Or perhaps Morten, Houdini isn't the right option for you. I don't mean that in a flippant way either. Houdini is very successful at providing a tuned toolset for a particular type of artist.
Much as you might want to access Houdini's powers without programmatic and basic vector math skills, an attempt to create the tool that you're looking for might kill the user experience for those that do know how to work with Houdini's capabilities. It cuts both ways. C4D is very much the sort of tool your looking for with much of the underlying vector math and programming interfaces abstracted away. We're fortunate that we have a wide choice in DCC tools even if we are unfortunate the Soft is no more. I think it's one thing to attempt to inform SideFX to workflows in Softimage that would be beneficial to a wide group of users, it's quite another to berate a best in class application of not being Softimage. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Morten Bartholdy Sent: 07 April 2017 11:34 To: Official Softimage Users Mailing List. https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/xsi_list <[email protected]> Subject: Re: Houdini Digital Assets for Softies I very much agree with Paul here. There is no reason why artists should have to accept TD oriented UI. If(!) Houdini had a competitor who made all the goodies more accessible I know where I would put my money. I get your point Jordi, about wanting to do stuff that was previously impossible and currently require a programmer to do in Maya, but IMHO it is no reason to keep making TD centric tools. To my knowledge it is quite possible to create higher level tools on top of a solid technical base like Houdini (ICE), and it would expand their potential userbase significantly. I get that SideFX are focused on making great tools and these are accessible by TD's so the work can be done, but it does require a TD to do it, and I see no reason why others should not have access to these tools too. After all I just want to pour water, make fire, smoke, clouds or whatever, and not be bothered with which vector or matrix to plug where, or for that matter some obscure expression syntax. After all I really just want to focus on making great graphics, and not have to bother with all(!) the nuts and bolts. What it comes down to is how I best spend my time making graphics and animation, and if tools like houdini were more accessible I could make greater stuff faster, make more money and get home to the wife and kids and have beers and barbecue instead of pouring over docs or tutorials. Perhaps my wish is premature, but if users don't push for it, developers will never make it :) Cheers Morten > Den 31. marts 2017 klokken 12:49 skrev [email protected]: > > > 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 <[email protected]>: > > 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 <[email protected]>: > > > > > > 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 > <[email protected]> > > 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:* [email protected] > [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 <[email protected]> > > > *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 <[email protected]>: > > > > > > > > > > > > I just also wish Houdini would be made more accessible for less > > > technically inclined artists like myself. > > > > > > > > > ------ > > > Softimage Mailing List. > > > To unsubscribe, send a mail to [email protected] > > > with "unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to confirm. > > > > > ------ > > Softimage Mailing List. > > To unsubscribe, send a mail to [email protected] > with "unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to confirm. > > ------ > Softimage Mailing List. > To unsubscribe, send a mail to [email protected] with > "unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to confirm. > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > ---------- > ------ > Softimage Mailing List. > To unsubscribe, send a mail to [email protected] > with "unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to confirm.------ Softimage > Mailing List. > To unsubscribe, send a mail to [email protected] with > "unsubscribe" in the subject, and reply to confirm. ------ Softimage Mailing List. 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