Hi !

remember this thread [test]???

Have a look at this


Currently it is just a quick and dirty hacked Python script, and a bunch of C code for the Geometry reading model files from LDD.

Do you mean that if you cannot script nor program on Houdini, the results will be no good at all?
Are you serious with those words?


I am asking this to you because I do not know script/programming and I would like to test Houdini Apprentice for my own.
I would like you to give me some advice, if you please.

Thank you !

Carlos

Houdini requires the LEAST amount of scripting of any of the major 3D applications…jump in and have fun!

arctor
Houdini requires the LEAST amount of scripting of any of the major 3D applications…jump in and have fun!

Hi arctor
I think I know you from my other post, the one I made some month ago. Do you speak Portuguese?, Spanish?

I am felling that Houdini is intuitive, and that people can achieve great results with it.
I am very afraid (don't laugh please) of start using it. That is why I decided at the time of my last post to try using Blender. And as far I can tell you I have not have anything like scripting or code to write on it (maybe cos I am just starting using it)

When you say “The least”, is it still too confusing? I have just saw a post from another person asking help about script/programming and one of your partners came with expressions $FF, etc..

I am a bit afraid because I am not longer a young person and if expressions are kind of a complex thing, with many ways of being interpret and so on, I am sure I will give it up as I can not stand too much of that complexity.

For how long are you using it? Did you start with Houdini as a first application?

Thank you

Another question: what can I do without any expression/scripting/programming thing in Houdini? Have you got any video clip in which I can see an animation done in Houdini without the use of the least required scripts?

BTW, please have a look to this short minute video animation. Can Houdini do the all thing, characters, textures, paints, animations, etc., sounds etc.. if I wanted to produce similar video?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUsGStXaasE&feature=player_embedded [youtube.com]

carlosgf
Do you mean that if you cannot script nor program on Houdini, the results will be no good at all?
Are you serious with those words?

No, that is not minted for Houdini, it means, anything that does NOT allow you to script it, or to program it is nothing really usefull. (At least to me!)
Of course you can do HEAVYCOOL stuff in houdini without using a single line of script.
Scripts are always usefull, where they save you from lots of stupid repetitious(?spell?) work. Like say you want to color 100 cubes to have no color used twice… Try it by hand… :twisted: A script, just a “click”.

It is my attitude… I don't like things, I can't (or am not welcome/allowed to) program.

carlosgf
Can Houdini do the all thing, characters, textures, paints, animations, etc., sounds etc.. if I wanted to produce similar video?

Sure ! You can do what ever you want, it is no easy task though. Needs some skills, whatever software you use just requires a different approach to it.

As arctor said, download it, install it, launch it, and have fun !!
You might need some time to get used to it, but it is worth the effort!!

carlosgf
BTW, please have a look to this short minute video animation. Can Houdini do the all thing, characters, textures, paints, animations, etc., sounds etc.. if I wanted to produce similar video?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUsGStXaasE&feature=player_embedded [youtube.com]

Well, that animation wasn't done in only one software. And the 3D software is not meant to do the textures, paints and sound. You'll probably use 3D Coat or Modo or ZBrush for modelling (as those guys did too).
That being said, Houdini is absolutely capable to do that type of stuff, and render it too (if you have the time or the farm, as those guys did).
However, those rigs for example need a lot of technical abilities (including scripting and expressions) to be done, no matter what software, and in some cases even writing plugins for the software. Doing a complex rig in Maya involves a *lot* of scripting, expressions, hypergraph mathematical operators etc.
All of the high end stuff you see on the webz is done on pipelines which were heavily scripted, and yes, as Arctor said, at that level Houdini is probably the software that requires the least amount of scripting to do high-end stuff

Dragos

Dragos, WhoDjini
Thank you for the feedback.
“Of course you can do HEAVYCOOL stuff in houdini without using a single line of script”… I am glad to know that !


After reading your comments I went to the Internet to search for information about modelling in Houdini.
My main purpose for using Houdini is to bring some 2D works (still images) into 3D. But as I search on you-tube, I found almost nothing about that subject, modelling with Houdini.

Is there any link I can follow that teaches me how to work on the modelling tool?
(here is a site in which I have some work done in traditional paint, also in digital paint. I would like to take the BANANA into the 3D world) and do more things of course, but I believe the main thing will be modelling.
http://locosporelarte.mundoforo.com/kaiko-vt10940.html [locosporelarte.mundoforo.com]


Will you be here to help any novice? I went to 3DBuzz forum and it was almost dead, with several posts and questions not-answered….

If your main thing is/would be modelling, Houdini is not the software for you. It has some great modelling features, but for pure modelling work there are specialized apps that are easier to approach and will offer you quicker results (if what you're looking for is “I want to model the damn banana and see a nice render quickly”). 3D Coat, Modo, Zbrush come to mind.

Dragos

It is not for purely modelling Dragos. I have seen still images done in Houdini, and I found they great. But as I said before, it is not easy to find free tutorials for doing that. I was willing to buy the apprentice HD software of yours, that is why I am asking so many things.

Thank you

carlosgf
I was willing to buy the apprentice HD software of yours, that is why I am asking so many things.

It's not my software and asking questions is welcomed
But still, I wouldn't recommend Houdini just for modelling and still life. If there's something more that you're interested in, then Houdini is probably the best tool to learn 3D.

Dragos

digitallysane
If there's something more that you're interested in, then Houdini is probably the best tool to learn 3D.

Dragos

I thought you were from Side-Effects Software Team !

Will you be around to help me in that case of purchasing Houdini, particularly if I get stooped by scripting?

(tutorials about modelling, do you know were I can find them?)


EDITED: BTW, why do you not recommend me Houdini? If I read correctly, Houdini is capable of still images. Maybe the modelling part is complicated or Houdini has not good tools for that. I am trying to guess it

Well, the whole forum is around, not me in particular. And there is documentation:
http://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini11.0/ [sidefx.com]
http://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini11.0/tutorials/ [sidefx.com]
http://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini11.0/model/ [sidefx.com]

http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=192&Itemid=351 [sidefx.com]

Dragos

digitallysane
Well, the whole forum is around, not me in particular. And there is documentation:

Dragos

Thank you for the reply ( I have just edited my last post when I received your answer !

I will have a good look to those links.

Thank you once more !
(I will be back to tell you more)

carlosgf
EDITED: BTW, why do you not recommend me Houdini? If I read correctly, Houdini is capable of still images. Maybe the modelling part is complicated or Houdini has not good tools for that. I am trying to guess it

It's not that I not recommend it. As I wrote in a previous post, it's the best app to learn 3D.
However, it's a huge, complex, professional application. It covers everything that has to do with CGI (modeling, simulations, particles, lighting, shading, rendering) at a very advanced level. It offers you unlimited power and it's very rewarding and it lets you go further than any other package. But this complexity does come at the cost of a learning curve. And that is true for any other high-end packages like Maya or Softimage or Max.
If you're interested in modelling stuff and then rendering a still image of it, Houdini is very capable. However, there are software packages that exist for the only purpose of doing just that, and you will get to result in a shorter time.
Also, Houdini's modelling toolset, while very powerful, is not targeted towards organic, freeform modeeling as much as those softwares.

Dragos

digitallysane
Also, Houdini's modelling toolset, while very powerful, is not targeted towards organic, freeform modeeling as much as those softwares.

Dragos

You explained very well now. I understood it perfectly. Still I will have a good look at the links that you have provided me.

Thank you Dragos for all !
See you

WhoDjini
Like say you want to color 100 cubes to have no color used twice… Try it by hand… :twisted: A script, just a “click”.

edward

WhoDjini
Like say you want to color 100 cubes to have no color used twice… Try it by hand… :twisted: A script, just a “click”.

example file attached

Edward…. :wink:
No showing off please !!

I know, it was humble example I gave. Actually there is a whole lot of thiings doable in Houdini without the real need of a script. But in the case some one does not know Houdini and you want to explain what scipts are for…

ARMISTICE !?!???

Hi

I downloaded Houdini, and downloaded your file Edward.

I has only 4 nodes, one for the box, for the grid, for the points (what is that for?) and the compositing node.
It really seems so simple. But there were expressions like $TY (position), $BBX (colours?) and I did not see the rest.

So, this example file is what WhoDjini can be done in Houdini without real script?

Is there every time those expressions. They seems not to be complex but if there were a lot more it is something that we have to study also.

Last question, I do not know the meaning of those strings, no programming. That will be of no problem for understanding and using those expressions as long as I do some personal work?

Sorry if I had repeat my questions with other words

Thank you for reading

BTW, my PC was too slow trying to move the cubes of the files. It seems that is not capable of handling more complex scenes. Any clue to accelerate it (first I know that I have to buy another graphic card)?

The Boxes are the objects that should be displayed.

They should be placed on a 10x10 grid. The copy SOP does place its 1st input on the points provided by the 2nd input. Then there is the point SOP which sets or modifies a few values. In its color section you read $BBX, $BBY and $BBZ these are local variables Houdini maintains for each SOP.

$BBX, $BBY and $BBZ tell you the posiiton of a point in the Bounding Box in X, Y and Z direction. Here this defines the color for the Boxes. And that's it…

As has already been said, Houdini is not the easiest to learn 3D software, but it is worth the effort to learn. Have a look at the tutorials digitallysane linked to. The best of all is (at least for me) that the Apprentice verison is for free, and its watermark in the renders is not really obstrusive.

Thank you WhoDjini !

I will follow your advice