Houdini 17 Preview Video

procdrew

Exciting times!

https://vimeo.com/291934239

Curious how these optimizations and tools will impact character, FX, and games workflows. 

Zack Maxwell

Aw. It appears to be like 90%+ pure VFX stuff. Which is to be expected, but always disappointing.
Maybe the new UV tools will be awesome at least. The video wasn't clear on what exactly got improved with that, but the current version did need a lot of work.

kanga

Bloody ell! Lot more than FX. Houdini has not been sitting on its thumbs. Really worth a watch. Awesome.

melviso

That pose space deformation demo was really cool. I wonder if this is possible in Blender.

oglu

The long version of the presentation. 

gnoop

I studied Houdini years ago hoping to use it  for procedural environment generation  and never had been able to go through a certain barrier  beyond  what was much easier to do elsewhere.   Nothing  I expected It might help me ever happened.  Like  texturing the scene procedurally.  Doing alternating texture placement on walls based on certain texture details for example.  

Nothing beyond just procedural boxes  or very simplistic initial modular approach.    Once it went to UV space transformations it instantly turns into a never ending puzzles and math quests.

Wonder should I try one more  approach?

CreativeSheep

Houdini has a learning curve and it is alot of math.  I guess you have to either love math and programming or find a passion you never knew you had.  Once you get past this; you can do alot.

gnoop

 Math and programing might be good hobbies indeed but unfortunally  I just need a convenient tool  that just works and not a puzzle game or kind of sport achivment  of doing something "procedurally" .    From their recent videos it smells they are trying to improve  its ovreral usabilty and make their soft not only flexible but  also somewhat convenient.   For some uncertain reason those things do never meet together or it takes decades and new generation of programmers before somebody finnaly start to realise that certain simple things  had to be in the product from the very beginning. 

 It's happening with Blender , Zbrush , Substance Designer   so maybe Houdini has some hope too? 

CreativeSheep

@gnoop I wouldn't consider Math a hobby, programming is optional.  What is happening with Blender, Zbrush & Substance ?

gnoop

For a typical artist math is rather a hobby Imo.  Your competitive advantages lay in a bit  different area usually.   I mean all those unspecific matters like good taste, a sense of proportions, inventive abilities to find most  simple solution for complicated issues. The math is also a part of it but not a core part.      

As of those soft they started from being  kind of  quirk and twisted  where you had to leap through their hoops all the time  and finally it seems they let an alien crazy masterminds behind them a little bit rest  and found someone able to think simple.   Zbrush  especially amazes me in that regards. 

procdrew

@gnoop I really think the opposite way about Houdini. I feel it empowers the creative juices and opens the doors to new ways of doing things, even without using math or technical art to get there. Houdini can be as plainly creative as you want it to be; it just doesn't restrict your possibilities. I think it'd be unfair to think of Houdini in terms of artistic concepts like the sense of proportions because that rarely applies to things like simulations, fx, gamedev tools, and proceduralism. 

Think of Houdini as a sandbox that you can twist, deform, and shrink or grow to fit your needs. Be an artist in it, be a mathematician, be pyrotechnical, make massive worlds, build utilities. I wouldn't let the barrier or specific areas limit what you can do in others!

Aabel

Math isn't a hobby, it's the foundation of computer graphics.  If you shun math and programming, you are shunning the technical foundation of computer graphics and placing limits on your growth in this medium.

procdrew said:

 I think it'd be unfair to think of Houdini in terms of artistic concepts like the sense of proportions because that rarely applies to things like simulations, fx, gamedev tools, and proceduralism. 

  You can think of it in those concepts, or not. In fact proportion is a very simple expression of proceduralism and a great way to start wrapping your head around that way of thinking. Being able to take simulations and make them adhere to a set of proportions is exactly the kind of example why Houdini is so popular.

procdrew

Aabel said:

  You can think of it in those concepts, or not. In fact proportion is a very simple expression of proceduralism and a great way to start wrapping your head around that way of thinking. Being able to take simulations and make them adhere to a set of proportions is exactly the kind of example why Houdini is so popular.

I completely agree; I took his mentioning of proportions when talking about zbrush as if he was talking about character proportions 

VincentHalman

This looks awesome! But too expensive software for me

oglu

Houdini Indie isnt expensive
https://www.sidefx.com/products/houdini-indie/

Aabel

and apprentice is free