Dear members,

I know it's just a silly question I'm dealing with but…

I'm currently using Maya since two years, before that, I used several unprofessional (?) packages, but Houdini is the first one, the strukture of solving problems, I found familiar with. Its the first software I found the deepest possibilities but also, and thats special, a clear, intuitive understanding.
The step, changing the software (I'm thinking about), isn't so easy. Financially and by learning.
So I would be pleased, if you could tell me about the good things, your experiences, in using Houdini. How far is it used? (-normally, it seems that the whole worls just uses max, maya and xsi?!?) Houdini is so complex and so good, why isn't it as spread as Maya or XSI? What are the main benefits of Houdini? Why do I hear so less about it, sometimes it seems to me it's a secret case? What can the future bring? Is the developement of Houdini save?

Thanx for all your responses and I hope I finally write more here soon.
SimonH

Among others Digital Domain uses houdini. As for why it's not talked about much, do the math - Maya $(~2000/~7000), MAX $(1700-3000), Houdini $(17,000/ (No price for escape listed)).

Some studios that use Houdini:

Digital Domain
Sony Pictures Imageworks
Rhythm & Hues
C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures/Feature Animation
Framestore CFC
Peerless
Realise
Vanguard/Ealing Studios
Axyz Animation
Dan Krech Productions

It's not well known as it has typically been hard to get into, and there hasn't been much info online until fairly recently. The learning curve is steep, and it is a very technical app. Most people that want to get into CG are interested in the high visibility “glamour” positions…things like Modeling, Animation, Lighting. Many of them never even consider FX, rigging, or R&D, and Houdini's previous lack of user friendliness and lack of available info has kept it from being widespread in the CG “mainstream” so to speak. This is changing of course…lots of people are getting interested, they've been hearing that it works so differently, and it's kind of hard to imagine that as every other mainstream app works more or less the same by comparison…throw in the release of Apprentice….and curiosity ensues.

Hi SimonH,

I had started trying to learn Houdini back to a few months and as a total newbie to this software I'd like to share some of my impressions.

I'm in 3d business for about 4 years as a modeler and animator mostly doing medical stuff. I'm using lightwave, and dealed a bit with XSI. I was hearing much about houdini's mighty features like its kinda' unique instancing, particle systems, its cool built in renderer and mostly full-procedural approach to modelling but also knewing its reputation of being non-user friendliness, steep learning curve and not so crowded user base. It first attracted my attention by the latest apprentice release and new set of tutorials. I first serached the forum and read many threads like this topic, downloaded a few video tuts (now I have all of them), watched and said “wow!” Then installing the apprentice I started using it almost immediately with modelling tools. And this second time I said “greeeaattt!” As I continued to experiment with it I started to feel right at home about its cool modelling aprroach and it seemed much, much user friendly than XSI with UI. As going with tutorials I nearly fell in love with its solutions for CA tools and animation capabilities. It has greatly customizable UI and really fast and non-destructive workflow. Only its shader system (which I believe one of the greatest features of the app.) made be a bit scared.

As long as you stuck with tutorials and do what they told it seems cool and easy, but when I started to dig little deeper, I nearly lost in some ways and couldn't find much help from its cumbersome PDFs. It's user database is not wide-spread as the other apps. and the most upsetting thing for me was I hadn't find any books about Hodini in Amazon.com.

Now I experienced Houdini a bit, played with many of its features but I'm feeling very alone now, not much everybody to ask around (check my topic “Smatskin in Houdini”) I want to go further ‘cause really loved it but I can’t make myself spend much time on it.

In conclusion, Houdini is really different from others, have many advantages(I mentioned above) and disadvantages (like pricing and feedback) of its own. I'd like to have a friend around uses Houdini at least intermediate level or attend to a studio it owns it, but there is none of it

Hope this helps,
Cheers.

Diya