I rarely see VFX made in lightwave that impressed me (vfx from walking dead are good and well integrated but it comes quite as an exception) nor that ... My noob question now is: why Houdini is not leader of the market yet and massively use in big studios (and freelance)? read more
Using Houdini makes you a good Houdini user, programming is NOT required, you can get amazing results using out of the box tools and been clever, programming in Houdini is an OPTION. read more
You have not read enough of Houdini's online user manual. First look at the 2.1 Installing Houdini page. Specifically, it says you'll get 30% faster performance with 64-bit over 32-bit. read more