Why is it nobody ever recommends Houdini?
Offcourse they are super duper expensive like $200 a year. Maybe its because of the price?
Some people claim it costs $200 for Indie but I cannot find this information anywhere it seems to be $200 per year.
People recommend Houdini all the time, it’s just not really a game art tool, it’s better for procedural processes and dynamics rendering. It’s just not a good option for standard polygon modeling which is what these forums usually focus on, but if you want to bake out a fire simulation to a texture or something then it’s great for that.
Understood, seems like this is why MODO Indie is so popular for game design.
Modo is popular because it’s a great modeling tool and cheaper than what most professional studios use, Maya, less than half the price in fact. It’s usually more of a budgeting choice. Maya tends to be better when it comes to the animation tools, and the dynamics in it aren’t that terrible but they do require a bit more effort than other software.
Often though, you’ll see 3d modelers, riggers, and animators using Maya, texture artists using substance designer or Mari, and dynamics artists using Houdini.
Win a gamejam, get some free Houdini time, test it around 
For game development is there a difference between MAYA LT and regular MAYA? Is there a difference that people care about?
Maya LT is made for mobile game development primarily, it has pretty severe limitations on polycount in the scene that limit what you can do with a highpoly bake for targeting PC or console spec. As far as I’m aware, it also has some limitations on what formats you can export as for working in other programs, and also doesn’t have support for third party plugins like the Nvidia PhysX plugin you need to make any cloth/physx effects in Unreal. It also doesn’t include any of their dynamics functions, so you won’t be able to make your own particles or export the vector fields for gpu particles.
Maya LT is by design, very limited. You get their modeling toolset, the basics of their rigging tools, and their animation tools, and that’s it, nothing else.
^ Thanks for the explanation Daniel I was curious
The information on all of their different products is available here:
http://www.sidefx.com/filmtv/compare/
It is actually cheap - it is based on their full Houdini FX version, so we should be glad that we can get it at that price point. Note that it is a limited commercial license, similar to the personal edition of Unity - but unlike Maya lt, it is basically the full Houdini FX version, with some restrictions/limitations. If it is too expensive, give Modo indie a go.
MayaLT is a perfect tool for indie gamedev, there’s not noticeable difference between MayaLT and Maya if your goal is modeling, rigging and animation. MayaLT has complete modeling part and there are minor limitations in rigging / animation parts, but you can live with that without any problems. As far as i know there’s not polycount restriction (especially if UE4 is installed on your machine) and you can communicate with other apps through FBX. MayaLT doesnt support plugins in general, but MayaLT 2016 Extension 2 supports Nvidia PhysX plugin (i.e. cloth for UE4). Do you need dynamics and particles?! Welcome to Houdini 
Actually I contacted sidefx and they are willing to work out something for me on Houdini to get my project off the ground to sell even with a very limited budget. Its like a one in a lifetime deal because of the country I come from they understand my position.
So I guess Houdini is now perfect for me where price is except for one fact that nobody recommends it for modeling apparently its a terrible tool for modeling and game development.
Houdini is a fantastic tool! I recommend it for all procedural stuff and cant wait for Alembic support in UE4 for dynamics stuff.
That’s awesome, really cool to hear. SideFX does maintain a really human presence, they’re a good group.
I wouldn’t say it’s a terrible tool to model in, its modelling capability has come a long way, especially with the version 15 (and now 15.5) release. Modelling procedurally is just different.
Ooh I see, yeah I never expected SideFX to go the extreme distance they have gone to assist me a total stranger without money to speak off, in getting me equipped with their own software in order to have my game succeed. I never knew people like that existed in the business world which is why I was considering using Houdini.
I will download it and have a go at it, see if I might like it. As you said the modelling capability has come a long way, the posts on the internet bashing it are a posts a few years old.
What is this procedural stuff that Houdini does differently? how does procedural modeling differ from regular modeling in Maya etc?
Houdini Engine for Unity and Unreal Engine (also in Houdini you can export your procedural assets as regular FBX and import them in any 3D app)
Houdini FX for games
Houdini Fracturing to Unreal Engine 4
That’s great, congrats - told you, the people over at sidefx are great.
, once you lay your hands on Houdini, you may check some of my tools to speed up your game workflow:
EDIT: WTF it says I need plugin to display Vimeo video? Is this site using Flash?
This video from Rohan Dalvi is an intro to procedural modeling in Houdini. He’s notable in the Houdini community for his training materials.
^ looks interesting. I have never seen anything like that in my life.