Very Important Houdini Info At 3dbuzz

[jjstanley]

Hi everyone I just wanted to let you all know that we need al the support we can get at 3DBUZZ to make the Houdini course a reality. Please go to http://www.3dbuzz.com/vbforum/showthread.php?t=132225 and support if you can.

Thanks!

[monsieurblack]

beat me too it! lol

would just like to echo the above post. it would really help to prioritise the work schedule if you could show your interest. again, those who are completely positive shoot BuZZ a PM with "HOUDINI - I'M IN" as the subject :cool:

regards

Ian

[symek]

I put it on 3dbuzz also:

"I have important question:

what does actually mean in english "fundamentals"?(in respect to training mat.). There are number of great videos about Houdini for beginners also from 3dBuzz. All SESI materials for Houdini 6.0 are still valid. There is GNOMON DVD for beginners, there is a great book with some great tips and full of knowlegde. The PROBLEM is, that there are nothing more. Deep hole between the beginnigs and advanced problems.

A person who will go through all freely available materials doesn't need another "let's start from the beginnig". There are so many people who wait for NEW advanced stuff!

In my opinion 3dbuzz should start in point they had stopped lately which means tornado and splash tutorials - they are REALLY awsome!

I will spend every money for Houdini training materials, I can prepaid for them today!!! but not for DVD which repeat over nad over again just "UI, object states, basic shader, let's see some really basic particles..., and now the ball will fall down from table, o great! DOPS - it works!". It's worthless.

Very interesting thing: the most advanced HIPs available in net are whose from hacker contest. There are mayby few others complicated stuff. There are no difficult stuff in any DVDs or so on...

This is the gap and this is the place to earn money on trainnig materials by being usefull for others!

So, please, 3dBuzz, publish some details on this!

cheers,

SYmek.

PS Hope noone feels offended."

[MADjestic]

I put it on 3dbuzz also:

"I have important question:

what does actually mean in english "fundamentals"?(in respect to training mat.). There are number of great videos about Houdini for beginners also from 3dBuzz. All SESI materials for Houdini 6.0 are still valid. There is GNOMON DVD for beginners, there is a great book with some great tips and full of knowlegde. The PROBLEM is, that there are nothing more. Deep hole between the beginnigs and advanced problems.

A person who will go through all freely available materials doesn't need another "let's start from the beginnig". There are so many people who wait for NEW advanced stuff!

In my opinion 3dbuzz should start in point they had stopped lately which means tornado and splash tutorials - they are REALLY awsome!

I will spend every money for Houdini training materials, I can prepaid for them today!!! but not for DVD which repeat over nad over again just "UI, object states, basic  shader, let's see some really basic particles..., and now the ball will fall down from table, o great! DOPS - it works!". It's worthless.

Very interesting thing: the most advanced HIPs available in net are whose from hacker contest. There are mayby few others complicated stuff. There are no difficult stuff in any DVDs or so on...

This is the gap and this is the place to earn money on trainnig materials by being usefull for others!

So, please, 3dBuzz, publish some details on this!

cheers,

SYmek.

PS Hope noone feels offended."

28200[/snapback]

That's more or less what I thought myself, but was too lazy to PM Buzz in hope that somebody would do that. Thanks, SYmek

Maybe any of the step by step DVDs on the "How did they do that?!" Hackers' contest stuff instead?

[Visual Cortex Lab]

I totally agree with SYmek... I bought the Gnomon DVD.. the Book ... and the book is awesome... but i really wont another "getting started" with houdini DVD.. specially for 250USD ... i mean ... I always learn from scene posted here.. but... I'd like a class which cover some more advanced tasks... 250USD is quite an amount of money for "personal" expenses....

let's see if Buzz will describe a bit the content of the Foundamental Class.. maybe it'll be worth it... I yet dunno if I'll go for it.

cheers

[Demondo]

I have included little headings to make this easier to read, feel free to read through completely, or to skip to the answer that you feel will best answer the questions brought up in this thread.

"Required Preface"

Hey guys, Demondo here from 3dbuzz. I might as well start by saying the blatantly obvious, I do not frequent these forums. However, I am not trying to be a troll either, and was not sent here by Jason or any other crew member of 3dbuzz. To be honest, I do not know any more than you guys about what will, or will not be, in the "Houdini Fundamentals" training video set. That is to say, I only know what Jason has revealed to the public. I can however, put things into perspective.

"What is fundamentals?"

Jason and Zak have said many times on 3dbuzz, that fundamentals means "something every user of the program should know." This is not to be confused with the basics, or UI related issues. But rather the level of knowledge a user should have so that they are comfortable with nearly every aspect of the program. Maybe not an advanced user, but would feel comfortable if they need to do something in a pinch.

Putting Fundamentals into Perspective:

There are currently two fundamentals classes being offered by 3dbuzz. One is for Maya, and is completed. The other is for Max and is still being developed through a "content drop" system (which I shall not go into, unless someone requests it.)

The Maya Fundamentals training set was supposed to under 15 hours long. It ended up being nearly 82 hours long. Not unlike the Houdini training's future pricepoint, Maya Fundamentals is currently being sold for $250. It covers virtually every aspect of the program, and takes the user from literally no 3d experience to being a very competent Maya user. Some of the first videos on the set are very simple things like the differences between 2D and 3D, but complex MEL and Node related topics are covered in great detail as well.

What is the Maya Fundamentals Like?

However, we all know that if all the lecture explained "what does this feature do", then it is not a solid foundation. As such, the Maya class takes the users through three separate projects. These projects supplement the theory component of the lecture, through relevant work. They start with storyboarding and end with a fully rendered scene. The first of the three projects was a talented ball project. All good introductory 3d classes start with a bouncing ball project, but this one really takes it to the next level (see some of the student work) The next project involves fully rigging an alien character and ship for an "abduction" scene. The final project involves modeling and rigging a mech, as well as some basic particle effects in Maya (such as snow and explosions.)

Max Fundamentals Disclaimer

Before I get into the Max fundamentals, I should say a small warning, I am not in this class nor have I seen the videos. So my knowledge of this is slightly more limited than the Maya fundamentals. That said...

What is the Max Fundamentals?

The Max fundamentals attempts to do for Max what the Maya fundamentals did for Maya. That is to combine the essential theory needed to work with max, with the relevant project experience to make you truly comfortable with the program. Indeed, the first project is the same as that of the Maya class - a talented ball. From what I hear, the final rendered scene is almost indistinguishable from it's Maya counterpart. Now, how the scene was developed might be different, but the final results are extremely comparable.

Why do the Max and Maya Fundamentals differ?

From there, the next two projects differ from the Maya class. This is done for three reasons. First, rehashing the same material in a different program is neither fun for the instructor or the student. Second, every 3d application has unique strengths and weaknesses. While it is important to teach students what these strengths are, and how to work around the weaknesses, the projects should be focused to a programs specific strengths. And finally, by teaching the Maya class Jason and crew learned how to do a better job on the next one. So they feel that the projects should reflect this. For the same reasons, the Houdini class will likely feature different projects than the Max and Maya classes as well.

How do the Max and Maya Fundamentals Differ?

Enough beating around the bush. Let's cut right to the crux of the matter. How do these two classes differ? Well in the Max class the second project involved modeling and rigging an F-14 jet. (Not to be confused with the F-18 jet designed for the advanced modeling class). The jet takes off, among a squadron of them actually, and (I believe) proceeds to blow up an oil rig! The third project is a Dragon's birthday. Students are taught how to model and rig a dragon (complete with wings), and have it blow out the candles of its birthday cake. I'll leave what happens to your capable imaginations.

There is also an "unofficial fourth project" for people in the content drop system. It deals with videogame moding, but I am unaware if that recording has started yet, or if the title to mod was chosen. (I know some polls were going.)

But this is a Houdini site, tell me about the Houdini Fundamentals

Ok, ok. As I said above, I do not know any more than has been said publicly already. But perhaps I am more familiar with what has been said than others are.

How long will the Houdini Fundamentals be?

No official time estimate has been given. I wouldn't be surprised if none was given until recording is complete. But the Maya Fundamentals was 82 hours, Maya Advanced Modeling was 116 hours. Max Fundamentals isn't complete yet, but is already exceeding 26 hours, and still has many (many) more hours to go. (I'd estimate that they are roughly 30-35% done).

So I think saying upwards of 50 hours would be safe. Could it be twice as much? Maybe. Could it be less? Yes. The important thing to remember is that the content being taught is what you are paying for. If they can teach the content well, then isn't 5 hours or 500 just a number?

So what exactly, will I be taught?

I can understand why some users will be hesitant to sign up for a program where the content hasn't been announced. Truth be told, I haven't commited by PM yet either. Judging by what is publicly known, there is going to be three full projects. There will also be a theory component to the lecture. Due to the nature of Houdini, and the fact that 3dbuzz will play to its strengths, there is a high probability of effects related scenes being taught.

The first project is going to be a Talented Ball. Jason said on tonight's BuzzTV that this scene will rely heavily on Houdini Digital Assets. (That's the first project in the fundamentals after all, have to get that knowledge into students heads early.) The example he gave was a simple, but relevant one. The stool will be developed as a digital asset, if you then wanted to adjust the height or the number of legs, you can do it easily. Again, teaching in this way will result in a similar final product to that of Maya and Max. But the way it was acheived, and the functionality the approach gives will be totally different.

The second and third projects are pretty hush hush. There are a couple rumors floating around, but unless pressed for them, I'd rather not post them here. Just my luck someone would consider them an official announcement, and then they will turn out to be false. In any case, it stands to reason that the free VTMs cover cool things like a tornado, so a full course would take such ideas to the next level. Not just showing off an effect, but really building a scene around it.

So you're saying you don't know

I suppose that many users will not be satisfied with the answers I provided in this post. This is simply because not all the details are public knowledge yet. The post Jason made was not designed to sell the Houdini Fundamentals. Indeed, recording has not even started yet. It was merely to gauge how many people would be willing to participate immediately. To be the "first in line" when content was released. A way of seeing if the "core audience" is big enough to justify starting the recording now instead of, say, 6 months down the road.

When Houdini Fundamentals is green lighted, and recording does begin, expect more information to be made available. In fact, I would wager that the same approach as the Max class to be taken. Namely, to record a handful of hours upfront for the initial content drop, and then to have more content be made available as it is produced. (And finally to have the DVDs shipped when they are complete.)

Thanks for reading.

-------------------

Edit: Decided to come back and reread my post after a few hours. When writing something this long sometimes a fresh set of eyes helps. Anyway, I made some minor revisions. For instance, I felt that I made it sound as though pre-orders have already begun - they haven't - so I wanted to clear that up. Sorry for any confusion.

[peliosis]

I PM'd but SYmek nailed down my fears.

[pbowmar]

I agree $250 seems like a lot for "Fundamentals" but I'm here to tell you, you can't know everything about Houdini. You just can't. I just came back from some time with Craig and Calin from SESI and I learned an incredible amount of stuff. A lot of it was "fundamental" type knowledge but in areas I haven't yet had a chance to explore.

What I've found is, no matter what level the material, I always learn new things about Houdini just because everyone works differently. The Buzz videos (which I've been watching since they came out) have always shown me alternate approaches that I hadn't thought of.

Likewise, the videos I created have often shown experienced Houdini users workflows or tips and tricks they hadn't thought of, or so I'm told

Once I'm not a poor student anymore, I plan to buy the Buzz vid no matter what! Perhaps I'll skip some bits, but I bet I'll glean a lot of cool ideas from them.

Naturally, everyone has to decide if it's worth it for themselves, but I'd suggest that they will be worth it!

Cheers,

Peter B

[Visual Cortex Lab]

.. any news on this project? my interest hasnt falled yet