Episode #540: Own the Software or Go Amish

March 30, 2026·57 min·4 clips

He thought about becoming a park ranger before giving Houdini one serious try.

1. Crazy Wisdom Podcast #540, "Own the Software or Go Amish," centers on Carol's 25-year path through 3D art and AI. 2. The host says he met Carol in Thailand years ago, and the conversation treats Carol as a working 3D artist with a long technical history. 3. The episode asks how 3D artists stay in control of their tools when AI and code are changing the workflow. 4. Carol says he began with Photoshop and 2D work before realizing he was limiting himself. 5. He moved into Cinema 4D around 2010 and later adopted Blender and ZBrush. 6. He describes ZBrush as digital sculpting, like grabbing clay and shaping it on a screen. 7. He says Houdini has been his main focus for four years and calls it the pinnacle of 3D. 8. His car and boat analogies explain that Houdini removes hidden caps and asks the user to build the system. 9. He contrasts that with Cinema 4D and Blender, which hide complexity to keep the software approachable. 10. Carol says Houdini makes 3D work technical first and visual second, because the artist has to create node networks and sometimes code. 11. He says that shift helped because his earlier workflow had become repetitive and left him burned out. 12. He says he thought about becoming a park ranger before deciding to give Houdini a real try. 13. The host compares that to his own move from words into visual thinking and says too much stimulus can erode imagination. 14. Carol says he has been reducing physical, digital, and mental clutter because distractions damaged his internal visual acuity. 15. He says Claude is useful for explaining Houdini code and getting past technical blocks. 16. He does not want AI to generate his images, because making the image is still his job. 17. The tone is conversational and technical, with long analogies about cars, boats, and software ceilings. 18. The format is a freewheeling interview that moves from 3D tools to AI philosophy and career history. 19. 3D artists, Houdini users, and AI-curious makers. 20. People wanting a tight, edited narrative.

As heard by us

Carol weighs AI's accelerating future through 3D art, uncertainty, and the temptation to step away from it all.

This episode sets AI's future against Carol's long arc as an artist, moving from 2D professional work into 3D art and the pressure of fast-changing tools.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You get a working artist's uneasy answer to making 3D art in the age of AI: not certainty, more surrender with a strange Unabomber-Amish shadow.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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