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Hello; an issue with the Split command was a topic on a German forum today, and since my Python course is currently (incidentally) at a fitting place, I decided to offer an alternative. The problem: When a polygon object is part of a hierarchy, rotated or translated (or probably scaled but I didn't test that), then the split-off object is positioned wrongly. (The parent matrix is multiplied erroneously.) The split-off polys do not end up in the same place as before, but... somewhere else. Is that an error in R23? Yes, confirmed. Should be corrected with the next service pack. Can we have an interim solution? Sure, I did a little script that takes over the functionality of the Split command. It's public so you can download it for free: https://www.patreon.com/posts/43601277 Report any errors... I didn't test it much due to time constraints. And as always, new Python enthusiasts and future Patrons are welcome.

Hmmm. The trouble is that sort of thing is by far best done in post as a 2D FX process, which is what it looks like they did in your reference... We can take a look at your setup and see what can be done to improve it. Pls upload it if you'd like us to do that. Back in R16 (surely a student license from then has expired by now, so pls update your profile) Metaball is the only option you have to get this affect. CBR

my feeling is, that R21 is unfortunately also less stable then R19 for example. It tends to freezes when the picture manager opens. That could be just a local problem here of corse, but R19 is more stable for me here. S22 ( that I was working with at a customer) as you said even felt less stable then that. unfortunately 😞

It started recently with R23 that the split tool and inconsistently the copy paste command for meshes brings the new mesh to a seemingly random coordinate. (Split tool instantly placing the split mesh to a random position) Edit: after further observing and getting very confused, it seems like the copy paste behavior is working as expected when having a different mesh selected, but when none is selected, it does paste it to the new hierarchy pivot with the original pivot kept, for this I would expect to keep the world space location intact. This is also the same in S22. It seems like this is not technically wrong but feels like a bug. The split tool however places it really at a totally random position with no relation to any pivot or hierarchy and is 100% a S23 bug, I never had this before and also not at S23 launch I think, it was probably introduced in a recent patch. (Copy Paste onto non mesh centering to new hierarchy instead of keeping the position)

I agree that abc export and Houdini Engine is not an option in Houdini Apprentice, but you won't miss much with those limitations. I had the same impression about the complexity of Houdini when I started and twice gave up on it. At this point, I actually find it much easier than dealing with the frustrations of the limitations of other programs. But if you want to solve your issue with moving something from Houdini to C4D, don't start with a vellum node. If you knew Blender and had never used C4D and tried to jump into a file that had a lot of Xpresso code and mograph, it would look a little intimidating. Instead, add a cube/box to Houdini, double click the node to get into geometry mode, (not scene mode) select a couple faces and add a polyextrude node and increase the "distance" setting from 0 to some small number. Then right click the polyextrude node and select "Save". Name it "test.obj" and make sure you select a directory you can find. Then see if you can import this into C4D. If you can, then try something a bit more complex, remembering that Houdini (and a few other programs like Modo) can render points or curves. These will not render in C4D, which needs some sort of polygon surface. FWIW, right clicking the first node (box) and selecting "save" will export a cube object. Right clicking the second node (the polyextrude) and selecting "save" will allow you to export an extruded cube object. You can also click the right edge of each node icon to go through the steps of building the model. That is essential for learning Houdini. When I used C4D, I often kind of - sort of understood 3D modeling. Houdini is not kind, when that is the case. For example, you can add a sphere in C4D and then click render, and it will render a sphere. Currently, Houdini is pretty good at filling in the steps you didn't do in recent versions, but in previous versions, unless you also added a material and UV maps and a light and a camera (to use for rendering) and a render node to specify settings - it would sometimes crash or give weird results. C4D generally gives you a UV map by default. Houdini generally doesn't. I think these are some of the reasons people find Houdini hard to learn. In the end, it may not be fun for you to work in Houdini, but adding Xpresso or Mel code or whatever to fix limitations or buying numerous plugins can be even more difficult. I found that in C4D and Modo that the Nurbs or procedural options only got me so far and most models required that I make these editable polygon meshes. At that point, one couldn't go back and tweak earlier steps. There is no such limitation in Houdini. Here is a quick video of how to move something simple from Houdini into C4D: StartHere.hiplc