In Part 2 (no really this time) of the 'Houdini: You're Learning It Wrong' series, Matt covers the technical pitfalls, workflow and incorrect assumptions people make when jumping from another package (eg Maya) to Houdini.

1) Houdini Spreadsheet vs Maya Outliner

2) Points vs verticies

3) Understanding contexts: don't get confused by the diving up and down

4) Template vs display vs output nodes vs null vs capital letter nodes

5) Attributes at different levels, points vs verts vs prims

6) Tab menu, first letter of nodes trick

7) Tab in viewport vs tab in network editor

8) Shift enter to auto connect new nodes

9) All in one vs lots of obj nodes: pros and cons

10) Network boxes are evil - use colour and sticky notes instead

11) HDA's vs Maya references: how they're similar, how they can be used to construct scenes, impose order

12) Attributes vs baked maps

13) Manual layout vs clever (the @P.x += @ptnum*check('spread') example)

14) Not everything needs sim, do as little sim as you can

15) Time dependency:…