Closed-source software seems to get... stuck. In the best case. Often, they regress: becoming buggier from version to version with less features. I think of Windows and the entire Microsoft suite of applications.
I think one exception is Gnome. Gnome loves removing features more than they love not implementing popular Wayland protocols.
i.e. of the $3k of community Blender plugins/add-ons we evaluated last year, only around 60% are still functional in stable blender releases. Additionally, many built-in core features like Fracture became broken in 4.x due to API permutations, and getting split into its own module.
In a production environment one must version lock Blender for the project. =3
I usually recommend these courses to users when the under $20 sale is active.
They cover a lot of Blenders non-intuitive workflows :3
"Complete Blender Creator: Learn 3D Modelling for Beginners"
https://www.udemy.com/course/blendertutorial/
* Basics of low-poly design in blender
"Blender Animation & Rigging: Bring Your Creations To Life"
https://www.udemy.com/course/blender-animation-rigging/
* Some more practice rigging
"The Ultimate Blender 3D Sculpting Course"
https://www.udemy.com/course/blender-3d-sculpting-course/
* Sculpting, Retopology, and VDM brushes
* basic anatomy
"The Ultimate Blender 3D Simulations, Physics & Particles"
https://www.udemy.com/course/blender-simulations-physics-par...
* Shader/Texture basics
* Geometry node basics
* Boid sprites
* Hair and physics simulation
* Camera FX, and post-render filters
* Instructions on how to export your assets to Unity 3D and Unreal game engines
At the end of the day, an HDA is just a 'function' you define like what you do in a programming language. A function can call other functions etc. It might sound nothing special if you're a programmer, but Houdini is the only generic DCC that is built around this idea, making it more like a framework than an app.
At one time there was a Houdini-Engine Open Mesh Effect plugin, but no idea if that project survived.
Cheers =3
