A lot of people misunderstand houdini, even many of my animator friends don't realize how powerful houdini is......
U guys can visit
www.chinavfx.com houdini forum to have better understanding about houdini. It maybe the most active houdini chinese forum on this planet.
Other good houdini places are
www.odforce.net, community forum and mail archieve in
www.sidefx.com, and the help document that comes with the software.