How good is houdini 4

[docricalde]

hi,
I m getting a little bit interested in what houdini does since a while. Therefore i would like to get some comments on users concerning modelisation, character setup and especially rendering !
How does the procedural approach help you model and render ?
What are the fustrating things about houdini ?
How is the render ? because maya s is horrible !

hope you guys could help me through these questions !

thanx for answering
Paulo

[wajdyf]

I basically have the same questions about Houdini.

But there's one thing I know through some research that I did recently about Houdini's rendering power, that its rendering quality is at the top tier amongst other s/w packages. Because Houdini lets you select your choice of renderer either of its own or the RenderMan. Its direct integration with renderman lets you access renderman's shaders as its own - this way, you can use renderman without actual programing.

Ain't it sweet??? And also, I am not too pleased with Maya's renderer.

Another point; I'm sure you know that its particle system is second to none!!!!

ANyway, any information regarding unanswered topics would be greatly appreciated...

[exxray]

Post deleted by admin

[docricalde]

hi,
why does everybody say that houdini lacks in character animation ?
What does maya/soft have more ?
About the renderer.... well it s great if you can actually render directly in renderman by a single click, but as it doesn t has all the raytracing and radiosity stuff, i was wondering how the mantra renderer stands beside ?
Where can i get some more info on houdini beside www.sidefx.com ?

thanx anyway
paulo

[sifu]

check odforce.net

[tjibbemaya]

i agree that native renderman support is enpingao (really good)...but the fact that u can render to renderman with no programming is not that great a thing. You can't exactly harness renderman's power unless u code it....but then again, its one thing to tweak premade code, and another thing to code from scratch.
Which is better? Who knows...either way, code is code and its all tough stuff. So that brings us back to square one, but at least now we have another perspective.

((( DePingus )))

((( DePingus )))

[actarus]

one thing I think is aplus about houdini,

it's like, THE most full featured package available,
modelling, animation, rendering, compositing, special
effects, dynamics, particle effects.

It's got it all, and it's all top notch.

-Tad
LHPtomi@hotmail.com
http://tadpage.homestead.comhttp://tadpage.homestead.com

[exxray]

Post deleted by admin

[geoffcrowther]

wot about dem character animation tools?

besides lameass bones, how about the skinning that is below that found in 3dsmax...

yeah its not all its cracked up to be.

[actarus]

hey, i didnt say it was the best at all those
features,
just that its gotem!!
hehe
(i'm a maya user myself)

-Tad
LHPtomi@hotmail.com
http://tadpage.homestead.comhttp://tadpage.homestead.com

[blk]

how can it be the most full featured package if it doesnt have half the things for character animation that is needed to make it pain less
no handles no direct blendshapes
ive been talking to alot of people about Houdini and everyone so far agrees houdini is not for character animation so then its not full featured

[gmask]

I used Prisms the predeccessor to Houdini and I think the same could be said of it now as then which is that is really best at simulated organic effects. Back then it was definately the most powerful particle effects software and had great integration for renderman. It is a great utility package in that it can do things that other programs can't or aren't orientated to but I think it's clear that no package does it all.