Hello Houdini people,

Given that autodesk is killing off the product I've been using since it's inception and it's predeccesor since the late 80's it's time to tool up with something new and given how ICE had become a large part of the workflow in Softimage i would imagine that there will be a massive influx of software refugees banging on your door. I know AD have upset enough soft users to push a big chunk them away from the obvious Maya dinosaur and into the Houdini camp, myself included.

So i'm learning Houdini, and i'll probably have a continual stream of questions so please be gentle.

cheers,


Andi.

Welcome! There has a been an up-tick in the forum requests for a more viewport centric workflow that Softimage is seemingly brilliant at.

The good news is that SideFx has been indicating that the viewport workflow, at least in the snapping tools, will be getting worked in future versions.

Always good to hear if you have requests too.

Welcome My friend
I think Houdini is good choice for Soft Image Users ,Because SoftImage ICE is pretty like Houdini VEX .(But the Other Softwares are not really full Procedural !)

Houdini is really good software for who tried procedural system (ICE) !

Another Interesting thing of the Houdini is the it's Forum ! ,Because It's forum is really active and you can take your answer very soon ,So there is good place for learning Houdini and take special experiences of the Advanced Houdini users !

Andi Farhall
So i'm learning Houdini, and i'll probably have a continual stream of questions so please be gentle.

Great to see you here, Andi! Been a while

Keep them questions coming, I'll try to answer as much as I can. Let us also know how we can improve the app. We understand that it is by no means perfect, especially when it comes to viewport interaction and all that jazz. However, we're very much looking at that part and we'd love to hear your feedback on how we can make it better.

Hello my friend!!! look forward to catch up on the pub.. in the meantime feel free to bombard the Houdini guys, they are very very helpful and I hope I can also help myself.

hugs

Andi Farhall
Hello Houdini people,

Given that autodesk is killing off the product I've been using since it's inception and it's predeccesor since the late 80's it's time to tool up with something new and given how ICE had become a large part of the workflow in Softimage i would imagine that there will be a massive influx of software refugees banging on your door. I know AD have upset enough soft users to push a big chunk them away from the obvious Maya dinosaur and into the Houdini camp, myself included.

So i'm learning Houdini, and i'll probably have a continual stream of questions so please be gentle.

cheers,


Andi.

Hi Halfdan, Hi Jordi, I can see the ex xsi lot are going to be in very good company here….

Hey guys.

I just hijack this threat and also say hello.
I am Softimage User since 10 years switching to Houdini now.

Would love to get some support in here and I directly gonna start in an other thread

So this is the hello thread ?

Hello !

Hello guys …

Actually I'm a Max user (heresy! burn him!) that was studying Softimage to make a switch. I had plans of learning Houdini later as I want to be an FX TD. Guess Autodesk pushed me to start learning Houdini faster.

I'll continue using Max (as V-Ray and FumeFX are too cool to just drop), but my idea is to become so comfortable with Houdini that Pyro will be my new FumeFX and Mantra will be my new V-Ray.


P.S.: I was thinking of buying the Houdini Fundamentals training from cmiVFX. Is it worth it?

Cheers.

Hello SI Guys.
Regarding the CMIVFX video on Fundamentals (which I own), the good news is that now is really cheap (about 20$). If you´re looking for an intro on Houdini phylosophy then its ok.
If you´re looking for something that might give you a head start into the dynamics realm, then you´ll find it too light on that area. (not to mention particles are a bit different now).

If you want a tutorial to know houdini concept (free): beginner oriented.
http://www.3dbuzz.com/training/view/houdini-fundamentals/h9-fundamentals [3dbuzz.com]

3DBuzz's tutorial are very good. You can use it in houdini 13 without issues except for some rendering parts where some materials were discontinued.

Otherwise, you have the Sidefx tutorial (free). Very good but a litte less talkative than 3DBuzz because shorter.
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=202&Itemid=361 [sidefx.com]
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=203&Itemid=362 [sidefx.com]
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=222&Itemid=383 [sidefx.com]
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=228&Itemid=389 [sidefx.com]

For the rigging part, you are the 3dBuzz's tutorial (not free) :
http://www.3dbuzz.com/training/topic/houdini [3dbuzz.com]

After CMIVFX are also good. But you need to know houdini basics concept for a lot of them.

You have Peter Quint's tutorial (good too): http://vimeo.com/user2030228. [vimeo.com] If you need to watch some practical example.

Id just like to drop in to and say hello and thank you to the guys from side effects. An amazing gesture. I will defiantly be looking into learning Houdini and transferring my lighting skills to this package.

Cheers,
Ogi.

Just saying hello,

Started the first baby steps today and look forward to dive into Houdini. Been with Softimage from back in mid 90s. Will be interesting to see if you really can teach an old dog new tricks…

Hello everybody, like many that are joining, and those still to come, I'm a Softimage orphan, looking to transfer my knowledge of Softimage to Houdini. It's nice to see some familiar names in here.

Looking forward to ingesting as much as I can as we move forward post SI.

Adam

Greetings, new friends!

Nice to see that you're feeling welcome, the community here and at odforce is very sharing and caring. If you ask interesting questions and phrase them the right way, you might even start a competition on who has the cleverest solution for you

Looking forward to the influx of great talent and fresh ideas!

Hello everyone

Just noticed that my old account from 2005 here on the forums seems to be inactive…
I guess, it`s a good time to start fresh again with all the familiar names from the Softimage community.

Since I am just a 3D hobbyist XSI/Softimage has been the more artist friendly / non-technical savvy ch(j)o(y)ice for me.
But with what I hear Houdini might get some more attention in the future.

In a way the discontinuation of Softimage seems to interconnect two of the most talented, creative and helpful communities one can find in this area. I presume that will make Autodesk feel sorry sooner or later.
I am very excited to see where this collaboration will be leading to in the future!

Thanks for the warm welcome (again)
Klaus

there are plenty at vimeo
this one for example is great
http://vimeo.com/user2030228 [vimeo.com]

i'm new to houdini too. shelf tools are easier to start with to get basic setup and its easier to understand.

cheers

Maurício Cuencas
Hello guys …

Actually I'm a Max user (heresy! burn him!) that was studying Softimage to make a switch. I had plans of learning Houdini later as I want to be an FX TD. Guess Autodesk pushed me to start learning Houdini faster.

I'll continue using Max (as V-Ray and FumeFX are too cool to just drop), but my idea is to become so comfortable with Houdini that Pyro will be my new FumeFX and Mantra will be my new V-Ray.


P.S.: I was thinking of buying the Houdini Fundamentals training from cmiVFX. Is it worth it?

Cheers.

Hello everyone. I'm a longtime xsi user - been fascinated by Houdini for many years but always found it a bit intimidating. ICE was a straightforward way to start getting into proceduralism, and now Houdini is making so much more sense for my workflow. I'll try to learn as much as possible and hopefully help others where I can. It looks like you have a great community here.

Hello Keith.
When you feel a bit more comfortable around Houdini (read Jordi´s guide “from SI to Houdini”) you can check this thread

http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_forum&Itemid=172&page=viewtopic&t=31063 [sidefx.com]

where I provided a scene file which replicates the “ICE Concepts and Workflow Part1” tutorial in Houdini.

Hi everyone. I typed up this long email over the weekend on why I love ICE and my first initial impression of Houdini, but sadly for some reason it never sent and I lost it.

Anyways, long story short, after watching just a little bit of the tutorials, I wasn't too keen to see expressions. I thought Houdini was connecting nodes together! Expressions are definately more efficient (and probably better once you know what you're doing), but harder to understand what's going on, and how changing parts of the equation result in different outputs. That's one of the things I liked best about ICE. It allowed me to learn things I never was able to grasp in the past (4x4 matrix). It feels like going back to Scripted Operators, which I generally tried to avoid.

In one of the other threads someone posted a scene with VEX. That looks like what I'm after! Another thing that I really liked about ICE was the color coding of different data types and knowing what plugs into what. Looks a bit more complicated in VEX.

As for Viewport Interaction.. Is it possible to move things in a plane, like YZ direction. I've only been able to move X, then move Y.