dude....rather than investing time into Houdini ...the more important question is ...in which beard trimmer did you invest? ...that beard is SHARP! ...love it
$40 Wahl from Walgreens my guy. The real trick is in the oil though - Jojoba + coconut + essential oil blend is what you want. You can mix up a whole batch for the year on the cheap if you do it yourself. Then, you do Houdini for 12 hours a day, and it will grow.
A Maya/zbrush artist for over a decade. I describe learning houdini like trying to cross a rip current. The tide makes you crash over the rocks over and over. Learning more through failures than success. It's intimidating and like you said, hurts the ego to try it again. But then out of nowhere, it just makes sense. You are free from the ripcurrent. And free to do what you want. Best decision of my career to learn Houdini. Future proofed my resume. Bumped up my salary. And get put on fun and rewarding tasks at work. But the tool, and the process is not for everyone. And I still feel like an idiot every day. That dang Krueger effect.
What I found tricky about proceduralism is that it forces you to get to learn how 3D computer graphics actually works. People get scared about the nodes but that’s like a formality which you get past super quickly. What’s trickier is the more fundamental stuff I.e you have to fully comprehend vectors, normals or how data is stored on geometry and so on. But as you said in the video, this makes it immensely powerful because you can then kind of ‘remake the Matrix’ as it were. When you go back to other software again the knowledge comes in handy, it’s like your brain has been rewired and you understand everything so much more clearly. For me it was like a fog being lifted and I can’t really imagine going back. I also think it’s harder to have a proper understanding of the fundamentals if you’re not forced to confront it directly. In most software it’s all kind of obscured with layers of abstraction, even though all 3D graphics fundamentally work the same way.
Been using a lot of 3D apps for about 30 years, and since SI was squashed by AD I started using Houdini. Been using it for about 5 years now and to be honest still feel like a newbie. As a freelance artist I'm kind of jack of all 3D trades, but I mostly do character related stuff. And modeling and animation in Houdini feels like eating soup with a screwdriver. But for other things like simulations or medical visuals it's just perfect. Easy stuff is hard, hard stuff is easy in Houdini and it will save you a lot of time and frustration if you use it next a more traditional app.
I played the video 3 times over cuz I truly liked how wise Tyler's assessments on the subject are. Great wisdom from a great artist. I remember like yesterday how much I struggled wrapping my head around Houdini's one-of-a-kind approach to 3D workflow. It took me a whole lot more time to get to an intermediate level in comparison to some of the people I know who have previous programming experience. Mine was only limited to Python snippets at the time. But I was motivated and the source of my motivation in learning Houdini was to be able to build the most water-proof and non-destructive systems open to revision. That motivation alone brought me to a somewhat advanced level, but I really am not sure whether I'll ever consider myself to be a pro in the foreseeable future due to the fact Houdini is just too vast :) I started out building simple 3D models in Houdini and that kinda cozied me up with it a great deal so I can advise newcomers to model something tangible in a destructive manner in order to break the ice :)
Thanks for sharing your experience Ajlan as well as the kind regards. Mastery is, for the most part, an endless pursuit, so I'm willing to bet that you got some pro skills going on. Cheers!
the best explanation on entire internet… thank you so much, after spending lots of hours… now i am figuring out… Just leaving Houdini and get back to Maya !❤❤❤ thanks man ,
This advice is very very important and you able to give we for free 😁 I think CG forge is the most popular and the first place learning Houdini. Thanks bro all of them
Thank you so much for the information! It's been 2 months since I started learning Houdini, And I enjoy every bit! Sometimes I do feel like I am stupid haha! But curious as well so I research everywhere about "that" node or "that" issue
I started using Houdini several years ago to try and use it as a solution to the various "curve balls" I get thrown as a freelance artist. I'm a generalist and often times get presented some weird briefs. Knowing how to use Houdini gives me a lot of confidence in dealing with strange requests because I know there would be a way to build the solution. With that said. Houdini is terrible for "Agency" style work. It takes a while to set up systems in Houdini which isn't conducive to a typical agency timeline. However if you get familiar with the agency work then you can build systems that make short work of it anyway.
That's a really great point Tom. Thanks for sharing your experience on that. So then, I would add to the cons that it can take awhile to make these complex systems from scratch, and it's better to have tools/networks built ahead of time.
This is a highly relevant point and solid observation. I use Houdini daily at work and also for freelance. I find that the setup when doing agency work is a barrier as the sometimes neurotic pace of “show me sow me show me” isn’t something you can do with Houdini right away. Houdini’s strength is on the back-end, and when you want to really scale project complexity or, as far as the neurotic, iterate iterate iterate lol. Great video by the way, I laughed out loud at the “help section” comment, and Ron Burgundy. Stay classy! 😊
Thanks for posting this video. I have houdini and wanting to learn it for awhile. I am eager to learn to create things procedurally because I'm more of a visual learner than trying to make things in blender manually. Even though I did get my start in 3D creation from Blender plus I am learning python on the side because the programs I wanna learn all use it. Blender, UE5, and Houdini. Can't wait to dig into it soon. :D
That's great! If you have some experience with Blender and python, then I'm sure you'll pick things up very quickly. Blender, UE5, and Houdini is going to be an awesome combo. Cheers 🔥
Awesome video. Agree with everything here. I will add that for me I have found it best to know when to NOT use Houdini. Sometimes I feel like I force myself to do something in Houdini that would be better done in say blender. I find anything where I am doing a lot of manual selection and moving of specific poligonal shapes is best done in other software and then maybe later importing into Houdini for coolification.
That's a great point Brady - Someone else said it that Houdini makes the easy things hard and the hard things easy. So I totally agree with spicing it up with other apps now and then 👍
I'm 37 year old. I have some intermediate knowledge in Blender and I've always wanted to pursue a career in 3D. Do you thing it's too late for me? I'm thinking of starting learning Houdini but I'm not sure if it is worth it to invest all that time and effort. :/
Great video. It would be cool to compare modeling and layout building in houdini vs traditional softwares like Max or Maya. I feel houdini viewport and handles makes it a bit harder to move around objects and set dress an environment. Like building an environment that you need to place most assets manually by hand and scattering is not an option. I was a veteran Maya/Nuke guy before getting into Houdini. I'm so glad I did. I wish I had done it sooner.
Hey Sebek, that's a great idea. In general, I've been thinking about doing something like with USD/Solaris lately. So perhaps that could tack onto a conversation about other programs while I'm at it. Thanks for watching. Cheers!
Go with the process of learning, that how Houdini works, it's not about master it, is about learn to find your way with the tools that Houdini provides. I think you become a better Houdini artist when you are thinking like that, with the openness of the tool in mind. It's simply just another way of thinking to deal with process of making stuff, and it all depends on what you are doing, but still, at then it's all interconnected.
Hey Tyler thx for the great video i think all the point so far were spot on... to add a little more to this topic, I've been using 3dsmax for 20+ years mainly for Archviz and Industrial animation and startet learning Houdini like 1,5 year ago. With that said, one distinction that might be worth to concider is what industry you are aming for. for example in both, archviz and industryViz i rely alot on stock models from 3D shops if the budget is thight and that happens alot. Even on the biggest markets like Turbosquid, CGtrader, 3dsky, etc. you'll find barely any models that a prepped for Houdini. That might change in the future but for now it is a little deal breaker. Also working with CAD-data wasn't the most pleasant experience so far, especially if we are talking really have CAD-data. If you import an object with thousands of parts and you need to assign shaders than proceduralism can bring you only so far. Most of the time it will requrie manual labor and everything manual / non-procedural can get really tedious in Houdini. I thought your comparison with zbrush was actually very good... No matter how much experience you might have in Houdini, you would probably never pick it for character sculpting. And at least as for now this is also true for other areas. BUT, here is the best advice i can give to all aspiring artists and for some reason people keep forgetting it... You can learn Houdini AND Zbrush.... How is that for your carrear oportunities ;)
Hey Markus, thanks for sharing your perspectives! I completely agree when it comes to picking up Houdini + other programs. I think so far I'm up to about 10 or 11 (with the most investment going towards Houdini) and it's been good to at least have awareness of what's out there. For folks who are on the fence about it, I always say to just try it out for a couple weeks and go from there. Another thing about the kitbashing models - you might want to keep an eye on megascans because that does have a direct implementation in Houdini, and I believe they just came out with some foliage packs that would be right up your alley. Plus, I typically kitbash in Houdini by cleaning up the models through the remesh to grid node + transferring uvs. So check out that quick tip because that workflow could be a game-changer with how you kitbash things and ensure that they're clean. Good luck! And thanks for watching
8:00 So true. I have learned Blender and Unreal Engine in the past and I got pretty far. But after studying Unreal Engine more and more, I have understood that there are limitations regarding what you can do and what not. Thats why I want to purchase Houdini. Thank you for the video! I hope Houdini Indie will be enough to create some cool Effects for my UE-Projects.
would love to hear some of unreal engines limitations, cuz im coming from blender and would love to learn unreal(as i feel im being heavily limited by blenders cycles and high poly counts n such)
@@hudhayfajohansson866 Unreal is extremely powerful, but not as good as Houdini if it comes to VFX. Niagara is limited, you cant do what you want. If you want to produce simple effects, like lets say Particles, its sufficient. But paid programs like Houdini are better, way better. I am using Blender for Modeling, so I dont know if we have the same goals. If it comes to Modeling, UE5 is not a Modeling-Software.
As someone who works full time in the industry and use Houdini every day all day I can attest that everything Tyler said is 100 percent correct. Houdini is only for people who are in this for life. Anyone dabbling or trying CG and VFX out have no business working with Houdini. To put things in perspective I took 2 years off and studied Houdini for 12 to 16 hours a day. Every day. I still study for 2 to 4 hours after I work 8. So I am averaging 10 hours a day and barely keeping up with everything. You have to run as fast as you can just to stay in place in this industry and especially with Houdini. So unless you have exceptional conscientiousness don’t even bother.
If you understand CG and VFX concepts at the fundamental level with Houdini you essentially become a visual alchemist. And I mean you will not need any other including any other compositing package.
Hi CG Forge, I just can say : You created a great youtube video. You show the pro + cons of learning houdini and explained why different artist types can or cannot bennifit from Houdini. Thank you for contributing this video to the 3D, VFX, Gamedesign, Characterdesign Community to make lifedecisions for Artists alot easier. kind regards, GetSom3D
I wanna become a fx artist I like houdiniI am being told that without a strong desire you can’t learn fx artist and without enthusiasm, but I study every day for 6 hours a day, I do lessons, and repeat. What are my chances of becoming a fx artist. I think that i have enthusiasm and love houdini. Could you give me advice and what are my chances. Really looking forward to it. sorry for my english
Hi there - your chances of getting a vfx mostly depend on how good your reel looks. I can't tell you how long it takes because everyone learns at different speeds. If you don't have much experience so far, then plan on at least a year or two if you study and practice hard.
This was very thoughtful and informative. I liked Houdini when I was trying to learn it years ago. (I did stop) I felt I was always following tutorials and not innovating which seems like an important aspect of being a Houdini artist. How to you become someone who innovates?
I always tell people to "copy and bounce." What that means is that you copy someone (by following tutorials and/or replicating the people you admire) and then bounce (forget everything and just do your own thing). In order to bounce, you have to not care about being good at Houdini. You have not care about what others think of you. Failure should empower you rather than hurt you. And you need to nurture a sense of curiosity while having fun with it. One last thing - people have a hard time switching their mindset from "here's the target --> here's the formula" to "I have no idea where I'm going, but it's okay because I'll just see what happens." Realize that many people who innovate have no idea where they're going, and they just so happen to discover something along the way. Good luck!
Hey Derek, Sounds good! I'll keep that video idea in mind. In general I'd say that freelance opportunities grow from the relationships you build with other people in the community. As an example, if I have a friend who is getting freelance work, but they're too busy to handle it, then that can become a scenario where they'll pass it onto me. So, in general, the name of the game is to build positive relationships with as many people as possible and then go from there.
Nah, I don't think so. It's not really close to replicating what Houdini artists do at the moment. It's a much bigger deal for concept artists, copywriters, and musicians, but Houdini artists are quite safe at the moment in my opinion.
@@cgforge good, i kina have the feeling that u always need pros involved to train the Ai, meaning to get a good music Ai u need musicians looking at its development etc. so as long as no advanced vfx cgi artists snitch and join Ai companies they wont figure it out alone... great videos btw. will inhale them now haha, i know blender very well, curious how long it takes to be good in houdini!
I love Houdini and if i could, i would work only with it. But the biggest problem with that software in my opinion, is the lack of good projectbased tutorials. Yes there are tutorials out there, but every second of that are tuts of making a explosion or smoke or something like that. And then they take the presets from the shelve and done. Great, that can i do for myself and need not tutorial for that. And i don`t need always a explosion or fire or water.... Sometimes i need a model, like a plane or a car, or maybe a simple smartphone. And then i want to render it out nicely in the new gpurender. And then, the other tutorials are like, Houdini for beginners. Man, i saw the explanation ot the shelf for x times. Or how to rotat scale and move. Nobody make a tut for intermediate users. I know how i have to navigate in the software. I want to know, how i model some difficult stuff in Houdini. For Blender there are tons of tutorials, also complex stuff. Sure, the reason for that is, Blender is free and everybody can use it. The problem is, there is no market for such tutorials in Houdini, because nobody use it for modeling and even rendering. The most use it for particle, simulation stuff and bring this in other apps like Maya, Max or Blender.
Yeah, I totally agree that shelf-based simulations lack that intermediate degree of help if they don't go beyond the basic setup. Have you tried out some of the premium project based tutorials out there? I've found that there's lots of awesome projects to follow along. There's Entagma, Steven Knipping, Adrien Lambert, VFX Grace, and - dare I say - CG Forge as well. For hard-surface modeling, I'd suggest going elsewhere (like you mentioned) but for everything else, there's a bunch of stuff out there that you may not be aware of yet.
PROS: LOOKS AMAZING! CONS: EVERYTHING ELSE... REQUIREMENTS: - A SUPER EXPENSIVE PC - NOT HAVE SOCIAL LIFE - 18 HOURS A DAY FOR 2 YEARS TO BE JUST A JUNIOR HOUDINI ARTIST - AN IQ OF 999 Its easy!
Yes, but getting to a professional level at anything in CGI is hard. There are tons of modelers and texture artists out there that are so-so. But there's not a lot that are actually great, have experience, and making a living at it. With Houdini, add the fact that it's harder, less people do it, and it's increasingly in demand from studios. That = more $$$ and professional opportunities. So, pick the hard thing that appeals to you. Going with an "easy" route will just give you a different set of problems: like more competition. Going the "hard" route just means that you might have to pay your pain upfront rather than later and gain the benefit of less competition.
Hey Bobby, it depends on the studio. For the most part, Maya is still the standard for Rigging and Animation, and Houdini is standard for FX work. Sculpting will be Zbrush. Texture painting is Substance Painter. And, Houdini is becoming the standard for assembling scenes, preparing assets for real-time engines, procedural modeling, and many other tasks. So it all depends on what you're trying to focus with. It's all a dizzying array of software at first glance, so if you need any help, just let me know. Cheers.
@@cgforge Hi Tyler, thanks for your message. I am starting to do my own animation for my videos, and I am wondering what would be the best software to start with please. before I saw your video I assumed that I would use Houdini for Animation as well as rigging but now I am open for suggestion to take a new route. I cannot afford Maya because it's not only expensive but also subscription model which I don't want to commit to, because I am earning nothing on my 3D animation at the moment. That being said, I would like to take any best software with perpetual license if it's available. Kindly suggest me how to go ahead about. Many Thanks for your great help.
Hey Bobby, I would suggest learning Davinci Resolve if you haven't done so yet. It's a nice start to everything because you can get into tracking, compositing, and eventually adding in 3D elements to your videos. It's also free to get started, which is a big plus. In addition, I wouldn't worry too much about getting Maya for now. You can still achieve all the same things in Houdini, so if you have Houdini + Davinci Resolve, then that will be a strong combination.
Hi sir, I'm a new person to start my career in vfx. I'm eager to learn fx simulations in Houdini but I didn't worked on other software. Can I able to learn this houdini?
Hello there, yes you can absolutely learn Houdini and create VFX without experience in other softwares. I would recommend first understanding what goes into an animation / vfx pipeline. There are many different tasks that go into creating what you see on screen, and understanding these different tasks will help you better understand what you're trying to do. This video has a pretty decent overview of a vfx pipeline: ua-cam.com/video/SbvQCE1ZL2o/v-deo.html Houdini has historically been used as a simulation/VFX software, but it often gets used for other tasks like modeling, texturing, light, rendering, etc. Another excellent UA-cam channel to explore is 9between. He has a lot of beginner friendly videos on some of these basic pipleline concepts. Good luck! And let me know if you need anything.
Right now it's $99/mo for everyone. For more info, check out www.cgforge.com/subscriptions and let me know if you have any other questions by shooting me an email at tyler@cgforge.com
The procedural aspect of houdini would make it ideal for those with a programming background brcause one of the node you will be usong a lot is the wrangle node. The other node are straight dorward, just need to come up with a logic. I am making a highway generator using just a single curve per hoghway and it will henerate the intersections, ejtries, exit, lines, signs, walls ect... And the node i am using the most is wrangle dirst and the foreach block second
Yeah, it can be very vex heavy. It all depends on the task as well. I've also found that there are a lot of folks who use vex for everything when there are easier solutions available in other nodes that they don't know about yet. So, ideally, a Houdini artist will want to be competent at both. Knowing your nodes and knowing some vex.
I would just not design a lens, or any kind of product that will be manufactured in Houdini, there are much better CAD parametric tools out there to do the job! That wasn't a great example
Houdini is already 5 years behind Blender. Houdini does not have any good sculpting and painting tools, no camera matching, no video editor, no 2D tools, no 30 000 plugins. Blender has geometry nodes and many UI nodes that generate textures and models from text input. Houdini il lagging behind. Houdini is becoming more and more only a simulation tool. Houdini will finish its life as a Blender plugin.
Yes, but does Blender have good sculpting or painting tools? Does Blender have good UV tools? Or retopo tools? Out of those 30k plugins, how many will break with new Blender version? Blender geometry nodes are at its infancy, and will take ages to even be something comparably useful, stable and production ready. If you think of Houdini as JUST simulation tool, you obviously havent paying attention. And as always, Blender users are funboys who didnt use professional tools in any serious production, where quality and deadlines push hard.
Dont want to make durty money do not start houdini but if u have no special thing and u happen to enter houdini well maybe you will end up making durty money by selling tutorials most I recommend is go to character modeling instead
Hey its same 3d and houdini is not that hard u become same as other's about 4-8 years and 2 year on job movie's I believe so go on a jury on character modeling u will learn much more than 4-8 years of houdini u might learn color rigging animation drawing hair sculpting all does things that might lead u to something more than houdini
I think houdini = becoming a npc But it is a dream your life was spent a lot but if u had gone in any other 3d things in 4-8 years You would be a player not a npc
Don't do houdini when your young if u want a dream job u need money and time and really.. U 18-24 age think u can play all day? This is a video game yeah houdini is like that So yep.. If u studying houdini not yet 2years stop it and get real guys don't teach you the truth but wish u luck on your hard jurnny I hope some day your fantasy's will all end up and there is people like me telling you the harss part of houdini
dude....rather than investing time into Houdini ...the more important question is ...in which beard trimmer did you invest? ...that beard is SHARP! ...love it
$40 Wahl from Walgreens my guy. The real trick is in the oil though - Jojoba + coconut + essential oil blend is what you want. You can mix up a whole batch for the year on the cheap if you do it yourself. Then, you do Houdini for 12 hours a day, and it will grow.
Coool
Ha! I knew you're a grooming expert as well! And 12 hrs /day Houdini that's the secret sauce, huh. Tough call but I'll try...
Houdini is love ❤ even though I'm kinda noob 😅
A Maya/zbrush artist for over a decade. I describe learning houdini like trying to cross a rip current. The tide makes you crash over the rocks over and over. Learning more through failures than success.
It's intimidating and like you said, hurts the ego to try it again. But then out of nowhere, it just makes sense. You are free from the ripcurrent. And free to do what you want.
Best decision of my career to learn Houdini. Future proofed my resume. Bumped up my salary. And get put on fun and rewarding tasks at work.
But the tool, and the process is not for everyone. And I still feel like an idiot every day. That dang Krueger effect.
What I found tricky about proceduralism is that it forces you to get to learn how 3D computer graphics actually works. People get scared about the nodes but that’s like a formality which you get past super quickly. What’s trickier is the more fundamental stuff I.e you have to fully comprehend vectors, normals or how data is stored on geometry and so on.
But as you said in the video, this makes it immensely powerful because you can then kind of ‘remake the Matrix’ as it were.
When you go back to other software again the knowledge comes in handy, it’s like your brain has been rewired and you understand everything so much more clearly. For me it was like a fog being lifted and I can’t really imagine going back.
I also think it’s harder to have a proper understanding of the fundamentals if you’re not forced to confront it directly. In most software it’s all kind of obscured with layers of abstraction, even though all 3D graphics fundamentally work the same way.
Well said! I've had the same experience to that. When jumping to other programs, it feels much easier because of the underlying knowledge.
Fine, I'll start learning it.
Been using a lot of 3D apps for about 30 years, and since SI was squashed by AD I started using Houdini. Been using it for about 5 years now and to be honest still feel like a newbie. As a freelance artist I'm kind of jack of all 3D trades, but I mostly do character related stuff. And modeling and animation in Houdini feels like eating soup with a screwdriver. But for other things like simulations or medical visuals it's just perfect. Easy stuff is hard, hard stuff is easy in Houdini and it will save you a lot of time and frustration if you use it next a more traditional app.
Welcome to "Victims of Softimage Early Retirement " help group... 😁. We will never forget...we will never forgive..
I played the video 3 times over cuz I truly liked how wise Tyler's assessments on the subject are. Great wisdom from a great artist. I remember like yesterday how much I struggled wrapping my head around Houdini's one-of-a-kind approach to 3D workflow. It took me a whole lot more time to get to an intermediate level in comparison to some of the people I know who have previous programming experience. Mine was only limited to Python snippets at the time. But I was motivated and the source of my motivation in learning Houdini was to be able to build the most water-proof and non-destructive systems open to revision. That motivation alone brought me to a somewhat advanced level, but I really am not sure whether I'll ever consider myself to be a pro in the foreseeable future due to the fact Houdini is just too vast :) I started out building simple 3D models in Houdini and that kinda cozied me up with it a great deal so I can advise newcomers to model something tangible in a destructive manner in order to break the ice :)
Thanks for sharing your experience Ajlan as well as the kind regards. Mastery is, for the most part, an endless pursuit, so I'm willing to bet that you got some pro skills going on. Cheers!
the best explanation on entire internet… thank you so much, after spending lots of hours… now i am figuring out… Just leaving Houdini and get back to Maya !❤❤❤ thanks man ,
Thank you Umair 🙏
This advice is very very important and you able to give we for free 😁 I think CG forge is the most popular and the first place learning Houdini. Thanks bro all of them
Thank you Umidjon!
Thank you so much for the information! It's been 2 months since I started learning Houdini, And I enjoy every bit! Sometimes I do feel like I am stupid haha! But curious as well so I research everywhere about "that" node or "that" issue
Good that someone finally bringing this up
I started using Houdini several years ago to try and use it as a solution to the various "curve balls" I get thrown as a freelance artist. I'm a generalist and often times get presented some weird briefs. Knowing how to use Houdini gives me a lot of confidence in dealing with strange requests because I know there would be a way to build the solution. With that said. Houdini is terrible for "Agency" style work. It takes a while to set up systems in Houdini which isn't conducive to a typical agency timeline. However if you get familiar with the agency work then you can build systems that make short work of it anyway.
That's a really great point Tom. Thanks for sharing your experience on that. So then, I would add to the cons that it can take awhile to make these complex systems from scratch, and it's better to have tools/networks built ahead of time.
This is a highly relevant point and solid observation. I use Houdini daily at work and also for freelance. I find that the setup when doing agency work is a barrier as the sometimes neurotic pace of “show me sow me show me” isn’t something you can do with Houdini right away. Houdini’s strength is on the back-end, and when you want to really scale project complexity or, as far as the neurotic, iterate iterate iterate lol. Great video by the way, I laughed out loud at the “help section” comment, and Ron Burgundy. Stay classy! 😊
Thanks for posting this video. I have houdini and wanting to learn it for awhile. I am eager to learn to create things procedurally because I'm more of a visual learner than trying to make things in blender manually. Even though I did get my start in 3D creation from Blender plus I am learning python on the side because the programs I wanna learn all use it. Blender, UE5, and Houdini. Can't wait to dig into it soon. :D
That's great! If you have some experience with Blender and python, then I'm sure you'll pick things up very quickly. Blender, UE5, and Houdini is going to be an awesome combo. Cheers 🔥
Thanks
I wished you showed us a comparison of the Cons & Pros
Awesome video. Agree with everything here. I will add that for me I have found it best to know when to NOT use Houdini. Sometimes I feel like I force myself to do something in Houdini that would be better done in say blender. I find anything where I am doing a lot of manual selection and moving of specific poligonal shapes is best done in other software and then maybe later importing into Houdini for coolification.
That's a great point Brady - Someone else said it that Houdini makes the easy things hard and the hard things easy. So I totally agree with spicing it up with other apps now and then 👍
I'm 37 year old. I have some intermediate knowledge in Blender and I've always wanted to pursue a career in 3D. Do you thing it's too late for me? I'm thinking of starting learning Houdini but I'm not sure if it is worth it to invest all that time and effort. :/
Thankyou for making this. I appreciate the honesty
Great video. It would be cool to compare modeling and layout building in houdini vs traditional softwares like Max or Maya. I feel houdini viewport and handles makes it a bit harder to move around objects and set dress an environment. Like building an environment that you need to place most assets manually by hand and scattering is not an option. I was a veteran Maya/Nuke guy before getting into Houdini. I'm so glad I did. I wish I had done it sooner.
Hey Sebek, that's a great idea. In general, I've been thinking about doing something like with USD/Solaris lately. So perhaps that could tack onto a conversation about other programs while I'm at it. Thanks for watching. Cheers!
Go with the process of learning, that how Houdini works, it's not about master it, is about learn to find your way with the tools that Houdini provides. I think you become a better Houdini artist when you are thinking like that, with the openness of the tool in mind. It's simply just another way of thinking to deal with process of making stuff, and it all depends on what you are doing, but still, at then it's all interconnected.
Absolutely - it's all about learning about how 3d works in general. And that's very powerful once you get the hang of it
Hey Tyler thx for the great video i think all the point so far were spot on... to add a little more to this topic, I've been using 3dsmax for 20+ years mainly for Archviz and Industrial animation and startet learning Houdini like 1,5 year ago. With that said, one distinction that might be worth to concider is what industry you are aming for.
for example in both, archviz and industryViz i rely alot on stock models from 3D shops if the budget is thight and that happens alot. Even on the biggest markets like Turbosquid, CGtrader, 3dsky, etc. you'll find barely any models that a prepped for Houdini. That might change in the future but for now it is a little deal breaker.
Also working with CAD-data wasn't the most pleasant experience so far, especially if we are talking really have CAD-data. If you import an object with thousands of parts and you need to assign shaders than proceduralism can bring you only so far. Most of the time it will requrie manual labor and everything manual / non-procedural can get really tedious in Houdini.
I thought your comparison with zbrush was actually very good... No matter how much experience you might have in Houdini, you would probably never pick it for character sculpting. And at least as for now this is also true for other areas.
BUT, here is the best advice i can give to all aspiring artists and for some reason people keep forgetting it... You can learn Houdini AND Zbrush.... How is that for your carrear oportunities ;)
Hey Markus, thanks for sharing your perspectives! I completely agree when it comes to picking up Houdini + other programs. I think so far I'm up to about 10 or 11 (with the most investment going towards Houdini) and it's been good to at least have awareness of what's out there. For folks who are on the fence about it, I always say to just try it out for a couple weeks and go from there.
Another thing about the kitbashing models - you might want to keep an eye on megascans because that does have a direct implementation in Houdini, and I believe they just came out with some foliage packs that would be right up your alley. Plus, I typically kitbash in Houdini by cleaning up the models through the remesh to grid node + transferring uvs.
So check out that quick tip because that workflow could be a game-changer with how you kitbash things and ensure that they're clean.
Good luck! And thanks for watching
8:00 So true. I have learned Blender and Unreal Engine in the past and I got pretty far. But after studying Unreal Engine more and more, I have understood that there are limitations regarding what you can do and what not. Thats why I want to purchase Houdini. Thank you for the video! I hope Houdini Indie will be enough to create some cool Effects for my UE-Projects.
would love to hear some of unreal engines limitations, cuz im coming from blender and would love to learn unreal(as i feel im being heavily limited by blenders cycles and high poly counts n such)
@@hudhayfajohansson866 Unreal is extremely powerful, but not as good as Houdini if it comes to VFX. Niagara is limited, you cant do what you want. If you want to produce simple effects, like lets say Particles, its sufficient. But paid programs like Houdini are better, way better. I am using Blender for Modeling, so I dont know if we have the same goals. If it comes to Modeling, UE5 is not a Modeling-Software.
As someone who works full time in the industry and use Houdini every day all day I can attest that everything Tyler said is 100 percent correct. Houdini is only for people who are in this for life. Anyone dabbling or trying CG and VFX out have no business working with Houdini. To put things in perspective I took 2 years off and studied Houdini for 12 to 16 hours a day. Every day. I still study for 2 to 4 hours after I work 8. So I am averaging 10 hours a day and barely keeping up with everything. You have to run as fast as you can just to stay in place in this industry and especially with Houdini. So unless you have exceptional conscientiousness don’t even bother.
Wow… Where did you start?
If you understand CG and VFX concepts at the fundamental level with Houdini you essentially become a visual alchemist. And I mean you will not need any other including any other compositing package.
Hi great video. I’m studying Houdini, came from Blender. I gotta say that Houdini makes us feel like a mas scientist sometimes 😂
Indeed! It'll make your head spin sometimes, that's for sure.
Hi CG Forge,
I just can say :
You created a great youtube video. You show the pro + cons of learning houdini and explained why different artist types can or cannot bennifit from Houdini.
Thank you for contributing this video to the 3D, VFX, Gamedesign, Characterdesign Community to make lifedecisions for Artists alot easier.
kind regards,
GetSom3D
You're welcome! And thanks for the kind regards. Good luck with your future studies, and let me know if you need anything.
I have seen your website, It is amazing with greate tutorials and a great video qualities. 😃
Thank you @danilov4730 🙏 Let me know if you need anything as you watch the videos.
More houdini based visual examples and less long facetime... but great video! Thanks
I wanna become a fx artist I like houdiniI am being told that without a strong desire you can’t learn fx artist and without enthusiasm, but I study every day for 6 hours a day, I do lessons, and repeat. What are my chances of becoming a fx artist. I think that i have enthusiasm and love houdini. Could you give me advice and what are my chances. Really looking forward to it. sorry for my english
Hi there - your chances of getting a vfx mostly depend on how good your reel looks. I can't tell you how long it takes because everyone learns at different speeds. If you don't have much experience so far, then plan on at least a year or two if you study and practice hard.
@@cgforge thanks Sir! I see! ✊✊✊
This was very thoughtful and informative. I liked Houdini when I was trying to learn it years ago. (I did stop) I felt I was always following tutorials and not innovating which seems like an important aspect of being a Houdini artist. How to you become someone who innovates?
I always tell people to "copy and bounce." What that means is that you copy someone (by following tutorials and/or replicating the people you admire) and then bounce (forget everything and just do your own thing). In order to bounce, you have to not care about being good at Houdini. You have not care about what others think of you. Failure should empower you rather than hurt you. And you need to nurture a sense of curiosity while having fun with it.
One last thing - people have a hard time switching their mindset from "here's the target --> here's the formula" to "I have no idea where I'm going, but it's okay because I'll just see what happens." Realize that many people who innovate have no idea where they're going, and they just so happen to discover something along the way.
Good luck!
That is good advice. Thank you for taking the time to answer it. @@cgforge
Man, this is very true. Could you talk about any freelance opportunities with Houdini and what it takes to get to that level? thanks! -Derek
Hey Derek,
Sounds good! I'll keep that video idea in mind. In general I'd say that freelance opportunities grow from the relationships you build with other people in the community. As an example, if I have a friend who is getting freelance work, but they're too busy to handle it, then that can become a scenario where they'll pass it onto me. So, in general, the name of the game is to build positive relationships with as many people as possible and then go from there.
whats ur take with Ai and houdini, will everybody be able to do that in 10 years? :/
Nah, I don't think so. It's not really close to replicating what Houdini artists do at the moment. It's a much bigger deal for concept artists, copywriters, and musicians, but Houdini artists are quite safe at the moment in my opinion.
@@cgforge good, i kina have the feeling that u always need pros involved to train the Ai, meaning to get a good music Ai u need musicians looking at its development etc. so as long as no advanced vfx cgi artists snitch and join Ai companies they wont figure it out alone... great videos btw. will inhale them now haha, i know blender very well, curious how long it takes to be good in houdini!
I love Houdini and if i could, i would work only with it. But the biggest problem with that software in my opinion, is the lack of good projectbased tutorials. Yes there are tutorials out there, but every second of that are tuts of making a explosion or smoke or something like that. And then they take the presets from the shelve and done. Great, that can i do for myself and need not tutorial for that. And i don`t need always a explosion or fire or water.... Sometimes i need a model, like a plane or a car, or maybe a simple smartphone. And then i want to render it out nicely in the new gpurender. And then, the other tutorials are like, Houdini for beginners. Man, i saw the explanation ot the shelf for x times. Or how to rotat scale and move. Nobody make a tut for intermediate users. I know how i have to navigate in the software. I want to know, how i model some difficult stuff in Houdini. For Blender there are tons of tutorials, also complex stuff. Sure, the reason for that is, Blender is free and everybody can use it. The problem is, there is no market for such tutorials in Houdini, because nobody use it for modeling and even rendering. The most use it for particle, simulation stuff and bring this in other apps like Maya, Max or Blender.
Yeah, I totally agree that shelf-based simulations lack that intermediate degree of help if they don't go beyond the basic setup. Have you tried out some of the premium project based tutorials out there? I've found that there's lots of awesome projects to follow along. There's Entagma, Steven Knipping, Adrien Lambert, VFX Grace, and - dare I say - CG Forge as well. For hard-surface modeling, I'd suggest going elsewhere (like you mentioned) but for everything else, there's a bunch of stuff out there that you may not be aware of yet.
Thank you Sir
Love you man 😮
Time code 9:06. Had to subscribe!
PROS: LOOKS AMAZING!
CONS: EVERYTHING ELSE...
REQUIREMENTS:
- A SUPER EXPENSIVE PC
- NOT HAVE SOCIAL LIFE
- 18 HOURS A DAY FOR 2 YEARS TO BE JUST A JUNIOR HOUDINI ARTIST
- AN IQ OF 999
Its easy!
Yes, but getting to a professional level at anything in CGI is hard. There are tons of modelers and texture artists out there that are so-so. But there's not a lot that are actually great, have experience, and making a living at it. With Houdini, add the fact that it's harder, less people do it, and it's increasingly in demand from studios. That = more $$$ and professional opportunities. So, pick the hard thing that appeals to you. Going with an "easy" route will just give you a different set of problems: like more competition. Going the "hard" route just means that you might have to pay your pain upfront rather than later and gain the benefit of less competition.
Thx Tyler
I am a beginner, just wondering Houdini is Industry standard or CG and Maya for Rigging and Animation, Is that right? Thanks for a great video
Hey Bobby, it depends on the studio. For the most part, Maya is still the standard for Rigging and Animation, and Houdini is standard for FX work. Sculpting will be Zbrush. Texture painting is Substance Painter. And, Houdini is becoming the standard for assembling scenes, preparing assets for real-time engines, procedural modeling, and many other tasks. So it all depends on what you're trying to focus with. It's all a dizzying array of software at first glance, so if you need any help, just let me know. Cheers.
@@cgforge Thank you very much.
@@cgforge Hi Tyler, thanks for your message.
I am starting to do my own animation for my videos, and I am wondering what would be the best software to start with please. before I saw your video I assumed that I would use Houdini for Animation as well as rigging but now I am open for suggestion to take a new route. I cannot afford Maya because it's not only expensive but also subscription model which I don't want to commit to, because I am earning nothing on my 3D animation at the moment. That being said, I would like to take any best software with perpetual license if it's available. Kindly suggest me how to go ahead about. Many Thanks for your great help.
Hey Bobby, I would suggest learning Davinci Resolve if you haven't done so yet. It's a nice start to everything because you can get into tracking, compositing, and eventually adding in 3D elements to your videos. It's also free to get started, which is a big plus. In addition, I wouldn't worry too much about getting Maya for now. You can still achieve all the same things in Houdini, so if you have Houdini + Davinci Resolve, then that will be a strong combination.
@@cgforge Thank you very much Tyler, for a great advice, Sure taking that route, thank you.
Cheers.
Hi sir, I'm a new person to start my career in vfx. I'm eager to learn fx simulations in Houdini but I didn't worked on other software. Can I able to learn this houdini?
Hello there, yes you can absolutely learn Houdini and create VFX without experience in other softwares. I would recommend first understanding what goes into an animation / vfx pipeline. There are many different tasks that go into creating what you see on screen, and understanding these different tasks will help you better understand what you're trying to do.
This video has a pretty decent overview of a vfx pipeline: ua-cam.com/video/SbvQCE1ZL2o/v-deo.html
Houdini has historically been used as a simulation/VFX software, but it often gets used for other tasks like modeling, texturing, light, rendering, etc. Another excellent UA-cam channel to explore is 9between. He has a lot of beginner friendly videos on some of these basic pipleline concepts. Good luck! And let me know if you need anything.
@@cgforge thank you sir 💙✨
How much does it cost monthly and how much does it cost monthly as a student?!
Right now it's $99/mo for everyone. For more info, check out www.cgforge.com/subscriptions and let me know if you have any other questions by shooting me an email at tyler@cgforge.com
The procedural aspect of houdini would make it ideal for those with a programming background brcause one of the node you will be usong a lot is the wrangle node. The other node are straight dorward, just need to come up with a logic. I am making a highway generator using just a single curve per hoghway and it will henerate the intersections, ejtries, exit, lines, signs, walls ect... And the node i am using the most is wrangle dirst and the foreach block second
Yeah, it can be very vex heavy. It all depends on the task as well. I've also found that there are a lot of folks who use vex for everything when there are easier solutions available in other nodes that they don't know about yet. So, ideally, a Houdini artist will want to be competent at both. Knowing your nodes and knowing some vex.
The editing of these vids feel like 2013, What you say is cool just Bumping up the Editing Could get you to Way more views
You're right - next time I'll bring in the air horns, a thousand zoom cuts, and grow a fro mullet.
@@cgforge lmao
I would just not design a lens, or any kind of product that will be manufactured in Houdini, there are much better CAD parametric tools out there to do the job! That wasn't a great example
I just create one lens and duplicate it as an instance 🙄
Yep
Houdini is beyond impressive but I think it needs a UI refresh.
Houdini is already 5 years behind Blender. Houdini does not have any good sculpting and painting tools, no camera matching, no video editor, no 2D tools, no 30 000 plugins. Blender has geometry nodes and many UI nodes that generate textures and models from text input. Houdini il lagging behind. Houdini is becoming more and more only a simulation tool. Houdini will finish its life as a Blender plugin.
haters hahah
Yes, but does Blender have good sculpting or painting tools? Does Blender have good UV tools? Or retopo tools?
Out of those 30k plugins, how many will break with new Blender version?
Blender geometry nodes are at its infancy, and will take ages to even be something comparably useful, stable and production ready.
If you think of Houdini as JUST simulation tool, you obviously havent paying attention.
And as always, Blender users are funboys who didnt use professional tools in any serious production, where quality and deadlines push hard.
Dont want to make durty money do not start houdini but if u have no special thing and u happen to enter houdini well maybe you will end up making durty money by selling tutorials most I recommend is go to character modeling instead
Hey its same 3d and houdini is not that hard u become same as other's about 4-8 years and 2 year on job movie's I believe so go on a jury on character modeling u will learn much more than 4-8 years of houdini u might learn color rigging animation drawing hair sculpting all does things that might lead u to something more than houdini
Oh and game dev too
I never saw houdini user who is happy with there life there eyes are so dry and looks so sad..
I think houdini = becoming a npc
But it is a dream your life was spent a lot but if u had gone in any other 3d things in 4-8 years
You would be a player not a npc
Don't do houdini when your young if u want a dream job u need money and time and really.. U 18-24 age think u can play all day? This is a video game yeah houdini is like that
So yep.. If u studying houdini not yet 2years stop it and get real guys don't teach you the truth but wish u luck on your hard jurnny
I hope some day your fantasy's will all end up and there is people like me telling you the harss part of houdini