> On 14 May 2018, at 00:01, Matt Lind <speye...@hotmail.com> wrote: > you're dissecting things at a more granular level than is intended, and as a > result you're losing sight of the overall discussion. > > a new user coming into Houdini doesn't have that historical background, nor > does he/she care. He only sees a lot of special case tools that require > inside knowledge to understand and use. That is the immediate point of > frustration that isn't resolved well with documentation, and in many cases, > not even discussed at all. This is one deterrent from adopting Houdini from > the generalist's perspective. > You are right this could bring a lot of entry level comfort and easier transition. May comment it with the guys at SideFX. > Houdini doesn't have good tools for dealing with the macro view of a scene > for the generalist. When you open a scene you're not familiar with, or one > you haven't opened in a very long time, you want to get a general overview of > it's structure in a few seconds. That is the purpose of mentioning the > schematic view as it provides that overview at a glance. Does it tell you > everything? No, of course not, but it doesn't have to either. It does tell > you the links between nodes such as who is constrained to whom, where the > envelopes reside, which nodes have shapes/lattices/etc. and very importantly > – hierarchical relationships to understand how rigs are put together. Again, > we're talking about the big picture. Explorer??? that’s for micro-level work > when you want the dirty details on an object. > On this I believe you are way too close to Softimage because it is not trivial either to follow a complex scene, or a character… not saying it is not easier (it is) but it is not trivial either. > It's not good for the broader picture as you have to spending a lot of time > clicking on nested node after node until you find what you're looking for, > and even then there's often a lot more information displayed than you need > leading to excessive noise. That's exactly the same problem with ICE > compounds as digging into nested compound after nested compound you begin to > lose sight over the bigger picture you're trying to grasp. This isn't a > discussion about which is more powerful, it's about presenting information > that is better suited for high level working for the non-technical user. > Indeed this is a byproduct of a node approach, hence my personal preference for VEX Wrangles instead of VOPs (no wire, fully defined in one single node under the SOPs roof) > As for networks and subnetworks. Great, you have a system. Most people do > not, or if they do, it will not be the same system as yours. THAT is the > point. > Same as with Passes, Partitions, Groups, Overrides and Layers in Softimage… we build a consensus on how to use it (everything on the BG partition hidden for example) and even tools to move things to the right partitions based on one acting as template, etc.. > I'm not suggesting Houdini be rebuilt from the ground up. I'm highlighting > sticking points between it's current state and why more generalists don't > adopt it. When you get into a larger production pipeline, as much as you need > the low level power Houdini provides with assets and such, there is just as > much need at the opposite end of the spectrum with getting users into the > pipeline to do work. > It is strange because it is precisely the very sophisticated HDAs system that allows Houdini to scale teams massively while keeping complexity under control.
A good example; - I am developing a character, export the asset to disk and animators start to use it. - They discover a problem with one control… - I pick the asset, fix it and export the same version - These users (let’s say rather than 1 there are 20 animators) get the asset WHILE THEY ARE WORKING, without interruption. No scripts, not nothing.. bang. Imagine the change is enormous, just add a version and they can choose the version they want to use… again, all dynamically. Now scale this to *everything is an asset* where the city buildings are all being modelled live, the cars rigged, the characters updated… and you have to do NOTHING to get the latest and greatest version. And now go further assets contain assets that contain assets, all versioned based where. - City v1.0 contains BuildingA v1, BuildingB v1 and BuildingC v1 - City v2.0 contains BuildingA v2 and , BuildingB v1 and BuildingC v1 And those buildings indeed contain the windows as assets, the doors, the roof furniture… all versioned of course You get it… no pipeline required, no scripts, no nothing. Very very quickly you can see that may be, just may be, having the best f-curve editor is not even important in the big scheme of things. cheers Jb
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