Under the cut you will find a review of specialists from the Houdini Team of the Krasnodar studio Plarium about video courses и from Mix Training dedicated to working with Python and Vex languages in the Houdini graphics program.
Also in this post, the guys share a selection of materials that will be useful to everyone interested.
A little introductory
The Vex language scares novice Houdini users. Largely thanks to him, there was a stereotype that you definitely need to code in Houdini. Actually in Houdini can coding, and this just facilitates and speeds up many processes, and does not complicate them. For example, it helps to avoid such creepy setups:
The Vex language was created for writing shaders in the Mantra renderer (the built-in renderer of the Houdini program), but rather quickly went beyond its original use due to its flexibility, simplicity and speed. The name of the language comes from the abbreviation Vector EXpressions, but it can be used to manipulate completely different data types. So, Vex is mainly used for various kinds of manipulations with geometry components (points, polygons), as well as for procedural creation of geometry.
The Vex language is rather undemanding in terms of syntax and code formatting, and has a not very high entry threshold. Often a couple of lines are enough to achieve the desired result. Among its advantages is also multithreading and, as a result, good speed. Programming in Vex is needed both for solving elementary problems, and for complex and complex calculations, and the language copes with all this extremely quickly. With it, you can do a lot of amazing things in procedural modeling, animation and simulation.
Of course, we like it when someone thinks that we are all such programmers, but in reality we are used to functionality and convenience (although many, working at Houdini for the first time, may find it more convenient to just sleep on nails). If some tool didn't make our life easier, we wouldn't use it. Therefore, you should not take the ability to program as something that prevents you from starting to learn Houdini. Vex is just another (albeit a very good) tool among many others.
Python, which is much better known in wide circles, needs no introduction and detailed description. We'll tell you why we need it. In the context of Houdini, Python is used to manage the program itself (creating nodes in a project, manipulating files, automating repetitive operations, reproducing complex combinations of actions, etc.). We also need Python programming to create beautiful interfaces in tools and write convenient commands that control assets when a button is pressed. If there was a “make beautiful” button in the Houdini asset, it would be written in Python. It is also sometimes used for geometry manipulation (like the Vex language), but it must be understood that Python is less intuitive to set up for such purposes and is often slower than Vex to do this job.
More about courses
The developer of Houdini, Side Effects Software, releases so many updates and provides so many features for users that the official documentation and official tutorials simply do not have time to update. Therefore, we collect bit by bit information from various sources (paid, free, official and not so) in order to fully master these flexible and powerful tools - the Vex and Python programming languages (and Houdini in general). Our choice fell on the courses from Mix Training, as they claimed a wide coverage of the material about Python and Vex in Houdini.
The course author has (a good resource for those wanting to get started with Houdini) featuring an informal, laid-back presentation and a wide range of topics ranging from motion design to game development. In addition to the channel, he also has his own garage death metal band. We decided that the author should be trusted, and purchased и , 8 hours each course (can be viewed at 1,5 speed).
pros
- Useful for specialists of different levels. These courses can be compared to a library that contains all the most important aspects of Vex and Python in Houdini, from elementary things to advanced and complex setups. In Vex, from the definition of attributes and variables to the original implementation of the Space Colonization algorithm. In Python, from simple automatic creation of nodes in the scene and small improvements in the Houdini program itself, to an attribute manager written from scratch. There is all the necessary basic information on the syntax of these two languages and their interaction with Houdini.
There are a lot of things in the course for beginners, but this did not bother us at all. Watching video tutorials or rereading articles about basic things in Houdini, you find something new and understand what is already known in a new way. In addition, in Houdini, almost everything can be done in different ways, forming your own unique style over time, so watching the work of the master is always valuable and interesting. Even the way the nodes are organized in a project can say a lot about its creator.
- Relevance. Extensive and fundamental courses are rarely up-to-date. Many of them have not kept up with the development of the Houdini program, which has changed quite a lot over the past three years. The established approaches have been replaced by new, more optimized and convenient ones (the old ones have not gone away, but have ceased to be preferred). In particular, the share of the Vex language in work with Houdini has increased. When learning the basics of Houdini, it's important to know which methods are relevant so that when confronted with older (and often more complex) learning material, you'll understand how to effectively apply what you've learned in practice.
And cons...
- There are no ready-made solutions for real production in the courses. The author chooses the topics of the lessons and ways of solving problems rather to demonstrate what is possible than to obtain an optimized end result. These solutions are not always the most effective, and not all of them fit the definition of “best practices”. If you are looking for a step by step guide covering all stages of production from start to final render (like , for example), then these courses are not quite for you. The author prefers to leave the ending open, which can be a little discouraging for novice Houdini users.
- Side effects of informal presentation and improvisation. The author sometimes makes mistakes (which can be a plus) or spends the lesson trying to remember something or concentrate. Considering that the information in the courses is largely of an introductory nature due to the breadth of coverage of the material, there is no opportunity to dwell on some points in detail. Because of this, the author's hesitation and his spontaneous decisions can raise even more questions. Luckily he has about creating a project manager in Houdini using Python, and in some ways they are more practical and detailed than the information on the same topic in the courses.
In our opinion, the pros far outweigh the cons. If you have a desire to more or less systematically study the possibilities of programming in Houdini (and Houdini itself), then you can start with these video tutorials. They also make a good addition to other tutorials and resources, like an overview of the basics of using Vex and Python in Houdini, or a video tutorial to get you a quick peek.
Bonus: Some inspirational and educational links
- - GreyScaleGorilla in the Houdini world (Cinema4d users will understand us). Very wide coverage of topics and excellent presentation of the material. By the way, they recently started a new season.
- - a legend in the houdini community. It is more about inspiration than about specific practical techniques. Remember it if you need to see and feel what you can do in Houdini.
- is an excellent designer and teacher.
- — the author of one of the most significant and popular resources for learning Houdini — . A resource that is updated regularly is simply bursting with the amount of useful information and ready-made solutions. We definitely recommend.
- - our compatriot, the author of the excellent Houdini course familiar to many . It is unlikely that you will be able to master it completely from the first and even from the second time, but you definitely should not give up: it is difficult to find so much information about advanced practices of using Vex and procedural modeling. For inspiration, we recommend that you read the presentation of the author .
- - a channel with very high-quality lessons on Houdini in Russian. So high quality that some English-speaking users would even like to learn Russian in order to be able to watch these lessons. Study materials are divided by depending on the level of difficulty.
Source: habr.com