Well guys, you will have to admit that after the ceath of Softimage, HOUDINI should be its legitimate heir. Arnold is developped for Houd right, now. HtoA is top but still, there are a lot of space for new engine in Houdini. Mantra is an awesome renderer BUT way to tecky for the average user and it is a pain in the ass to find good lighter... because of the lack of shader and the nerdy oriented Mantra engine. Even if I an a fond of it, I am looking forward for another professional grade render engine for HOUDINI. I am not spitting on ArchViz, but a real engine should open its door to other part of the world. HOUDINI is part of it and with all the guys being put out of work literally by AD, most of them will migrate to HOUDINI just because of the mindset they developed along Softimage.
So once AGAIN, think of HOUDINI !
And on top of that it is an awesome community with talented people as well. SideFX are I am sure, thrilling to engage a decent battle to win over AD.
Tang