Hi. I recently started learning modeling with Cinema4d. Has a reaally nice and user friendly interface, which i liked. I listened to the basic tutorials made by Greyscalegorilla which were quite useful.
However, i want to make Games and Movies with cool creatures.
For that i need to model and rig stuff.
People said, it doesnt rlly matter if i learn max3d or maya, both are good, maya might be better for the coding aspect..

My point is i dont really know what houdini is for. I hear its great for CGI and VFX, as in “It has great stuff like Water-animation where you normally need plugins if you use max3d. Or fire simulation” And in general it can create cool looking stuff, like colorful, dancing, furry humans and so on..

People also say that maya is used for character rigging, animation etc., which confuses me.

When youre completely new.. where the fuck do i start? Do i learn how to model my stuff in max3ds for games, since faster output, or in maya and then import it to houdini to add cool looking features like rivers??
I dont even understand how big a scene should be, or can be. And this makes me feel pretty uncomfortable right now, not knowing what to learn with which software.

you can use max, maya or Houdini for any of these things.
it might be best when just starting out to figure out what your end goal is, then work backward to find the application that is best for you.

If you're into modeling creatures - Zbrush. You can use any retopologizing programs (that you can learn/try/afford to buy etc), Houdini's decent for retopo too, although could be better - it will get better definitely.

Traditional modeling (sub-d) - I'd normally recommend Softimage, but since it's been EOLed and you probably can't use as a trial, you should probably stick with Houdini. Not the best tool for this yet, but as above, it gets better with each version and beside that, you'll get to learn procedural (as opposed to traditional) modeling which is “at home” in H.

Rigging/animating/rendering your characters can very well be done inside Houdini as well. The texturing/UV-ing part should be done outside though.

There, I've decided for you, now start learning

You should watch this [vimeo.com] video for a workflow comparison between Houdini and 3ds max/maya.

Houdini is making a push into games. Techniques [vimeo.com] for getting content into engines is starting to come online.

I work in games. I've decided that Houdini is going to be my 1-stop-shop for everything 3D.