Houdini FX For Film + Games Program

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

Foundations

Learn the basics of Houdini. You will understand how to read files, navigate scenes, and will be introduced to concepts like creating nodes, network parameters, the attribute spread sheet, basic keyframing, procedural animation, VEX, Hscript, lighting, rendering and more. Build your confidence with the software in your first week of studies.

Intro to Non-Sim FX

You will learn how to use Houdini to create procedural effects through the use of SOP’s (Surface Operators). Learn the fundamentals of 3D noise and how to use it to simulate nature and use simple points and lines as the basis for effects such as vines and leaves, moss, scattered trees, branches, roots, rocks, snow and ice. You will also learn some more intermediate scripting, and an introduction to the SOP solver to make a growth algorithm.

Intro to FLIP

A FLIP solver is a hybrid between particle based and volume based fluid simulations. You will learn the comprehensive setups of “Flat Tank” and “Beach Tank” to demonstrate use of geometry and particles as a source for FLIP simulations. You will also explore fluid sources, which is used to create simulated bodies of water and more. Finally, you will use POP forces to manipulate simulations.

Particles

Building upon using basic geometry such as points to do non-sim FX, we will move on to using these same points inside of the DOP’s context to create particle simulations. You will be shown basic nodes needed for a particle simulation and explore the fireworks effect and rebuild it. Dive into ‘packed geometry’ and further your knowledge of creating debris, more specifically from leaves and branches.

Pyro and Fluids

After learning how to wreak havoc on a simulation, you will want to add dust, explosions, fire and such to add depth and realism to your destruction scenes. You will use voxels to create pyro simulations and see how particles can be used to create dust, smoke and other destructive elements.

Advertising and Marketing

Advertising and marketing strategies are only as effective as the final design. Whether you create ads for billboards, newspapers, posters, or online platforms, your job as the graphic designer is to make a product or service desirable to the general public. With the help of language and design principles, this course teaches the full process of creating an enticing marketing campaign and strategically targeting a defined audience.

Passes and Deep Compositing

Compositing is the art of creating a scene or image from various, separate elements (known in the industry as “passes”). For example, rather than have lighting, shading, matte all done inside the same file of an image, passes are done separately and brought together into the final product. You are introduced to compositing and “deep compositing”, a new technique used to recreate 3D elements into passes that can be modified in industry-standard software like Nuke.

Lighting, Shading, and Rendering

At this point, the basics of your projects should be complete. You will add elements like shading, lighting, illumination, and more to give your image a dynamic look. If you think of your original project as a drawing, this course will teach you how to add “colour” that will give your image life. Topics covered include advanced lighting techniques, caustics, geometry, phantom objects, holdouts, and optimizing scenes and render settings.

Advanced FLIP

Water and fluids can be extremely challenging simulations to create in a way that is both believable from a physics standpoint, and is also photo-realistic. This course will teach advanced techniques to add detail and control into your fluid simulations. Use lighting, rendering and Houdini’s immersive Whitewater tool to create large-scale and realistic simulated oceans and bodies of water.

Vellum

In this course you will be introduced to the new Vellum Solver in Houdini. Vellum is used for intricate elements like grass, hair, fur, wires, cloth, soft bodies and grains. You will explore its tools and create your own custom Vellum simulations and add Vellum elements to a previously made project. Examples include softbody destruction or gore effect; Flags, or curtains in an arch viz scene; Adding cloth, telephone pole wires, electrical wires to the destruction; Adding sails to a boat in their fluid or ocean simulation.

Career Development

Any digital artist should be able to complete the tasks they’re assigned, but that’s only half the battle. You must present yourself as a capable and professional individual, understanding how to establish relationships in the workplace and be an asset to your team. You will not only learn how to convey industry-professionalism from a social standpoint; working with teams, finding comfort at networking events, and thriving at job interviews, but you will also develop your online image with a professional website that will get you job opportunities.

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