Do I need to Learn Python?

[animecreatercoder]

Hi All,

Do I need to learn Python to become a Houdini developer?

If yes, what are some resources from which I can learn python programming?

Edited May 23, 2022 by animecreatercoder

[animecreatercoder]

Can someone guide me on this -

I have found two resources

1. Python Wiki

2. Scaler Topics

Is this something I can refer to learn Python?

[davpe]

Yes, you need to learn Python if you want to be Houdini TD/dev that is useful in production. Also take VEX as another language that is a must if you want to be called a Houdini TD. But VEX is yet a different topic.

If you know nothing about Python at this point, I'd recommend you to take one of the general Python courses available at codecademy.com, or similar online learning source.

Also read through official Python docs where you can find detailed information about specifics of the language - https://docs.python.org/3/

Personally, I very much liked https://www.tutorialspoint.com/python/index.htm - this is by no means a complete guide to Python, but you can quickly find the most commonly used functions and syntax. Very handy if you starting off and don't remember even the basic stuff yet.

As for houdini specific tutorials, I just looked at random tutorials on youtube showing how to do this and that.

Other than that, I would also humbly recommend reading through my own notes that I was making while learning: https://vfxbrain.wordpress.com/2016/03/15/python-in-houdini/

With the same breath, I'd like to encourage you to make your own notes, because you will be forgetting a LOT of things while learning, and it will save you a heaps of time being able to go back to your notes and just look up how did you do some specific thing last time.

Also I have to mention I am not really a developer myself, and to be honest, my code would be probably described as shit by any skilled developer - I typically use Python to build simple tools for myself, that help me avoid doing the "same 10 clicks" over and over again, or to overcome manual tasks that are too tedious. Being a full fledged developer requires yet another level of skill in terms of how efficient and clean your code is, and Python alone will probably not be enough. Other than VEX that I already mentioned, you will soon find yourself immersed into various OS related topics, network topics, maybe C++ if you wanna go badass, and other things that I would'n even dare talking about

Good luck

[ikoon]

This masterclass helped me to find my way to python in houdini:
https://vimeo.com/14612897
 

That video is quite old, but it still should be valid. If you want to learn the new way of creating the "python states" in houdini, then I recommend this course:
https://ambrosiussen.gumroad.com/l/pythonstatesforhoudini

[ratchet]

Udemy is currently giving a discount offer on Python Masterclass. The course content is vast with amazing teaching and provides a lot more than expected. I have my personal experience with Udemy, but I took a different course. Another one is Coursera which is also a very reliable platform to learn any type of coding language. Also, there is Udacity, but I am not sure about the content covered. I only found just this particular free intro Python Course which is available free of cost. Just to make sure check it by yourself, my research might not be complete.