Hey, Guys!

I just joined up. Been using XSI, MAX, and C4D for a while, thought I'd give Houdini a try. The stuff you guys make is amazing. So I just wanted to say “hi” You guys can take a look at my portfolio at the site on my signature. PLEASE note that I'm completely self trained. So my stuff is gonna look like crap. But hey, I won a t-shirt from one of my movies, so. Things that aren't mine, I credited at the bottom of the frame.

I already feel like an idiot. I tried following the included tutes in the help file(the modeling a rocket) and I've already screwed up. I followed the steps, but then when I got to the part right in the beginning when you rename the cube to ‘rocket’, I then hit enter, and it disappeared! Couldn't find it. Wow - this already looks like a steep learning curve.

I found video tutes on 3D buzz, and found the seven or so on this site here (http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogsection&id=14&Itemid=132) [sidefx.com]

Are there any continuing ones on this site. i.e., when the guy does the character one here, he says in a future lesson, but not sure where those future lessons are.

I learn best with project based tutorials. Buzz's are great, but you don't really make an end product. You guys have any cool video project based tutes? (like how digital tutors has for XSI and Maya?)

Thanks guys!!

Tellurye

Welcome! Don't worry, I ask for help all the time too and probably asked more questions in the last 2 weeks than anyone else ever had!

I think the rocket thing took me like three tries before I even started to know what was going on … and even then it doesn't really seem that significant … just harder than other apps.

I still feel like that in VOPs to some degree but they are much better than other programs approach,

I think the first few videos on Garman's gnomon 101 were great at cutting through learning curve stuff, good overall picture of whats going on if that's the type of learner you are. Unfortunately the crash and bang click stuff approach to learning doesn't work as well as in other apps.

There are some (well, quite a few already) dvd's from CmiVFX and two from The Gnomon Workshop. Then there is the book of Will Cuningham which is a nice read. You can also get some of the old Houdini tutorials from the odforce website. These vids are more project based then the Buzz's.

In July there will be another book publish by Craig Zerouni. Oh and check out the old school blog, Jeff is giving some nice tips about workflow and uhm other stuff.

Oh another nice thing about Houdini (actually it's the core of Houdini's workflow) when you download a file from odforce or these forums you can follow the exact way the model was build. There is nothing (well there is but let's not get carried away) you can hide in the model, there is no history like in Maya (or Xsi). So with the Houdini help and an example file you can come a long way!

the od site is going through some upgrades just now…
we should be back up in a matter of a few days…
and I'll try to remember to come back and post the link to the videos

arctor
the od site is going through some upgrades just now…
we should be back up in a matter of a few days…
and I'll try to remember to come back and post the link to the videos

Thanks so much guys, great to “meet” all of you.

What is odforce? Or, is that what you are talking about…that its down and I can't get to it yet anyway?

I would love to check those bad boys out. I'm all about project based video tutes. The reason is, if the author makes a mistake, then it won't work for him either When following the written tutes, takes 3 times as long, and sometimes they leave stuff out.

Good - I can't thank you guys enough for the awesome response! I am so nervous trying to learn this. I'm hoping to start school in Maya as well. I know Maya and Houdini and the top programs, so wanted to get the basics down a little in Houdini.

The Odforce site can be found at http//odforce.net but as said they are upgrading it. You still can reach the forums though http//forums.odforce.net

tellurye
I tried following the included tutes in the help file(the modeling a rocket) and I've already screwed up. I followed the steps, but then when I got to the part right in the beginning when you rename the cube to ‘rocket’, I then hit enter, and it disappeared! Couldn't find it. Wow - this already looks like a steep learning curve.

Hi and welcome!
I suppose the object dissapeared because you entered “into” it by pressing enter. Houdini's structure is very much like the file structure of an operating system. You have an object, which is like a container. You can transform it, but if you want to model it, you have to go inside it, where the modeling operations (SOPs, that is Surface OPerators) reside.

Dragos

Thanks, Digitally insane!! That's exactly what I did. I figured that out after doing it the second time, stating aloud what I was doing. although I'm not sure why you can't just create the cone, tube, and then group them into a rocket. Instead of creating a cube, naming it, deleting it, then creating the geometry you want.

Hey, weird, but Houdini is totally awesome, so if that's what I gotta do, I'll do it

I think Houdini 9 is going to be a lot more drag/drop friendly although I'm not so sure this is a good thing .. I'll have to wait and see. For instance, I learned most of my fundimental 3D skills on a program without an interface, everything was scripted (POV-Ray).

A lot of my 3ds Max students don't really appreciate things like good scene lighting at first because 3ds Max puts in default lights for you and they look “ok … for a student at least.” In Pov-ray before I put in a camera and lights I didn't see a thing Which instantly taught me their importance and usage.

Houdini's workflow is organized differently than most other apps so it doesn't have a lot of the object-level limitations inherit in say Max or Maya. The idea is that you have “networks inside of networks.” This frees up a lot of things for very complex dependencies and very organized scenes, although they normally take longer to set up than in other programs.

i thin it's good to have an option in 9.0 that let user swtich the interface back to
old fashion, but maybe it's difficult to do that with DOP workflow.

tellurye
Thanks, Digitally insane!! That's exactly what I did. I figured that out after doing it the second time, stating aloud what I was doing. although I'm not sure why you can't just create the cone, tube, and then group them into a rocket. Instead of creating a cube, naming it, deleting it, then creating the geometry you want.

Hey, weird, but Houdini is totally awesome, so if that's what I gotta do, I'll do it

Objects are really just containers for any geometry, imagine instead of a cube you are making a hat for a character. You can try several versions inside your geometry container. The container is named hat but the geometry inside can change to any type of hat you like. At the object level your scene isn't cluttered up with all the different versions. Its all part of the very organised workflow you get in houdini that lets you do very complex things without getting confused. All you have to do is learn the difference between an object an a sop, not so difficult really, just different.