keltuzar Posted November 25, 2005 Share Posted November 25, 2005 I am an avid user of both Maya and Houdini, and I have seen both packages shine as well as fall. Maya is more of a scripting arena where users have to know a good deal of programming to get things done. On the other hand one has Houdini, with its open node based system makes even the impossible possible. As a student, I often relied on Maya more just simply due to the fact I can write a script and get things working my way. Though I realize that houdini has an expression editor too and gives me more options than maya. I am just curious as to how many here rely more on the node system of houdini as opposed to using expressions and writing scripts. For me I love to write scripts MORE than piping nodes only due to the fact that I wrote the lines and I know what I am piping things together. Thanks in advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael Posted November 25, 2005 Share Posted November 25, 2005 I think it really depends on what your doing.... Houdini's proceduralism allows for the best of both worlds I think...you can wire some nodes together to very quickly prototype something very complex then wrap that up as an HDA or opscript it out for further tinkering... I've used both in production and I'm not slaging Maya...but scripting in Houdini is an /extra/ tool in the tool box...where in Maya, mel is really the /only/ tool... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfwood Posted November 25, 2005 Share Posted November 25, 2005 I've used both in production and I'm not slaging Maya...but scripting in Houdini is an /extra/ tool in the tool box...where in Maya, mel is really the /only/ tool... 22877[/snapback] Quoted for truth. I wouldn't say hscript is an extra tool for Houdini, its more of a complement...or different sides of the same coin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael Posted November 25, 2005 Share Posted November 25, 2005 yeah...Hscript is more of a /workflow/ tool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keltuzar Posted November 25, 2005 Author Share Posted November 25, 2005 but the main question isnt about the feature is scripting is part of houdini or not, I am just curious if given the choice which way one would choose and why? Also if you are more technical minded does connecting nodes make sense or writing a script does? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael Posted November 25, 2005 Share Posted November 25, 2005 I don't know anyone who starts out a scene using hscript.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfwood Posted November 25, 2005 Share Posted November 25, 2005 but the main question isnt about the feature is scripting is part of houdini or not, I am just curious if given the choice which way one would choose and why?Also if you are more technical minded does connecting nodes make sense or writing a script does? 22881[/snapback] Well it depends. If I'm modelling a character or building a rig then I'll wire the nodes using the interface because I find that its faster. But if I'm trying to take 200 character and have all them animate differently in the same scene then I'll use hscript to do the work. Basically if I only have to do something once or twice then I'll use the interface. If I have to do something repeatedly over and over with a limited number of input variables then I'll use hscript. It all comes down to what is faster for the task. The nice thing about Houdini is that there is pretty much a 1 to 1 relationship between building networks in the Interface or Hscript..... If I can do it in one there is a 99.99999% chance I can do it in the other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfwood Posted November 25, 2005 Share Posted November 25, 2005 I don't know anyone who starts out a scene using hscript.... 22882[/snapback] I could have sworn someone once told me that Mr. Lait's default desktop was just a textport. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbowmar Posted December 2, 2005 Share Posted December 2, 2005 Nodes all the way, baby! I only script if I really, really have to. Like, as Wolfwood points out, if I'm doing something repetative. I can work much much faster with nodes than I can with scripting. I even, generally, code in VOPs for VEX instead of hand-coding, unless it's something I know will be big, complex and require a lot of if() statements My scripts are very often 5-10 lines as a complement to something, very often a custom expression will suffice. The exception, of course, is pipeline work which is almost all coding. Even then, I use the nodes whenever I can to save scripting. It's just faster. Cheers, Peter B I am an avid user of both Maya and Houdini, and I have seen both packages shine as well as fall.Maya is more of a scripting arena where users have to know a good deal of programming to get things done. On the other hand one has Houdini, with its open node based system makes even the impossible possible. As a student, I often relied on Maya more just simply due to the fact I can write a script and get things working my way. Though I realize that houdini has an expression editor too and gives me more options than maya. I am just curious as to how many here rely more on the node system of houdini as opposed to using expressions and writing scripts. For me I love to write scripts MORE than piping nodes only due to the fact that I wrote the lines and I know what I am piping things together. Thanks in advance 22876[/snapback] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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