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jrgauthier

Hmm , there is no problem about trigonometry by myside.
Can you show me an example where did you used the trigonometry

Let's say you got, wheel rolling on a surface, and you want that wheel to roll automatically on the surface and stuff like that. Or like pluging a sinus expression into Y point position to make a simple wave deformer…nothing really fancy.(I'm sure it could get fancier).

You should have a look at some 3dbuzz tutorial to see what I mean, it's not just about math, but also about building network and connecting nodes attributes together using expression so it remains procedural and non-destructive.

The bridge asset tutorial and the elevator tutorials on 3d buzz are a good exemple of what can be done in Houdini that cannot be done in any other 3d software(that easily I guess):
http://www.3dbuzz.com/vbforum/sv_video.php?v=1012 [3dbuzz.com]

Yep, that's a good starting point..There are other more basic tutorials on the web site that can be worth watching!

Thanks for link but guess there is a problem on the player or my browser cause i couldn't get the video it looks like loading but there is nothing.
It's same for every video on the 3D buzz.

jrgauthier

I wonder what kind math knowledge need to use it effective

For what I do, it's principally very basic trigonometry(because of my basic knowledge…I try to learn more!)

By the way is there any way to change the viewport controls just like maya ?

Sorry don't know if that can be done

Hmm , there is no problem about trigonometry by myside.
Can you show me an example where did you used the trigonometry

jrgauthier
There's no easy answer to this, because it really depends of what you want to get from your software. I mean, to me, Houdini would be the best of choices, I simply love the software and would like to use it all the time, but the truth is, I don't have it at my work…

I have to use Maya and XSI instead on a daily basis. So, it's a really good thing I learned them, because I could get work easily knowing those softwares. Those softwares can actually get you really far in term of 3D graphics and are also used for film fx as well. They might also be a bit easier to grasp if you come from Cinema 4D, probably more similar to it…

Now, why would you choose Houdini than? So people could argue on this, but ultimatly, it gives you more power and flexibility than any other 3d packages right out of the box. It gots a solid render engine that handles really well displacements maps, motion blur, high poly counts..etc, the procedural way of working is so smart and fun to use, and it got some good FX and animation tools.

Only thing I would say, if you don't want to write expressions and play with maths, stay away from Houdini…but anyways if you want to do highend3d and killer FX, you have to be willing to write expressions and do maths in any softwares…

So, as a simple personal choice I would go for Houdini all the way. But saddly, as a professionnal choice, to get jobs…it's harder to answer, Maya might be good choice too…and I might be wrong on this, but it's my feeling about the industry.

Bottom line, like Arctor suggest, the best way is to actually try the software and chosse what you prefer.

I hope this will help you! good luck!

Thanks for this explanatory answer.
You talked about math . I wonder what kind math knowledge need to use it effective.
I know a lot of thing about math and really want to use it actively.

By the way is there any way to change the viewport controls just like maya ?
I mean i want to set the pan , zoom and move functions as alt+mouse left-bottom-right click