i was wondering if there was a way to work in Maya and do all the animation and modeling and then transfer all the animation and models to Houdini,so i can do all the simulation and dynamics. Then from there bring back the simulated mesh into Maya. if anyone know of a way to do it please let me know i have the newest Houdini apprentice and the latest 2013 Maya.

Use FBX or alembic export from maya. Do the same back from houdini. I'm not sure about the extent of particle support in Alembic - FBX may be your best bet. Volume support is probably non-existant. However geometry is well supported.

Use FBX or alembic export from maya. Do the same back from houdini. I'm not sure about the extent of particle support in Alembic - FBX may be your best bet. Volume support is probably non-existant. However geometry is well supported.

I cannot recommend these plugins enough: http://www.houdinistuff.com/ [houdinistuff.com]

I used the bgeo writer on almost every project I did in college. The bgeo writer for maya works very well(last I used it).

The problem with bgeo writer is that the latest maya version is 2013 and the compiled one is 2011. I usually try to use the included tools only or the ones I can compile (I learn this the hard way).

From Maya to Houdini, I'd say Alembic (for geometry). I'm back learning Houdini and it works great.. The Apprentice Edition won't export FBX but probably will be good back in Maya.

For particles, I'd look into Partio (http://www.disneyanimation.com/technology/partio.html). [disneyanimation.com]