I think Houdini is good for modeling that doesn't require a very controlled topology. For that type of modeling, what hurts Houdini rather than help it is that every action creates a node. Just redirecting an edge or cleaning up topology ends up being a huge node tree..and while that technically isn't an issue, it feels…
This is what the poly Edit node does. I actually like that Houdini auto creates nodes for me while I'm modeling in the viewport. It's much more interactive than Maya's history that's for sure.
Lol a 6 minute ''sneak peek'' video... Well, alot of these features seems nice but they seem pretty basic to me. However I know that Houdini is mostly a node based special effects program and not a rigging/modelling/animation package...
I cant see anything better than Max for modeling (my opinion). As far as rigging and animation of course Maya is very powerful in this department no wonder its used so much. But Houdini...what can I say its such a beautiful software that I wish got more love and exposure because it is the most powerful overall in terms of…