I think it should definitely be the case that Houdini should become more
accessible. It doesn’t undermine the abilities of the app, to make it more user
friendly.
For example, with Fabric engine, or in ICE, you can make a node that does
‘everything’ with a bunch of parameters. Say a Fur system for artists, but you
can go down inside through the internal compounds right down to the core maths,
if you like. An artist doesn’t need to, but can do if he so fancies. This
layering system, of complexity is one of the great things about ICE. It helps
you learn it and one day be the guy who’s not just USING the tool, but making
them. thats what happened to me.
But in terms of more ‘traditional’ usage, for example having a nice Shape
making and managing tool etc etc, wouldnt suddenly dumb down Houdini in any way
for the technical people who’d never want to use it. It just gives it a much
broader range of accessibility for artists. At the moment, the people who use
Houdini tend to be people who understand, enjoy and live in the technical
sphere, but that isn’t for everyone.
In general, there appears to be strange resistance, from people who are happy
in their technical knowlege to ‘Philistines’ coming in and ‘Fisher Pricing’
their app. When I visit the Fabric forums, for example and requested some
improvements to Canvas, I got a quite a few surprising replies from people ,in
a deriding tone, telling me to learn KL as that would do what I wanted.
I knew KL could do what I wanted, but I wanted to help them improve Canvas
giving a helpful user point of view. The Devs actually were open to my ideas,
but its certain users that seem to peer down their noses at ‘arty farty’
non-coders.
I’m pretty technical for a lowly artist, but I find Houdini a bit of a slog
compared to learning ICE.
From: Olivier Jeannel
Sent: Friday, March 31, 2017 11:24 AM
To: Official Softimage Users Mailing
List.https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/xsi_list
Subject: Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies
I'm quite the opposite Morthen. I found that learning little math (add subtract
vector mostly...) is just an open path to what's called "creativity" nowaday.
I'm more in the particles "do stuff" part of the work than in the
character-toon-story telling though.
I can't say that I'm excited by the modeling tools added in the 16 (I'm sure
they are great), but having that wide software that's able to not lost
attributes whatever the context, that constantly amaze me.
2017-03-31 12:00 GMT+02:00 Morten Bartholdy <x...@colorshopvfx.dk>:
Don't get me wrong - I understand the power and flexibility of Houdini and
the fact that it stems from its core architecture and I am not looking for the
3D equivalent of Kais Power Tools.
It is however not very straightforward to use for the average 3D artist, no
matter how experienced, nor is it easy to pick up. You need to be good at math
and know syntax well, and that is plain and simply taking ressources away from
the purely artistic part of the work which is why I do this. I want to make
great work, not need a science degree to do it.
I used to think that 3D software would evolve to become extremely user
friendly so it would at some point be fairly easy for almost any user to do
even very advanced stuff, so the real difference in output would be how skilled
an artist you are.
Obviously this is not the path SideFX has taken. It may be my future is not
with Houdini, but Soft is parked at the roadside, Maya is a mess still, and the
other competitors don't really come close to the level of these anyway, so
naturally I am looking in the direction which is developing rapidly and outside
of the dark side of AD.
It is just that using Houdini seems like driving a car without a steering
wheel but having a graphical UI with trigonometry controls to do the steering,
and if you want more speed, no gas pedal, but go write an expression that
provides the proper mix of gas and air and change the ignition timing. It is
hardly intuitive and perhaps the goal is not to be that, but imagine if this
solid core architecture was given a better interface, I am sure many more
artists out there would jump the wagon straight away and we would see even more
fantastic stuff created with Houdini plus make a lot of people more happy.
I am guessing growing userbase and popularity is not a problem for SideFX,
and making their software more accessible is probably very hard, and takes
ressources away from developing new and better tools, but I really wish.
Have a nice weekend all :)
Morten
> Den 31. marts 2017 klokken 10:26 skrev Dan Yargici <danyarg...@gmail.com>:
>
>
> I think people need to accept that just as they understandably expect
> SideFX to push the software to be more approachable for themselves they
> really ought to try and push themselves in the opposite direction also.
>
> If there was a theoretical race to DCC dominance, I'd really favour Houdini
> right now. I think starting with so many of the hard things solved and
> working 'creative' workflows into the software is a far more enviable
> position to be in than having to go in the opposite direction.
>
> Really exciting times ahead as far as I'm concerned!
>
> DAN
>
>
> On Thu, Mar 30, 2017 at 8:34 PM, Jonathan Moore <jonathan.moo...@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > I hate to sound inflexible in my views but Houdini is such a powerful
> > application because of its technical approach.
> >
> >
> >
> > Just because Softimage is no longer available and Maya is ‘problematic’
> > (to say the least) shouldn’t mean that SideFX should have to change their
> > development strategy.
> >
> >
> >
> > I believe that SideFX have in fact done a fantastic job of listening to
> > customers that have moved to Houdini from other packages including
> > Softimage. The speed with which they implemented a suggested change ref
> > dropping VOP nodes over wires the other day is a fine example of that. But
> > there‘s a danger of allowing the ‘tail to wag the dog’ so that Houdini
> > gets changed for the worse rather than the better. I think SideFX have the
> > balance of things pretty much spot on. There’s still huge improvements
that
> > can be made to the approachability of certain aspects of the user
> > experience but I it’s never going to transform into something radically
> > different to what’s available today. If anything, with so much of Houdini
> > moving away from Hscript style expressions to VEX expressions (for very
> > good reason - multithreaded performance) certain aspects of the Houdini
> > user experience are in fact getting more technical.
> >
> >
> >
> > The best way to learn how to adapt to Houdini is first to accept it for
> > what it is. And part of the Houdini user experience has always been
> > scripting and programming. That’s why it’s so often described as a 3d
> > operating system rather than a DCC.
> >
> >
> >
> > Apologies for spelling things out so bluntly but I can’t see Houdini
> > evolving into something less technical.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > *From:* softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-bounces@
> > listproc.autodesk.com] *On Behalf Of *Nicole Beeckmans-Jacqmain
> > *Sent:* 30 March 2017 19:57
> > *To:* Official Softimage Users Mailing List. https://groups.google.com/
> > forum/#!forum/xsi_list <softimage@listproc.autodesk.com>
> > *Subject:* Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies
> >
> >
> >
> > hi. yes, was forced to stop following this week's entagma taurus tutorial.
> >
> > again, these monthes i spend most of my time to write & storyboard.
> >
> > got recently interested by _computer_ 2d possibilities, new for me.
> >
> > but as discussion advances here, i am getting discouraged to be able to
> > talk in the future, about a project with a Houdinist.
> >
> > (i don't want to just supervize) because i am foremost a visual artist,
> > isn't it that Houdini should evolve upside down,
> >
> > so that Visual controls Math Thinking, and not the other way around.
> >
> > Procedural Innovation looked nice, so far, i guess?
> >
> > so, in a way i donot opt if a new community shift occurs between
> >
> > Maya artists and Houdini vop sop artists. or do you think it necessary,
> > and why?
> >
> > thanks
> >
> > Nicole.
> >
> >
> >
> > 2017-03-30 18:04 GMT+02:00 Morten Bartholdy <x...@colorshopvfx.dk>:
> >
> >
> >
> > I just also wish Houdini would be made more accessible for less
> > technically inclined artists like myself.
> >
> >
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> >
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