Houdini

This five part Houdini 9 video series covers an entire rigging workflow using the H9 Quadruped Auto Rig shelf tool. Take an in-depth look at setting up joint controls, creating proxy geometry, generating animation and deformation rigs, and painting weights. The concepts presen ...more

This Houdini 9 particle effects tutorial establishs a means to attract particles to follow a curve faithfully. POPS is one of the most powerful effects generating parts of Houdini and getting particles to follow or be attracted to a curve will be extremely useful to any Houdin ...more

Want to know how to use the Pyro FX tools in Houdini 10? This masterclass will tell you everything you need to know about using Pyro FX fire and smoke tools in Houdini 10. The discussion covers the addition of exciting new fire and smoke tools. Topics covered include a powerfu ...more

Check out this crazy kid from the Netherlands as he tries to teach you a bit of magic... called Dutch Magic! Watch the video tutorial to learn how to do the Houdini ball rope escape magic trick. This is a great little prop illusion for anyone to check out.

This four-part series presents an introduction to some of the techniques for uv mapping in Houdini. This first part introduces the concept of UVs, and looks at UVProject as a way of adding UVs, and UVQuickShade as a way of visualising them. Whether you're new to Side Effects S ...more

This two-part tutorial looks at the basic techniques for emitting smoke from particles. The first part examines the most simple way to bring a particle simulation in, and the way particle scale effects emission, and how to transfer velocity to emitted smoke. It then looks at t ...more

This series of videos focuses on a typical UV workflow in Houdini 9. Learn how to create projections, edit UVs with a variety of tools, save out UV maps, and apply textures. Please download the project files below to follow along with these Houdini 9 texturing lessons. 1. Simp ...more

When building models in Houdini, you usually build things in parts, and have to merge them together - this tutorial will show you how.

The new Pyro FX in Houdini 10 are very impressive with improved workflow. The Pyro FX are great for creating 3D fire and smoke effects. And in this video tutorial series, you will learn the Pyro FX workflow in-depth and the parameters used to create fire and smoke effects. You ...more

This Houdini 9 tutorial teaches how to sweep an object along a curve while orienting the object to the curve's direction. Learn how to apply a sweep sop to orient objects on curves in Houdini.

See how to build a simple coil spring using the curve, sweep, and skin nodes in Houdini. Whether you're new to Side Effects Software's popular 3D production program or a seasoned graphic artist just interested in better acquainting yourself with the application, you're sure to ...more

This tutorial shows you how to change the user interface colors in Houdini.

This 2 part Houdini 9 tutorial focuses on creating wind spray generated on the crest of a wave. Water is one of the most basic effects 3D softwares are used for, especially oceans and waves. So watch and learn how to add particle spray to the crests of waves and make your 3D w ...more

In this video tutorial you will learn about a very powerful feature in Houdini called Copy Stamping. This is a very simple introduction to how a stamp function is defined in a copy sop. We then generate a series of stamp functions applied to a box, copied to a stationary grid ...more

Created by Houdini Product Specialist Stephen Tucker, this crash course series focuses on the concept of fluid dynamics and how they work within Houdini. These videos on Voxel Fluids should help any artist get up in running with the foundation tools available for creating flui ...more

This Houdini 9 software video series focuses on examples of when and how to use Attribute Transfer. Part 1 covers Attribute Transfer One Point: A very basic example of how to use the attribute transfer sop, by using a single point to transfer a colour attribute to a grid. Par ...more

In the following lessons you will learn some essential tools and techniques for working with muscles in Houdini. In the first lesson, you will learn how to rig up a simple muscle arm using Houdini's Muscle tool. The Muscle tool uses meta-balls to capture your character's skin ...more

This two-part tutorial looks at the techniques for rendering millions of particles in Houdini 10. The first part looks at using the popsolver to manipulate particles using both the standard pop nodes and dynamics forces. We use the interact pop, and random grouping of particle ...more

In the following series of videos we will establish a particle stream that is then used to create a surface that evolves over time in Houdini 9 software. Part 1 covers Surface From Particle Stream: This is a very simple introduction to how a stamp function is defined in a copy ...more

This tutorial aimed at users of the Houdini software demonstrates several techniques - it shows the user how to use ramp parameters, how to work with profile curves and the proper way to apply texture coordinates to a polygon or nurbs curve. How to use ramp parameters and prof ...more

This tutorial covers parenting objects and creating hierarchy relationships in Houdini.

The 3D animation program Houdini is automatically bundled with Mantra, Houdini's production-class renderer. In this masterclass, developer Mark Elendt shows you some of the latest features of Mantra including PBR (Physically Based Rendering) and the new volume rendering archit ...more

This tutorial for the Houdini user shows you the correct method for creating a zdepth pass in your project, as well as a few techniques you can use to create a fake depth of field effect and use the compositor to add fog. Work with zdepth, create a depth of field and add a fog ...more

When working in a network, you can't always see the connection lines if you are too zoomed out. This tutorial shows you how you can quickly connect nodes in Houdini.

This 7 part Houdini 9 tutorial series is about how to transfer color using dynamics is a great place to start to understand Houdini's dynamics in a significant way. Part one covers painting setup, two establishing a paint source, three creating paint, four defining paint color ...more

This tutorial offers a look at using point clouds in shading, and the pcopen, pciterate, and pcimport nodes in VOPs. It also gives a further example of a POP network. Whether you're new to Side Effects Software's popular 3D production program or a seasoned graphic artist just ...more

This clip offers an introduction to using attributes and local variables in Houdini. It covers vertices (vertexes), points, primitives and details. Whether you're new to Side Effects Software's popular 3D production program or a seasoned graphic artist just interested in bette ...more

In this Houdini 9 software tutorial you will learn how to use the creep sop. The creep sop is a surface operator used for creating surfaces and modeling as well as animating. As the name suggests, you learn to use the creep sop to creep objects or surfaces along another object ...more

In this Houdini 9 video series, you will take a look at the new dynamics shelf tools in Houdini 9 and see how easy it is to create fairly complex simulations very quickly. Get a review of the previous lesson plus learn how to use an attribute transfer to color particle impacts ...more

This clip uses a smoke example to examine source variations and upres (techniques which are useful preparation for the pyrofx tools). Whether you're new to Side Effects Software's popular 3D production program or a seasoned graphic artist just interested in better acquainting ...more

Interested in recreating the famous ripple effect from The Matrix? This clip will show you how it's done. Whether you're new to Side Effects Software's popular 3D production program or a seasoned graphic artist just interested in better acquainting yourself with the applicatio ...more

Perfect your mantra with this tutorial. Going over one of the functions available with the Houdini software program, this delves into the intricacies of using the Mantra micropolygon renderer. There are various controls you can use when working with Mantra, and this tutorial a ...more

Working with the Python programming language is hard if you're not familiar with it, and working with it in Houdini is even harder if you don't know what you're doing. So familiarize yourself with some Python and follow this masterclass for Houdini 9.5 on programming with Pyth ...more

This Houdini 9 tutorial takes a quick look at one method that can be used to create a wireframe render of any type of surface which may then be composited over the lighting passes. Learn how to render and composite a lighting and wire pass in Houdini 9.

This two-part tutorial series offers a look at the basics of smoke simulations. This first part looks at setting up a simulation, the fields involved, how to visualise them. It also looks at temperature and bouyancy as well as vortex confinement. Whether you're new to Side Eff ...more

Learn how to create a glowing neon sign using Houdini's renderer and compositor with this clip. Whether you're new to Side Effects Software's popular 3D production program or a seasoned graphic artist just interested in better acquainting yourself with the application, you're ...more

In this video series, learn how to create a simple dynamic simulation by creating a procedural pre-vis avalanche in Houdini 9. Rigid body dynamics (RBD's) are a powerful and important part of creating visual effects in 3D. This tutorial shows you how to use them in Houdini 9 t ...more

Created by Houdini Product Specialist Stephen Tucker, this crash course series focuses on the concept of Smooth Particle Hydronamics and how they work within Houdini. The following videos on Particle Fluids continue working with fluid dynamics in Houdini 9.5 and assume that th ...more

Check out Houdini's new pyro effects! Watch this video tutorial to learn how to use Pyro FX n Houdini 10. It's time to start looking at one of the most exciting new features of Houdini 10! Take a look at the Pyro FX workflow used to create high-quality Fire and Smoke. The Pyr ...more

Learn the basics of crumpling and tearing in Houdini 10. This cool crumple and tear effects can make destruction look more realistic in any 3D scene. Presented by Martin Sawtell, this Masterclass covers the new crumpling and tearing features that are available in Houdini 10's ...more

It can be difficult to get smoke and liquid just right when working with 3-D imaging software. This tutorial shows you the various ways you can use Houdini to make smoke come from a moving object, and work with the various permutations of fluids in your project. Work with smok ...more

You can do just about anything in Houdini's 3D animation program. In this video series masterclass, Houdini artist Georges NAKHLE shows how to dissolve an image using Houdini particles. See how to blow an image away using particles! Videos in this Houdini 9.5 series: 1. Tran ...more

This three-part series presents a look at the various forces in DOPs and how they work. This tutorial covers all the major forces except for the vortex, bouyancy and fluid forces. It covers both basic aspects and some more advanced techniques (animated masks, using RBD object ...more

This three-part tutorial offers an overview of the the basics of Houdini CHOPS, providing two examples of music driven animation. The first part looks at how to bring data into a CHOPS network, and export it using lag as an example. Create music-driven animations via CHOPS in ...more

A tutorial covering a classic rigid body simulation of ball crashing through a wall of bricks. The first two parts cover building a (procedural) brick wall, and the final two parts cover converting it into a RBD simulation. Whether you're new to Side Effects Software's popular ...more

This Houdini 9 CHOPS lesson shows one aspect of the usefulness of the Channel Operator editor. In this case we extract a curve from a geometry surface and use that curve to animate a ball moving across the surface. To learn more about animating with chops in Houdini 9, check o ...more

This quick three-part series presents an introduction to ForEach SOPs in Houdini 10. This first part looks at using the ForEach SOP to iterate over groups of primitives, using the example of creating balconies on a set of primitives. Whether you're new to Side Effects Software ...more

Created by Andrew Lowell this tutorial video focuses on the basics of CHOPs and an introduction to the Motion View in Houdini 9. Through the creation of a simple animation learn just how useful CHOPs can be when working in Houdini 9.

This clip presents a quick tutorial on using global illumination in Houdini's Mantra renderer. It covers ambient occlusion, full irradiance, path tracing and photon mapping. Whether you're new to Side Effects Software's popular 3D production program or a seasoned graphic artis ...more

Find out how to use the creep swab in Houdini 9. It's a three-part video tutorial that shows the strength and diversity of the Creep Tool in Houdini. In this specific case, see the creep tool with line rotation and improve your animation skills. Videos in this series: 1. Cre ...more

Get a crash course on HScript Expressions, Variables, and Attributes in Houdini 10. If you don't even know what this means, then you probably need to check this video tutorial series out. Understanding how to massage data in Houdini is key to giving yourself the creative edge ...more

This clip demonstrates how to create a caustic lighting effect using Houdini's Mantra PBR rendering engine. The first part starts with a refresher on refraction. More generally, guide looks at setting up normals correctly, then at the glass shader in Houdini, faux caustics and ...more

This Houdini n9 software tutorial covers a very simple lighting and rendering scene to show the basic workflow for generating a PBR render. We use a digital asset to quickly establish a group of geometry to light. In the lesson we also add an area map so that we can extract th ...more

This clip presents a walkthrough of how to go about creating a particle based explosion in Houdini 10. Whether you're new to Side Effects Software's popular 3D production program or a seasoned graphic artist just interested in better acquainting yourself with the application, ...more

Learn how to use the Houdini SOP solver to create a realistic burning match effect within Houdini 10. Whether you're new to Side Effects Software's popular 3D production program or a seasoned graphic artist just interested in better acquainting yourself with the application, y ...more

This 5 part series covers how to create a simple gas solver in dynamics from scratch in Houdini 9. You will start by creating a visualization tool to understand how volumetric gas and smoke works, then each lesson will build on that until you are creating gas solvers (a type o ...more

This quick tutorial demonstrates how to create object trails in Houdini, and then add a turbulence effect to them. Whether you're new to Side Effects Software's popular 3D production program or a seasoned graphic artist just interested in better acquainting yourself with the a ...more

This four-part guide presents an introduction to physically-based rendering in Houdini 10, covering what PBR will and won't do for you, sampling settings, environment lighting, objects as lights, shaders, issues with specular highlights. Whether you're new to Side Effects Soft ...more

These Houdini 9 software lessons illustrate a means of animating a surface without keyframes and/or character tools. Learn how to animate using the Spring SOP in Houdini 9. Part 1 of 2 - How to Animate with the Spring SOP in Houdini 9. Part 2 of 2 - How to Animate with the Sp ...more

Interested in making a chair within Houdini? Pull one up and see how it's done. Whether you're new to Side Effects Software's popular 3D production program or a seasoned graphic artist just interested in better acquainting yourself with the application, you're sure to be well ...more