I'm a product designer doing a lot of product VIZ and Animations, so far.
For that I use Rhino, that I love for NURBS modeling and Maya to VIZ and animate.
i plan to do more serious CG animations and FX in future. I will integrate Houdini in this pipeline as the last month I became a big fan of it's animation possibilities, workflow and GUI. I odn't like so much the speed of Mantra and the modeling. So I'm looking into Lightwave or Modo to complete this pipeline, I would love not to have to update my Maya 7, as it is expensive.
I need a good polymodeler and a fast but quality render engine.

Anyone uses this kind of pipeline?
Or do you have any other suggestions, and if so why?

Thanks to everybody.

Modo use FBX import and Export so you can go back and forth between both… Anyways… I think Houdini it is powerful for modeling.. It has every necessary poly tool and sculpt functions. You can also choose to model procedurally and animate all parameters. Mantra render volumetrics and motion blur faster than any other software but try to stay on micro-polygon render.

My problem is more the still render capabilities of Mantra. It is not optimized for VIZ…but Modo seems nice also as modeller and painting program. Used it for 30 days…

I'm currently using a Houdini - Lightwave workflow.

I continue to do my modeling in Lightwave (despite the attraction of Modo, I'm confident NT will resolve LW's drawbacks in the next major upgrade). I also prefer the speed of Lightwave rendering and its node based shader system.

Getting animation data to Lightwave is easy with MDD and FBX is supported in LW and Houdini 9.5, liquids can be exported via obj sequence. The one problem area I have is particles. You can use the realflow import/export plugins for this, but I don't think you will get things like particle age importing in - but I could be wrong. Sadly I've been unable to test this becasue I can't find working 64 bit plugins.

Still searching myself for the ‘perfect’ pipeline solution

Thanks for that reply.
Where do you see the advantages of LW compared to Modo?
I'm not so worried about animations, I guess Mantra is very able to render them out. Where I see the problems are still renders where GI and FG are great options to have.

In terms of modeling what would you like to see in LW that Modo has?

Thanks,

For me, the main advantage of Lightwave is easy - experience!

The other is I just prefer the working environment - it feels right for me. It doesn't yet have the interactivity of Modo, but I'm sure its coming soon and upgrades are cheaper than buying a full version

I have started looking at Mantra though and its extremely capable and given the speed of it motion blur and volumetrics, I think spending a bit of time learning it ways will pay off down the line, even if its not as my main rendering solution.

I am currently ranting on cgtalk about the maya software renderer…we receive large nurbs datasets and the maya software renderer simply sucks period….I hate it.

in fact the thread was called “if maya 2009 isnt a great upgrade I want a divorce”

and all I could think about was (YES)

I want to use houdini for the stuff that I do.

but I have to be able to prove mantra wont give me memory leaks(the main problem with maya software renderer)

also…I want area lights that work. as expected.

and the ease of use that one find in the render settings dialog box and hypershade.

I am glad to see other product/industrial designers begin to consider houdini.

lets all keep in touch.

adekoye adams

Can you elaborate on this for me? How are you expecting area lights to work?

koyoteblack
also…I want area lights that work. as expected.
adekoye adams

hi peter, thank you for all of your contributions.

I wasnt talking about mantra….but more maya's software renderer…I want an area light solution that provides soft illumination where it is supposed to…with different optimization settings…according to the needs of the production.

variable shadow setting…for instance if you need the shadow for a spotlight making the basic shadow component for an area light…or raytrace shadows…or physical light shadows.

also I like the physical light shader that mental ray has for all its lights….just connect that shader and wham you have a nice soft panel of illumination…

maya area lights are fast but really unpredictable…

but what I would like the most is a mantra primer.

case studies on how to make mantra act like the renderers in which its competition…i.e. vray, mental ray, prman…not just for illumination but also for complex shader generation.

like tutorials and HDAs that show us how to emulate what we are accustomed to in other packages.

thanks!

We have a guy here who uses Lightwave and Modo extensively. He is just learning Houdini and loves it. Lightwave is still great, you can bang stuff out really quickly. However, for example, we just had a huge scene that Lightwave would choke on, but we were able to instance a lot of the geo in Houdini and render it with nice PBR lighting, etc. So yes, Lightwave/Modo/Houdini is a great combo. He's also done comparisons with the renderers, and in a nutshell, you can bang out gorgeous renders in Lightwave more quickly than Houdini, but if you take the time, you can do equally beautiful stuff in Mantra, but the advantage is you don't hit the Lightwave brick wall.

in a nutshell, you can bang out gorgeous renders in Lightwave more quickly than Houdini, but if you take the time, you can do equally beautiful stuff in Mantra, but the advantage is you don't hit the Lightwave brick wall.

This is why Lightwave shines in fast turnaround projects and tight budget production like TV shows. I agree though, there is a limit to what you can do with it, so having Mantra to hand for these shots will be great. As far as general animation and dynamic effects goes, Houdini rules. Whats was a hard shot to pull of in Lightwave, is now an easy or easier shot in Houdini!

Houdini and Lightwave covers all bases for me

Please don't think my question was in any way some sort of spikey retort. Your answer is very helpful, particularly for me. They provide me with good guidance as to the tutorials I should produce.
I'm endeavouring to generate a whole series of basic lessons, but it is also important to me to place those lessons in context.

koyoteblack
hi peter, thank you for all of your contributions.

I wasnt talking about mantra….but more maya's software renderer…I want an area light solution that provides soft illumination where it is supposed to…with different optimization settings…according to the needs of the production.

variable shadow setting…for instance if you need the shadow for a spotlight making the basic shadow component for an area light…or raytrace shadows…or physical light shadows.

also I like the physical light shader that mental ray has for all its lights….just connect that shader and wham you have a nice soft panel of illumination…

maya area lights are fast but really unpredictable…

but what I would like the most is a mantra primer.

case studies on how to make mantra act like the renderers in which its competition…i.e. vray, mental ray, prman…not just for illumination but also for complex shader generation.

like tutorials and HDAs that show us how to emulate what we are accustomed to in other packages.

thanks!

http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_forum&Itemid=172&page=viewtopic&p=61358#61358 [sidefx.com]

Here is a thread that's been started comparing Modo render to Mantra.

It would be great to have someone show us what Mantra is capable of - the render time is pretty bad for Mantra. :roll:

Is there someone using Houdini as application for rendering and modeling without any other standard package? I mean, thee are many artist using solely Maya, MAX or XSI but what's about Houdini?

contributors in this forum is why I love houdini…its not just a really sweet piece of software that gets better and better.

its a community of real people that are responsive to their community.

I wrote on the cgtalk foum about the problems with maya and how its core seemed to be basically neglected…and how its important not just to add new features…but invest time in fixing problem areas.

but I think the best imporvement I have seen in the past year has been the dedication of making tutorials and primers available to everyone.

back in the days of 2.5 you couldn't have dreamed about that.

thanks again pete

I totally agree…
Houdini makes it easy to become a fan. It is marketing, but it's nicely made!!!
Great tutorials section, the renowned Apprentice and HD editions, daily builds…fantastic! SESI hold back a release for Siggraph, they launch the product when it's finished! The application is getting better and better, more user friendly than ever…
Last but not least the community is small but charming!