Houdini: How are people finding it?

#1 You didn't give any information for anyone to make a consciously valid opinion about your specific case.

Can you explain why you are asking this ?

#2 I am leaning now towards XSI or 3DS max as the model creation tool, and using Houdini to export and detail for T3D. The main reason is Houdini is very very powerful, but lacking in the basic modeling techniques as well as tutorials to help spead the process.

So for me it may be XSI/3DS Max -> Houdini (animations, ect) to T3D.

Not giving up on Houdini... But not resorting to Blender yet either:)

And yes, if the pipeline is faster learning in 3DS max or XSI, then will pay the price difference. I am at the point where development speed is slowing me down.

#3 I use Houdini only for animation and exporting as well. Houdini's user interface and workflow feel much more comfortable than 3ds max to me. Though if we were a bigger team with a good financial condition, I would consider Max as it is a proven tool for game art. Finding help for Houdini can be difficult at times.

EDIT: I do all my other work in Silo BTW

#4 Thanks guys,

I think I am going to invest in MAX 2010 (can't get hold of 2009 now apparently). The only downside is the exporter doesn't work for 2010 yet, although I understand if you buy a subscription you can then use older versions of the software.

I am getting a trial version of 2009, just to check it works, then I think that may be the best way forward.

P.S. sorry it took me ages to reply, been snowed at work.

#5 Don't want to lead you astray, after this I am now leaning towards Maya. Seems easier to pick up and tons more tutorials are available for it.


And you can get the trial for it as well and test it.

#6 Not at all! I appreciate the feedback, i'd kinda come to the conclusion myself, but I wanted to check I wasn't missing something about Houdini!

I am intrigued with the Torque 3d and the Collada way of importing graphics, but I saw on another thread that the exporter is still the way to go. I think I need to some time to play around with this new engine.

Thanks for the feedback Randy.

#7 I started trying Houdini free version hoping it would provide a good one stop solution, from modelling to animating to exporting, etc... But for modelling it is not flowing well for me. I am still going to try harder to make sure it is not simply a 'wrong feeling' but for poly modelling Silo or even Blender right now felt easier, smoother.

I will be trying harder with Houdini, maybe trying to customise things a little bit, it may pay off. Although the lack of modelling tutorials is not helping. (Most tutorials available are about dynamics, and other stuff, there is no much in terms of tutorials focused on poly modelling workflow/technics, which may slow down how quickly/smoothly you learn to use it for modelling).

I'm considering Silo for modelling and Houdini for animations, rendering, movies, exporting.

Or Blender + Houdini. Although Blender does have a DTS exporter, therefore unless Houdini exporter is MUCH BETTER than the one in Blender I could even end up just using Blender.

This is only a first impression, as I said I will try a bit longer with these packages. I'm excluding Max, Maya, XSI for now purely down to how much they cost, currently out of budget for me but these 3 are all great.

#8 I just bought the Houdini HD to try out and it looks great. I saw several movie teams on a TV show using it. As a developer I like the concept of the procedure methods, but the lack of tutorials is making it difficult to grab the basics and make it work for me just yet.

I was not able to import some fbx files correctly. It only seems to support ASCII import not binary. I imported them into XSI mod tool and out again as ASCII, all went well.

If you are a Houdini user and determined to make it work, please let me know so we can help each other out.

BTW, I just saw XSI on another TV show with another movie team.

#9 SO far I am really getting into this Houdini. The learning curve is high, not because it is procedural, but because the lack of good tutorials/documentation as it relates to Torque. But I am able to hack it out so far!

Due to the awesome price verses other tools, our shop will be sticking with Houdini for our T3D art pipeline!

#10 Years later... seemed an appropriate thread though. Nodal workflow is addictive... with Houdini, it's as if I've never made more than one modeling mistake. And nobody else has nodal modeling yet... don't know why, they just don't.

#11 As of H12 HD Houdini no longer supports Toruque DTS format output and if I understand unless you buy the commercial version you can not export to Collada.

So not sure if planning to export to T3D, Houdini is a good option now, unless you get Escape of one the larger packages.

So years later, I am still leaning back towards maya.