Top 5 Myths About Houdini

Houdini is one of the most powerful DCC's out there but some people believe that Houdini is too difficult to learn or that it's only for VFX. Others think that it's too expensive or that it's not suitable for certain types of projects. In this video, 3D & VFX artist Christopher Rutledge will be debunking the top 5 myths about SideFX Houdini and why you should learn this magical software!

School of Motion course catalog:

[MilushManimendra]

would love a full course for Houdini from School of Motion!

[sherlockholmes]

I started learning houdini 5-6 months ago and before that I used cinema 4d. One thing I can say is that, take your time while learning houdini. Don't rush it. Also it would be really good if you learn VEX, because believe it or not VEX will definitely make the work easier and at some points it will open more pathways for new explorations. Learn the fundamentals before jumping into dynamics and simulations. Learn how proceduralism works properly.

[SamWelker]

This man is a legend. He's also completely correct on all of these myths. You can do so much in Houdini after learning a very little amount of it. That consistency is such a strong point of the workflow.

[JonathanWinbush]

I REALLY need to jump into Houdini since it links with Unreal so well 🤙🏿

[scotthuster]

I started in Maya a time ago. Then I went to C4D kicking and screaming, grew to love it. I've been dipping my toe in with Houdini and once you put in some time it's not nearly as intimidating as it first seems. It is a little mind blowing how much power they pack into the software. I wish School of Motion would have a Houdini course, there's so much information out there it would be nice to get a good foundational knowledge that every Houdini artist should be expected to have and also more advanced topics.

[tempermode]

Houdini is amazing. But it is absolutely the hardest 3D program to learn. I remember being insanely frustrated with attempting to follow along with tutorials only to get to a point where the name of node has changed or its functionality was merged into another node or... something. Making any tutorials on previous version nearly impossible to follow along with.

[NelsonLim]

As a Houdini artist and educator, I can't agree more with all the points Chris mentioned here. One of the first ways to get into Houdini is simply trying to shade, light and render assets from megascans or polyhaven. It's never easy doing water or fire simulation regardless of 3d package.

[FX_MesropHovhannisyan]

0:45 My work here.
'Houdini' for sure deserves all the credits:) But would be nice to give a proper credits to the creators, thanks!

[JhoniMusic]

It would be great if school of motion would make a course for houdini!

[jonosvlog]

I have spent the last 2 years learning Houdini as a 3D student and found it extremely hard to learn at the beginning mainly because I went to watch and follow some cool simulation tutorials. It was a big mistakes that made me didn't understand the basics like how attributes work, attribute groups, geometry inspector graph It is def a software that takes ages to learn and pick up, the learning curve can be steeper than other software but once you the hang of it and don't give up easily. It is the MOST POWERFUL 3D software out there. Most major studios have changed or slowly changing their main pipeline workflow to Houdini from Maya and Highly recommend artists to learn Houdini at all levels. Thanks for the great video!

[blackspear]

I agree on most points, however, Houdini might not be the hardest to learn, it does have the steepest learning curve. Most people that use maya (for ex) use it within one or two disciples; modeling, rigging and or animation and therefor the learning curve is capped at some point by the limitation of the DCC’s tools. Houdini on the other hand, is a different beast. Houdini artists are exposed to the very backend of the software and need to understand the fundamental basics of computer graphics if they want to properly manipulate geometry. (Example, I only cared about normals in Maya if the geo didn’t look right, in Houdini, Normals play a tremendous roll in how you manipulate your geo, cross and dot products, setting up velocities for sims…etc). it allows the user to have full control of every aspect of the procedural process. In most DCC’s, workflows are standardized, with Houdini that isn’t always the case since the logic can differ from person to person. It is that enormous flexibility that most people consider “difficult” about Houdini, which coincidentally is also what makes it so powerful.

[chrstpher]

This program sounds so great I must learn it!

[MortalVildhjart]

Loved point Number two, I think its really a joy learning Houdini way less Bugs or weird stuff like back when using Maya, Softimage oder 3DZmodeller and so much more powerful and elegant.

[didioskywalker]

Don't kid yourself guys. This shit is the "Dark Souls" of 3D software. Very hard but also very rewarding.

[rakeshmalik]

I've been having a lot of fun learning Houdini. And the new COP network is amazing!

[bryangrunauer]

I honestly believed all these myths lol, very interesing. I'll stick to blender for now, but it's good to update my knowledge, so thanks!

[OnePatrix]

I Started Learning Blender year ago and I got fascinated by 3d. And then I Discovered GeometryNodes short After i started learning blender. These nodes is amazing and I really like procedural workflows. About 2months ago I discovered that there are other program that Is 100% procedural and that was about Houdini. Started learning about 2 months ago. Many times I got frustrated (like in Blender year ago) but after every tutotial that I found on YouTube Im getting more familiar with Houdini and kinda like it a lot. I hope that Houdini will become my friend like Blender and AfterEffects :D. Many things I still dont understand but this will come with time, and many things I already know cause I know how to build them in Blender with GeometryNodes - Logic behind some things are pretty the same, but using a different nodes

[andco]

I’m looking to break into 3D animation and have been self teaching myself with cinema 4D and from the videos I’ve been watching on Houdini it seems so much easier and after watching this video I’m hella excited to jump into Houdini apprentice and indie.

[xypher]

I'm a lead cg generalist.
I worked with many fx artists and motion graphics artist, and literally all of them said: houdini is not easy to learn.
This guy is the first one that says otherwise.

[USBEN.]

Alright i was already curious but now i am going to finally start learning it. You did a great job of convincing.