bobster Posted June 13, 2004 Share Posted June 13, 2004 I'm new to Houdini, and very excited about its effects capabilities. When I found out about odforce I was extremely happy to find others who used this severely under-documented piece of software, thinking great!...I'll be able to get some answers along the way. Unfortunately, I've noticed a lot of unanswered questions dating back 2 or 3 years. I've submitted a couple posts with no response, fortunately I found the answer to one of them elsewhere. Just a grip I guess. Why the hell aren't there tones of third party books out there like Maya has. Maya is wonderfully documented. I know it's reached a huge market, but come on, Houdini has some very unique features tailored for us effects guys, and it's been around for several years. I'm hungry to learn but I don't want to feel like I'm taking an I.Q. test everytime I try to do something in Houdini. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White_Rabbit.obj Posted June 13, 2004 Share Posted June 13, 2004 Because hardly anyone uses Houdini except places doing heavy effects work. If it was more heavily cemented into the mainstream market, it would have more documentation and books. I am with you on this one brother. I am new to Houdini as well and wish it was easier to learn and find resources for learning but it's a trial by fire... and one reason talented Houdini artists are sought after. 3DBuzz.com has good beginner tutorials for Houdini, if you're looking for someplace to start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted June 13, 2004 Share Posted June 13, 2004 Hey Bobster Sorry you feel neglected. I can't speak for eveyone else, but I know I try to get to as many questions as possible. And as for the ones I don't know the answers to, well I do what every other person does... and hope that someone else will get to it . If you have any burning unanswered questions then please feel free to pm me and I'll see what I can do... Ciao Marc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark Posted June 13, 2004 Share Posted June 13, 2004 some good questions go unanswered.. on any forum, and in life the houdini community is a double edged sword. like you realised there is probably a couple of hundred people total who are online (mailing list + forums). the amiga community is probably bigger people here know their stuff though, generally advanced 3d users. some make hollywood movies, developers of the application (try getting to ask a programmer on maya a question! (without a fat maintenance contract!!!)). sidefx are slowly improving the documentation, but i think the wiki is key. anyone who knows anything about houdini, minus half a dozen, are guilty of not contributing to the wiki. myself included. we need to get all the knowledge into one organised place! and about that IQ test everytime you try something see my avatar it gets easier though. and i dunno about other people but i look at pre-houdini and post-houdini stuff i've done and it has made my skills improve a lot. cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mcronin Posted June 13, 2004 Share Posted June 13, 2004 I've found the opposite. The Houdini community is more helpful than the communities I dealt with when using Max or Maya. The main thing, when you get an answer here, it's more than likely going to be from someone who really knows their shit, not to put too fine a point on it. There's literally thousands of free tutorials out there for other software, but a lot of them contain really really horrible approaches. It's all about quality vs. quantity here. I don't know if you are aware or not, but the guys on this site and on the Side FX forums have years of experience; real experince. Chances are when you talk to someone here you are talking to someone from Rythm and Hues or Digital Domain or Sony Pictures or C.O.R.E. or Framestore, or often, the guys who write Houdini themselves. You've also got people working at smaller shops with enough brains for 4 people like Mario Marengo or John Coldrick wandering around. Almost everyone here is somebody, and the wannabe's are really bright soon-to-be's. Zero ego. I think it's better to get no help at all than to get some egotistical asshole telling you to hit "F1" like every other site on the net because they think your simple question is beneath their scope. Sorry if this came off like a rant. Anyhow, the documentation is coming along, odwiki is coming along, and believe me you are in the very best company here. Odforce moves at a snail's pace and it's servers have been up and down recently so it's particularly slow now. If you ask questions, you'll get answers eventually. Don't be shy, bump your posts and share files you are having trouble with, if you really need an answer. No one is out to steal your work here, and the guys here seem very patient with new users. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renderpipe Posted June 13, 2004 Share Posted June 13, 2004 Hello bobster, I'm new here and I have the opposite experience you have. The guys here are very helpful to me. I did know already that some of the guys here work in movies already but I did not know who. Well it doesn't matter because I'm happy that I'm getting quality assistance. I did try my hand at maya and xsi first and I got quickly discouraged because I got very rude responses from the people on those forums. Maybe because my english and grammer is poor or maybe they are just too busy and would rather flame me. Like Mcronin said, I would rather have no reply than a nasty reply. It is interesting that if you search the archive here (I do everyday), that you will not find rude behavior on this or side fx website. I'm thankful for everybody's professional and helpful attitude here. What I like the best about this community is that most of the replies are very helpful in terms of trying to make you understand instead of "click this button." If you look in the general Houdini section, Mario, Old School, Mcronin, Edward and many others took the time to explain normalized vectors to me. Sorry if I forgot someone. However, I have printed that entire thread and put in my book of "houdini and 3D tricks." If I were to ask this question on the past maya board I can bet that someone would give me a nasty response as they have in the past. The odwiki is a goldmine! I wish there was more info there but, I'm still happy there is something very valueable there. Houdini is very very very tough for me to learn but with assitance like this, it's worth the slow pace of learning. I hope your experience changes for the better. I appreciate all of you guys on this site for your patience and assistance. Perry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meshsmooth Posted June 13, 2004 Share Posted June 13, 2004 Err quality vs. quantity well I add a fair bit to OD winki but I don Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starkhorn Posted June 14, 2004 Share Posted June 14, 2004 I'm also new here and I've only posted 1 thread thus far and the help, great feedback/advice and just the general willingness of people to help was brillant. I personally think that the best part about here and the houdini community in general is that there is a distinct lack of arrogrance and rudeness from the experts/guru's when helping people....especially noobs like myself. I think this is brillant and makes me want to help back in return. Anyway, just my couple of cents.... Cheers Starkhorn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobster Posted July 6, 2004 Author Share Posted July 6, 2004 I apologize if I came across kind 'a strong winded. I still am frustrated by the lack of documentation (although I hear that Houdini 7 will have better documentation) but must say that I have learned a lot from Odforce. I do agree that Houdini users are very generous with their knowledge. I believe that if you receive knowledge without having to pay for it that you should give it back, so after I learned something pretty cool I posted it here http://odforce.net/forum/index.php?act=ST&...8125a40c010aec5 I'll upload my hip file after people try the challenge and submit their results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheUsualAlex Posted July 6, 2004 Share Posted July 6, 2004 Hi bobster, I actually think that Houdini has come a long way sing many many versions ago as many of the Houdini users can attest to. However, I must admit that I myself am guilty of slacking in the involvement in the Houdini community these days... However, I think that one of the advantage that people have nowaday is that there's a whole lot more resources available then when many of us started in Houdini many versions ago. The documentation has improved definitely. I think that you will find that one day, things will start falling into places with your understanding of Houdini. I also think that you'll find that there is a very tight community here. Kinda like a one big happy family. So, keep on going. We need more solid Houdini houses in the future. -Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.