Man i'm stoked about Houdini 9.5 being available for OS-X as well. But i just don't know if i want to go through all the burden and hassle of learning such a complex program.

I tried a few years ago when Houdini was maybe a little less user-friendly as nowadays but then decided for another package (XSI).

And now i just wish i had the time.

Anyone with some insight of how long it approx. takes to know Houdini in & out (i know you never can't know everything)?

42

Within a couple of days of playing around in the interface, reading the manuals, and watching some video tutorials, I could understand the basics of Houdini.

I would recommend watching the 3dbuzz.com Houdini tutorials, as well as the tutorials on the apprentice blog (http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=129&Itemid=241) [sidefx.com] and under the learning tab here at sidefx.com.

Houdini wasn't too hard to figure out the fundamentals (for the most part), though it's true that there is a lot of depth to the program, like most, that take time to really master.

If time is a major consideration you could view Houdini as an “as needed” program. I made the switch from Max, well, Maxscript bordering on SDK.

If you need complete control and flexibility over what you're doing than Houdini will save 100's or 1000's of hours over XSI, Maya, Max, whatever. You'll be C++ing in no time to get those programs to even equal Houdini. And that will be MUCH more learning and implementation time; provided the original idea works in the first place.

If you want to learn it just as a “better” program than what you have currently than sure; it can do that; but it's always a time consideration.

The good news is that learning Houdini is learning 3D graphics. You'll actually increase your understanding of XSI / Maya / Max by learning Houdini. The difficult part of Houdini is that it forces the user to know what they're doing. Most of the main stream apps at least have an entry level that students can grab onto. Even with the interface “optimizations” I think Houdini is much slower to learn for 3D newcomers, and much faster to learn for 3D graphics people.

If you're lookin' for a more specific answer I would go with 42

I concur, 42 makes as much sense as any “how long tell I know how to make great art/code” type question. Houdini is a DEEP rabbit hole, the more you know the less you feel like you know it.

42 sounds right but then that would depend on how smart you are and how far your willing to go down that rabbit hole.Ive not even found my way out yet …..

R

At the risk of sounding too “zen” …

I don't think the point is to find your way out .. it's to learn to be comfortable in a deep dark moist stinky place surrounded by lots of furry animals and millions of particles

I don't think the point is to find your way out .. it's to learn to be comfortable in a deep dark moist stinky place surrounded by lots of furry animals and millions of particles

sounds like the last place I worked at…..


it's no harder to learn Houdini than any other package if you're the type who likes to jump in and screw around and throw the manual behind the couch….
you'll have problems if you need a tutorial for every task known to man which tends to be the problem with a lot of my students….things have improved greatly in that department with Houdini though…but there's step by step ad nauseum tutorials and lessons for everything with Maya, Softimage, and Max.

Just out of curiosity, what is that “42” you guys are talking about?
Is it a web site or what?

Answer to 42 [en.wikipedia.org]

OK I got it~
Thanks for the reply alonzo.gfx!

It is interesting

andrewlowell
At the risk of sounding too “zen” …

I
<zen>
If you call houdini a 3d application you neglect it's possibilities.
If you don't call it a 3d application you neglect it's nature.
How do you want to call it?
</zen>