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red4kat

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Hello;

I am 19 and living in Denton, Texas. I graduated from high school a couple of years ago; class of 2001, and went to local community college for a couple of semesters. Now I just work @ a little tool company in Grand Prairie Texas. I have been fasinated with 3d graphics ever since I saw a guy using 3d studio max 2.5 in the computer lab in high school. I have played around with Max 2.5 -3.1, Lightwave 5.5 -6.5, Maya 3.0 -4.0, Houdini since the Apprentice came out, and been trying to ;) decrypt renderman recently.

I first heard about Houdini after the Matrix came out. There was a big buzz in how everything was procedural. Then I guess when people tried using it, such as my self we were left scratching our heads. I remember using a warez copy of Houdini 2.5 and thinking that it was the stupidest computer app ever because it did not have pretty buttons (eye candy) that max had at the time; little did I know. I find it funny now that the more I learn about computers the simpilier the programs become and the less eyecandy you get and more robust they become; ie Windows to Linux; Maya to Houdini.

I would really love to get a job using Houdini, but I still have a lot to learn. And it is pretty difficult to always keep pushing yourself when there is no physical help by a person, but rather just aliases on the net. Living in Texas pretty much sucks when it comes to computer graphics because I do not know one person who uses a 3d program to make a living nor have I met a person who knows what Houdini is outside the internet.

cheers

-capin_crunch

ps

will try and post a picture of myself when I get home.

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  • 2 weeks later...

sighed.. I guess the more people come to this forum, the more anonymous there would be. Might as well help break the mole a little. :)

Howdy pardner. My name is Alex Lim. And I am from Savannah Georgia (Yes! THere is another world outside of la-la land) that's in the middle of nowhere for the CG industry -- but hey, it's ruled by a high-tech media facility here with a president nobody ever heard of. And I am currently 2**ahem ahem** years old. I've been using Houdini since 3.1 (YES! I BOUGHT the student license from sidefx! Call them if you don't believe me.) but never really gotten that deep on my own until a professor (Hi Garman) in particular exposed me the world that I never knew existed.

Before Houdini, I was learning Softimage on my own with those thick technical manual (aaooh.... the pain... the tears... the nightmare...) which at the time only about 2 books in existence for Softimage and non for Alias. (ahh... good o' day)

Ok. ANyone else? Dante? Steven? Andrew? Miguel? Jens? Charles? aneeeone??

Vodka

ALex

(oh wait... I forgot... I don't drink liquor.)

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well,im from mediterrean coast of turkey, just a few hundred miles from athens. recently in residency training in emergency medicine as a first year doctor. (3d is a fancy way of escaping from reality)

houdini is my second 3d app which im trying to learn, im currently using blender (lucky has gone opensource, a little more hope for development). blender seems to lack in shading and modeling. i was keeping an eye on sidefx after maya went ple.

ppl here in turkey are using 3d apps mostly as warez, as 3dmx and maya are sold as little as 40 cents per cd. but a few ppl can afford to get full licence of them.

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...Living in Texas pretty much sucks when it comes to computer graphics because I do not know one person who uses a 3d program to make a living nor have I met a person who knows what Houdini is outside the internet.

Tell me about it. I was in Austin for a year and a half working on an indie film that my brother and I made and finally had to come back to HelLA to get back to making a living and get the film finished up. I would occasionally get some farmout work from Gray Matter but nothing regular enough to really be comfortable.

I would have loved to have stayed but Austin has no post industry to speak of. Most of the CG that gets done in Texas happens at game companies, with some commercial CG out of San Antonio at Match Frame Digital. Maybe more in Dallas. Most of these folks are using Maya or Soft I'm sure. I thought about seeing what was in Houston but figured it would be better to go back to LA for a while and actually work on something that might make it onto my demo reel.

But I'll be back in Tejas, I just don't know when. I'm not going back to be po', that's for sure.

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well,im from mediterrean coast of turkey, just a few hundred miles from athens. recently in residency training in emergency medicine as a first year doctor. (3d is a fancy way of escaping from reality)

houdini is my second 3d app which im trying to learn, im currently using blender (lucky has gone opensource, a little more hope for development). blender seems to lack in shading and modeling. i was keeping an eye on sidefx after maya went ple.

ppl here in turkey are using 3d apps mostly as warez, as 3dmx and maya are sold as little as 40 cents per cd. but a few ppl can afford to get full licence of them.

We're hearing alot about your country in the US these days. Honestly, I hope what ever happens in Iraq doesn't have a lasting negative impact on your country. Hopefully your government will get all the protection it needs, and this can all be resolved without confilict.

Peace and good luck to you.

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Guest valerie
I suppose I am just not a typical woman...  Cause I was always very strong in math and physics as well as artistic.  That's why I like Houdini so much.  Unlike any other 3D software it allows both sides of your brain to expand in different directions.  Kind of drives most people nuts, but to some of us can be quite an amazing experience    ;)

Hiya

Woohoo! I'm a woman Houdiniite - I've been working here at Side Effects since 1997. Check out my reel in the odforce gallery posted today!

I am an artist/musician first, and have learned programming/math as necessary to achieve whatever I must, but the technical fields were never an original pursuit of mine. I was always more interested in art, music and literature. When I stumbled into 3d animation in 1994, I had never used computers, besides writing papers in college, and I was the fool in the lab who was crying because I had deleted my entire paper - it all seemed so baffling. However, when I found computer animation/creation, it seemed so interesting and I felt so much potential for expression, I put _all_ my time into learning whatever I needed to create the projects I dreamed up. I was using Wavefront, and there were only fellas initially in the ERC at Mississippi State U. I was able to collaborate with mostly technical folks by sharing my artistic skills, (texture painting, lighting, story ideas, etc) and asking alot of questions in exchange, so that eventually I did my entire thesis animation on my own (five characters, plus a little background crowd, three environments, a car, my own soundtrack (voices and also music composed and performed by me) and a few effects. (I had to since I was the first to finish the MFA and the only one in my class ) :blink: .

Here at SESI, I've been honored with the role of 'representing' artists (along with the team) for more intuitive, artist direct tools, learning materials, as well as functioning as a communicator between the artists and techies. I think the place where both can come together is the most exciting, and so I've chosen to be here for a while. It's all very fascinating and what with exposure to support, I learn the technical side of things, for sure B).

Some of the other women that I have met who are using Houdini, tend to have had some indepth math or science study, but I do see more women becoming interested (especially younger women and women from other countries ... perhaps the socialization and expectations are different now, as well as internet self study) - and with Apprentice, they will have the opportunity to learn on their own and get on in here! With my job, I get to tour the studios and meet alot of different artists, but come back to my office where there is a balance of genders fulfilling the different jobs of our software company. I have enjoyed that situation, especially when I was new to LA and to the industry, though I think the production environment could be alot of fun too.

I was going to make a smarty remark about gals smellin' better, but uh ... hee hee. I do know a buddy of mine mentioned his new job where there were women in the environment, and instead of the frat environment, he said it was alot more fun. Instead of talking about girls, they were talking with them. :)

G'day fellow Houdiniites!

Val :)

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@mcronin ~

Saw your reel. You're never going to get a job anywhere with that reel. It's just a bunch of tutorial files.

these are demo files for events and other misc things SESI needed , Mz Val made them...why not put em on a reel? :angry:

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Saw your reel. You're never going to get a job anywhere with that reel. It's just a bunch of tutorial files.

Last time I checked Val has an excellent job at SESI. :o

She knows Houdini inside and out with years of experience on the software.

She works 24/7 and is a superb artist and wrote the tutorials that are displayed on her reel.

Nice work Val :P

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