are bad, non intivtive, an absolute barriar that deters away new learners and users. I feel only some really old users are saying otherwise because the overcomplaxity of Houdini interface is now their bragging rights, and SideFX is obviously pandering to them rathering than considering recruiting new users. It is not a sustainable strategy in a long term.

A lot of Blender comparison here, and that really shows the popularity of Blender and more importantly just how fast and how easy the interface can change and improve over such a short time.

However, I think a better reference for SideFX is Rhino Grasshopper, very similar workflow, where at least the node naming system just makes perfect sense. Nodes like Mountain, Peak, Blast are really just a very few example of how esoteric (perfect word for this situation) this system is. Not to mention other non necessary confusion like Fuse, PolyDoctor, Clean, Facet, Lab Cleanup (just wow), or like delete and blast, or like skin and polyloft, or like the many many group node and attribute nodes. Consolidation and simplification are the keys! At some point, I feel it might be easier to do a clean redesign rather than dragging on on this crumbling system that SideFX is building upon. So many duplicate, non-sense in the node library, shows just how self iniated game rules can easily entagle the developers deeper and deeper.

Also there should be a dedicated sections for all the nodes in the UI interface. Maya makes more sense explaining this. First you gave people options to clicks on buttons rather than type in a long string of words that sometimes people just easily forget because there are so many of them. This is the mutual respect for establishing a fan base and healthy new learner growth like Rhino and Blender. Group nodes intuitively in folders. And after conquering the learning curve you offer the option for a clean interface where professional users relying on typing commands and shortcut for all operation.

Also short explaination for each node somewhere (when you hover over them or in their Param views) is long overdue. This is not the same as expect user to click on a pop up website (Which is just pure lazyness in the design).

Nodes already are grouped in folders. I'd also rather type tab-"pbe"-shift+enter than constantly have to go click a button on bevel.
Anyway, there are so many things wrong with the post above, anywhere from misunderstanding the difference between polyloft and skin, to pretty violent grammar.
Not to insult the intelligence of anyone, but if the "Fuse" node naming makes you struggle and appears esoteric, it seems to me you need more practice, which in turn will help you remember what's what. This is not me showing elitism, this is for building familiarity with H.

One improvement I would like to see with node selection, is to show the nodes that a user commonly uses first.

If I regularly drop a transform node after hitting the Tkey, pick that by default next time. I rarely use a Tracenode, but it's a keen one, always wanting to be chosen, even after entering tra. Small quality of life things could go a long way.

You might consider creating your own hotkey just for that, you can create your own shelf and bind it to hotkeys to save loads of time on your favorite nodes.

osong
You might consider creating your own hotkey just for that, you can create your own shelf and bind it to hotkeys to save loads of time on your favorite nodes.

Sure, that might help me, and I perhaps have enough knowledge at this point to give it a try... but how does that help new a user? How does that make Houdini more approachable to a novice?

A subset of "key" nodes shown by default would be less intimidating. Then have that list adapt to additional nodes that a user chooses over time. Houdini already keeps a history of previous nodes, it just doesn't do anything with that information.

iirc Gaea by Quadspinner has sorta smart learning of preferred nodes, maybe that will be the best solution.

also, everyone keeps bringing up blender, but seems to forget the weird experience of working with nurbs, making radial symmetry in edit mode, or having Nodes under a modifier. Those things are really whacky, but people are used to them. That's the whole thing - familiarity. Simple things like switching view to camera-aligned for me personally is easier and faster in Houdini, among other things that comprise a long list that make zero sense to me in blender.

lmnoc1
Consolidation and simplification are the keys!

I'm pretty sure the only node anyone actually needs is an Attribute Wrangle. That would certainly simplify the network UI, although it probably wouldn't make Houdini much easier to use.

liberalarts
One improvement I would like to see with node selection, is to show the nodes that a user commonly uses first.

If I regularly drop a transform node after hitting the Tkey, pick that by default next time. I rarely use a Tracenode, but it's a keen one, always wanting to be chosen, even after entering tra. Small quality of life things could go a long way.

And that is a perfect example of the problem with some newer users. What you've requested, which has already been mentioned how to solve, is no different in any other DCC. If there are tools/nodes you tend to use a lot, you'd simply drag that node onto a shelf, which becomes a button, which you bind to a hotkey. That isn't some esoteric houdini workflow, it's no different in Maya, etc.
Making hotkeys, radial menus with your most used tools, is just part of getting things more customized to you.
And that is the crux of it. Customize it to you should be on you to take care of, not pushing back onto the application to
somehow magically become AI aware of what you are using.

A lot of the complaints about the nodes, layout, etc can be overcome if you find them bothersome.


L

@lewis_T,

I think you are right. Everybody should customize the workflow to make the most sense to them.
But on the other hand, this needs to be made easy by the application. As you said, creating custom radial menus for one's needs is an excellent idea. And it should be straightforward. But it isn't. And this comes down to one thing: Houdini doesn't echo commands somewhere, so you can use them as they are. I came from XSI and the script editor, echoed every toggle, every action ... simply everything. From there you grab the snippet and it works. I think in Maya there is a function that is similar. The echo command from Houdini isn't useful in most cases as it only echoes actions like creating a node.

This is an example: I wanted to have a radial menu action to toggle point display in the viewport on and off. Like the button left to the viewport. It took me ages to find the right syntax. And only with the help of people that are better at coding. It should be as easy as dragging the point symbol from the viewport sidebar to your radial menu. It needs a code like this. And you can find it nowhere:



I love Houdini but this should be more convenient.
Cheers
CYTE

Progress on character face animation would be good.
Also hope to see volume displacement at least for karma CPU.
and some modeling tools to get close to Houdini modeler plugin.
very interesting to see upcoming remesher.

I'd be very happy if SideFX just delivered a 100% reliable viewport. One that always showed the actual state of the geometry / network. It's super frustrating trying to work out what's wrong when the viewport stopped redrawing correctly minutes ago...

Mike_A
I'd be very happy if SideFX just delivered a 100% reliable viewport. One that always showed the actual state of the geometry / network. It's super frustrating trying to work out what's wrong when the viewport stopped redrawing correctly minutes ago...

No kidding, this has been my new best friend.


It's not just ghosted objects. Selection highlighting and tool initialization constantly break, which makes it difficult to settle into a comfortable flow when modeling. Working inside of SOP Create/Modify in LOPs is even more shaky. I don't believe the current viewport can be salvaged, but the good news is that SideFX is working on a Vulkan-based replacement.

I don´t think that Houdini has to copy Blender or Cinema4D UI, it would´nt be a good fit.
But I also would love Houdini to be less abstract, more Userfriendly and artistic, (altough SideFx did a LOT to improve usability over the years for example all these cool new lop nodes that came out recently among many others).

Also the Viewport is quite annoying and the help docs could even be more helpful, especially if new features are coming out :-)

osong
Nodes already are grouped in folders. I'd also rather type tab-"pbe"-shift+enter than constantly have to go click a button on bevel.
Anyway, there are so many things wrong with the post above, anywhere from misunderstanding the difference between polyloft and skin, to pretty violent grammar.
Not to insult the intelligence of anyone, but if the "Fuse" node naming makes you struggle and appears esoteric, it seems to me you need more practice, which in turn will help you remember what's what. This is not me showing elitism, this is for building familiarity with H.

I see. In a feedback post calling other users criticism as violent grammar. Corporation has to move past over such defense mechanism in order to improve. Surely your point of view as a seasoned user is a proper reflection of every designer including the ones that are not previleged enough to be present on this forum at this moment because they were deterred away by certain constructs? Sound like a sustainable way to keep a software alive by only pandering to the yes man. Esoteric surly would not appear so esoteric to the insiders

How about a multithreaded UV packing system? Having to pack something in the region of thousands of islands can take a long, long time being a single threaded process now.

aaoc1
calling other users criticism as violent grammar.
... Corporation has to move past over such defense mechanism in order to improve

The "violent grammar" comment was just an observation of how the person was writing.

I do not align myself with any corporation whatsoever, nor am I "pandering to the yes man", contrary to your bizarre assumption.

Tora_2097
How about a multithreaded UV packing system? Having to pack something in the region of thousands of islands can take a long, long time being a single threaded process now.

TOP's?

rickapex
this is kind of a wild thought, but the reason i still go to blender is often only because of the quick and easy eevee renderer for things that don't require photorealistic renders (which in my case is most of the times). It would be so badass if there was like literally no bridge between houdini and the unreal engine for example. an "unreal render" button. one could dream..

i get the feeling i kinda triggered a blender VS houdini discussion, but that wasn't really my intention

It's just that the speed and ease of rendering makes a huge difference for many of my (animation/motiongraphics) projects. For the rest, the way houdini is set up in it's core makes way more sense to me.