There really isn't anything like it on the market right now. Houdini is a tool designed to manage the ever-growing complexity of CG. It's a very different way of working. Jordi's pdfs explains it well and as an added bonus, arranges the UI to simulate Softimage, something I didn't even bother to check out.
I personally think Houdini is very "Next Gen" when it comes to powerful technology. There's a good reason why large-scale effects default to Houdini. It handles complexity well and you can insert explicit control anywhere in that system and manage it however you want. This is why it is seemingly difficult. It's wide open to let you design a tool how you see fit. For instance, I have used Houdini's FLIP fluid solver and used it for blood, growing icicles, and making an interactive beach for komodo dragons. It's just that flexible where one of its solvers can have many applications. Where ICE shines to take data and manages it procedurally, I think Houdini takes that idea a step further and bolster it with some amazing physics solvers all straight out of the box. And the data between the solver is interchangeable so even if the creators never intended for them to play together, you can set it up to do so. It all depends on what you spend most of your time doing. For me, they love asking me to do all the weird stuff that modelers, animator, and lighters can't figure out. I honestly would hate my job if I didn't have a tool like Houdini to rely on. I would also secretly do all my modeling in Softimage and tell my boss I did it in Maya. Right tools for the right job as always. -Lu On Mon, Mar 10, 2014 at 8:45 AM, David Saber <[email protected]> wrote: > How "next gen" is Houdini? I read the first version was done in 1996... > Does it feel modern, non linear, non destructive to use? > > (It would have been so simple to just keep XSI) > > David >
