Hi all,
I am fairly new to Houdini but not vfx. I am looking to hear from folks with experience in both Mantra and Arnold in regards to what they have seen as major strengths either render engine have. I have not used either very much (mainly used Vray and proprietary real time stuff from Weta).. Curious what percentage of time do you use Mantra versus Arnold? Are there certain sets of tasks where you prefer to use Arnold over Mantra or vise versa? (Very general question I know)
Thanks!

Can't help you from personal experience but I remember this thread had some interesting discussion on Mantra vs Arnold:

http://forums.odforce.net/topic/23819-animated-spot-starring-mantra/ [forums.odforce.net]

Its a long ongoing discussion. Test both and decide on your own.