Hi Jordi, PS. I am thinking… would it be of interest for you guys if I talk to SideFX to organise a crash course in Houdini for Softimage users? May be replicating one of the old XSI tutorials live in Houdini??? I still love those tutorials… remember the carnivore plant?
I would love to see these, thanks. I'm pretty comfortable in Houdini, and day to day stuff is all fine, in fact I love so much about Houdini; but at the moment for me its as soon as you hit the Vex stuff I stumble, but thats my shortcoming, and its getting better, just have to knuckle down. On 4 May 2018 at 19:22, Jordi Bares <[email protected]> wrote: > For the sake of sharing my experiences... > > On 4 May 2018, at 14:24, Morten Bartholdy <[email protected]> wrote: > > Pardon me for intruding, but I have to agree with Jonathan here. > > It used to be that developers worked to make better tools and make them > more accessible to the average artist (and I am not talking about Kais > Powertools ;), but that path seems to have been abandoned in the pursuit of > better and more advanced tools, and letting it up to the users to get a > degree in rocket science to be able to wield said tools at all > > Tools are getting easier (just look at the new hair system in 16.5 vs 16.0 > or the new MAT context in order to blend BRDFs properly), complex things > are simply complex (DOPs for example) and you can’t simplify certain things > without loosing the whole point or it will take a lot to get there (for > example custom controls with DOPs records and others) > > Houdini is probably the best example of this. I know a lot of effort has > gone in to making it more accessible, but to my knowledge it still requires > a fair amount of insight into expression syntax and scripting plus more > than basic math end vector knowhow to get even simple things done. > > The fact you can add expressions in your fields (something you can’t do in > softimage) means you don’t need to script as much… so arguably you can > choose between learning simple expressions or learning to program. > > Both require a certain level of simple maths involving trigonometry, > vectors and matrices. > > I understand your position (stated in earlier threads) that the increased > demands on production requires more complex solutions/tools, > > I would say sophisticated rather than complex… for example packed > primitives allow you to do things that are truly mind-bending in > combination with Material Style Sheets, but that does not mean they are > difficult of full of moving parts. > > but I don't buy the premise that it also has(!) to become more difficult > to use. > > I don’t think that either.. a good example of sophisticated tools in > Houdini 16 and 16.5 that are a pleasure to work are the new terrain tools… > but it is also true that unfortunately some problems are complex no matter > what. > > Good UI devs could alleviate that and make even really complex stuff > accessible to the least technical artist in the room if ressources were > made available, ie the management and dev team leads concur it would be a > good idea. I am going out on a limb and guessing it might often come down > to this – spend ressources on making the tool more accessible or spend them > on making more and better tools… In reality I think in all fairness they > try and balance it while keeping a keen eye on their userbase and potential > for increasing it. > > With the UI and UX there is a major point Jeff Wagner explained to me long > time ago… Houdini is non-linear (branches splitting and mixing again) so > many things there can be easily put on a linear system (like Softimage) are > not possible in Houdini and therefore we have to accept certain > limitations. Exactly the same than ICE, you don’t have many tools making > your live eraser in terms of workflow inside ICE, you need to know what you > are doing. > > But it is true also that Softimage vision of ICE is a lot neater, easier > and element in terms of packaging functionality in ICE… A LOT BETTER IN > FACT. > > What remains is that people like me find Houdini way too technical for > practical use (the steep learning curve) and as such I have not delved into > it for real yet. > > May be that is what makes you feel it is complex... > > I will for sure, because I think it is probably the only major 3D DCC > which is really evolving and making groundbreaking tools available to the > users, so it will very likely inherit the world, but for me, and probably > many others, as Jonathan probably indicates, it would do so much faster if > it was made even easier to use :) > > Agreed, there are many things that should be a lot easier because you do > them all the time (like path deform for example, or layering animation, or > having a shape manager and others) but don’t be mistaken, it is not > difficult at all until you need to dive in certain areas. > > And that would mean I would get to spend less time in Maya which honestly > makes me short of breath to the point of needing to vomit, almost every day. > > Well, then I can guarantee you you will age slower. ;-) > > Peace and have a great weekend. > jb > > PS. I am thinking… would it be of interest for you guys if I talk to > SideFX to organise a crash course in Houdini for Softimage users? May be > replicating one of the old XSI tutorials live in Houdini??? I still love > those tutorials… remember the carnivore plant? > > Just my two kr (the coin we use here) > > Have a nice weekend all – Morten > > Den 3. maj 2018 klokken 19:17 skrev Jordi Bares <[email protected]>: > > And by my judgement, Houdini is no closer to being a generalist > replacement for Softimage. > > This is what I would love to understand if you don’t mind… > > jb > > ------ 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. > -- Laurence Dodd Porkpie Animation E: [email protected] W: www.porkpie.tv M: 07570 702 576 T: 01273 278 382
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