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"Houdini Apprentice"


Stremik

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SideFX claims to make "Houdini Apprentice" available by request through the Side Effects Software Web site.

Does anyone have more info on that? I mean, are they going to come up with some stupid "only for students enrolled in one of the qualified schools" rule again?

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I doubt it, I think they're actually trying to get people to use Houdini now.

It'll probably be just like the Softimage Experience CD, you'll have to order it, cuz there is too much content to download (for their servers to handle).

But yeah, I hope sidefx don't drag their asses with getting the Apprentice CDs to people. They don't seem to update their site all too often.

It still says that Houdini Select costs $1999 but didn't they lower the price to $1300? That might turn some inquisitive cg artist off, and they decide to go with Maya Complete instead (which I'm not saying is a bad choice).

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Lol, just when I say that they update their whole entire site.

Looks like you can order the Apprentice CDs NOW (or better yet, pick em' up at their office)!

I thought it was gonna take 2 weeks minimum befor it showed up on the site. And of course they fixed the prices on Select.

Cool.

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Hey there all..

Just came back from SIGGRAPH. B) Lots of fun.. the Houdini apprentice cd was very well received.

As for education pricing... SESI announced at the user group that al students currently enrolled at schools will be eligible for a free full version of houdini while they're on the course.

So fear not... things are changing, and you'll all get your hands on Houdini soon :D

l8r

Marc

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Hey there all..

Just came back from SIGGRAPH. B) Lots of fun.. the Houdini apprentice cd was very well received.

As for education pricing... SESI announced at the user group that al students currently enrolled at schools will be eligible for a free full version of houdini while they're on the course.

So fear not... things are changing, and you'll all get your hands on Houdini soon :D

l8r

Marc

Hey there Marc,

Wow. Everything is looking very bright for SideFX. I am very happy to hear that. :)

Heheh. Well, my current student license doesn't expire until Jan 03. But considering I still have 2 more years to go, that's like 2 months of grocery in my wallet. SO in that case, thanks to SideFX, now I don't have to live on ramen noodles. :rolleyes:

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Hi All,

Also my first post since returning from SIGGRAPH...

I must say that I am very impressed with the excellent introduction and tutorial movies distributed on the second CD-ROM with the Apprentice packet. I've never seen Houdini look so impressive. Those movies are a god-send! Even old hands like me are finding new ways to do some tasks because there is so little "noise" in those videos and they're presented in a very professional aesthetic way. (I can feel Robert Magee's influence right there.) They're so well prepared and full of very complete techniques - kudos to Peter Bowmar, Valerie Berney and David Robert of Side Effects for these great learning tools!

My impression of the "state of the nation" with regard to 3D tools out there: CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) was now an everyday buzzword used in all the big production houses, although not a single one spoke about Maya's CFD simulator. Everyone was talking about their inhouse CFD software. As soon as Houdini gets CFD/cloth/RBD going, things are going to get all rosy again for Houdini's special effects future. GI is about to break on the market from all directions and mantra will have to catch up, at least with improved lighting tools.

But I got the impression that there is a large amount excitement about Apprentice out there and all the beautiful artwork and models all you guys are sumbitted to the forums and the gallery is proving Houdini 5.x can do it! Please keep it up! :-)

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  • 3 weeks later...

HOUDINI ROCKS! THEY ARE GETTING MORE AND MORE STUFF RIGHT ON THE MONEY. THE BEST THING THAT NOBODY SAID ABOUT HOUDINI APPRENTICE IS NO RED TAPE. ALL YOU NEED IS AN INTERNET CONNECTION.

It conects and does it for you. THE MAIN FOCUS IS "HEY DUDE, LOOK AT THIS TOOL THAT IS BADASS"

THIS MOVE SHOULD WOULDA COULDA BEEN MADE YEARS AGO...

:D

now....time to finally get started

:rolleyes:

joy

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i agree with you one hundred percent jason. in terms of rendering vex could benefit from a number of things....but you know what would be a great challenge? to find a vex way to do a spinning lights setup. . . in order to achieve soft illumination and shadows. some guy named ekki did it for lightwave. His method seems like a peice of cake in houdini.

what is hardest is sub surface scattering. using vex to really master translucency based on the actual thickness of a surface.

as for computational dynamics...its kinda like the functionality is there, but the needs to be a bit more depth and options available in the interact pop. attributes like external pressure, fluidic/gaseous pressure, surface tension, temperature, is a lot to deal with.

and in order to really do fluids, you may wanna take a look at how houdini converts metaballs. at first it is nice, but the get the results you may have to optimize and add options for increased functionality.

modelling seems really robust still not like wings3d/nendo/mirai, but close...besides...wings3d is available if necessary.

but the truth is in my opinion, nothing beats houdini. now, more than ever. I think that it was an important step to really get houdini feet on the ground with interface upgrades, and developing accessibility with the renderer. As far as I am concerned the stage is really set for the subtle additions that will round out a cutting edge package.

as I teach it to other I often just have to marvel at the elegance.

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The houdini apprentice edition will be available in an upcoming edition of 3d World Magazine. Along with the apprentice ver, you will also get an hour and 8 minutes of video training from 3dBuzz.com on Houdini. He covers poly head modeling, showing all the steps from the creating a geo to creating the ear. Very nice video quality, and very informative. Look for it in 3d world in the next month or so.

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