No well, Houdini for normal modeling is not hard. It's slower compared to other softwares like Modo, Maya or Blender because it's based on circular menus that can be interactively changed based on the activity that you want to do. You have 2 menus: Desktop menus that are the equivalent of the group menu set in Maya that…
For modeling it's a matter of preference nowadays. The real difference comes when you must do more technical work such as uv mapping, retopo and similar. In that case there are softwares that are more advanced and fast than others. Blender was my first software, then i switched to Maya and used it for 5 years, in the…
I have no idea what "licensing issues" you think there are preventing adoption of Blender. The list of studios where at least some artists use Blender has some very big names on it. And if you think Houdini has "fuck all" benefit for modeling, go create three hundred unique rock meshes and come back to me. I wouldn't…