F1 Simulator Track Modelling – Barrier Generation
Q3D Studios is a small 3D visualisation studio in the UK that operates within the Motorsport and Automotive industries. For over 20 years, they have worked closely with a Formula One team in the development of Digital-Twins of real racetracks for their Racing Simulator. In this article George Pennyfather, Technical Artist at Q3D Studios, discusses one area of their procedural track pipeline
Mardini 2025
Check out the Daily Winners for the 2025 MARDINI Daily Art Challenge - It is not too late to join in - this is your chance to compete for cool prizes by creating images or animations! With a different challenge every day during the month of March, you'll have 31 chances to enter and win. This year, each week features a different Houdini focus area – with a daily prompt to inspire your artwork. As usual, the judges will be looking at the aesthetics of your artwork.
Muscles Masterclass | Advanced
These videos build on the concepts covered in the Essentials part of this Houdini 20.5 Muscle masterclass series. Although this section is described as “advanced” - it is still aimed to be accessible to users of all levels. What differentiates this from the Essentials section is that none of these approaches are critical for getting a muscle setup up and running. However, these videos cover topics that can help speed up your workflow or push your results to the next level. The example files will be available for download to follow along.
Community News Feed
F1 Simulator Track Modelling – Barrier Generation
Q3D Studios is a small 3D visualisation studio in the UK that operates within the Motorsport and Automotive industries. For over 20 years, they have worked closely with a Formula One team in the development of Digital-Twins of real racetracks for their Racing Simulator. In this article George Pennyfather, Technical Artist at Q3D Studios, discusses one area of their procedural track pipeline
Organic Living Systems
With a background in motion design and over a decade of experience with Cinema 4D, Yan Paul transitioned to Houdini during the pandemic, discovering its immense potential for crafting organic, living systems without using traditional keyframes. His work spans interactive exhibitions, advertising visuals, and even drone shows, using procedural techniques to bring his artistic vision to life.
Mardini 2025
Check out the Daily Winners for the 2025 MARDINI Daily Art Challenge - It is not too late to join in - this is your chance to compete for cool prizes by creating images or animations! With a different challenge every day during the month of March, you'll have 31 chances to enter and win. This year, each week features a different Houdini focus area – with a daily prompt to inspire your artwork. As usual, the judges will be looking at the aesthetics of your artwork.
Civil War | Framestore
Discover how Houdini powered the VFX of Civil War – from a fully CG Washington DC, to large-scale destruction. See how the team at Framestore created explosive battle sequences, dynamic set extensions, and procedural city-building — all with rapid iteration and realism.
Houdini Events 2025
SideFX participates in and hosts events around the world to connect with the Houdini community. Here's a 2025 overview to help you decide which events work best for you.
Introducing new Curriculum-in-a-Box for Schools
SideFX’s Education and Training Team is proud to announce the release of this multi-lesson teaching resource. The goal for Curriculum-in-a-Box is to allow secondary school or early-year university teachers to be able to more easily and effectively introduce students to Houdini.
Muscles Masterclass | Advanced
These videos build on the concepts covered in the Essentials part of this Houdini 20.5 Muscle masterclass series. Although this section is described as “advanced” - it is still aimed to be accessible to users of all levels. What differentiates this from the Essentials section is that none of these approaches are critical for getting a muscle setup up and running. However, these videos cover topics that can help speed up your workflow or push your results to the next level. The example files will be available for download to follow along.
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Go behind the scenes of Netflix's live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender with Framestore. Discover how beloved characters like Appa and Momo were brought to life - from crafting Appa's realistic fur and grounding his design in reality to designing Momo's whimsical mix of a flying lemur, bat, and monkey, the process balanced authenticity with the charm of the original series. Explore how Houdini powered storm sequences, water simulations, and digi-double animations to create the epic world of Avatar.
SIGGRAPH ASIA 2024
RECORDINGS NOW ONLINE. Hear from top artists from the Houdini community as we go behind-the-scenes of their recent projects. Learn how Houdini procedural techniques help artists create high quality work.
Muscles Masterclass | Essentials
This comprehensive Houdini 20.5 Muscle masterclass series is for both new and seasoned Houdini users. The masterclass covers geometry preparation for your muscles and bones, thorough walk-throughs of all the Houdini muscle nodes, and advanced specialty topics. Along the way, you will learn common pitfalls and problems to look out for and how to deal with them. Furthermore, you will learn tips to make your setup easier and less confusing. The example files will be available for download to follow along.
Made in Strathcona & 20 GOTO 10 | R James Healy
Meet R. James Healy, an accomplished artist whose talents span VFX and visual art. Go behind the scenes of two captivating projects: Made in Strathcona, a zoetrope inspired by his life in Vancouver that brings memories to life through motion, and 20 GOTO 10, a sculptural exploration of time’s cyclical nature. Discover how James bridges digital and physical art to create pieces that challenge our perceptions of memory and time.
Houdini Ignite Asia Workshops
Join VFX Mojo for 2 day hands-on workshops in Bangkok and Seoul where you will explore endless creative possibilities and expert workflows with Houdini.
Digitex | Brickland
Meet Brickland, a cutting-edge motion graphics studio based in Gothenburg, Sweden that specializes in automotive, consumer products, and tech industries. In their latest initiative, Digitex, they dive into digital fashion, combining storytelling with advanced 3D technology to replicate the physical properties of materials using Houdini.
Fall of the House of Usher | WeFX
Toronto-based WEFX is a high-profile visual effects studio that was founded in the summer of 2020 who specializes VFX for film and TV. In this Houdini Connect we take a look at how they generated photorealistic chimpanzees - from studying chimp anatomy and fur to perfecting animation and muscle simulation using Houdini.
Houdini HIVE Horizon
RECORDINGS NOW ONLINE | SideFX was pleased to host the Houdini community to Toronto on September 10-12 for Houdini HIVE Horizon. This three day event gave participants access to animation and lookdev workshops, HIVE presentations on a variety of topics and a chance to meet SideFX developers in the head office.
Unlocking the Magic Workshop | DoubleJump
This workshop is your ultimate beginners guide to Houdini. We'll start with the fundamentals, exploring terminology and UI to understand the software. Then, we'll dive into project-based explorations of procedural modeling, particle simulation, destruction, pyro and liquid simulations, vellum soft body, cloth and hair simulation, character rigging, animation, and crowd simulation.
Bacon X | Commercial Projects
Bacon X is a VFX studio based in Copenhagen that specializes in commercial work, but has also worked on HBO shows and Scandinavian films. They recently created a commercial for Etsy, using Houdini to simulate crowds, cloth, and smoke effects. They also crafted a Martian landscape and sandstorm for the client BKW. Despite challenges, they successfully utilized new tools, resulting in projects they're proud of and clients love.
Strange World
"Strange World," an animated feature by Walt Disney Animation Studios, follows the Clade family of explorers as they venture through an unknown and perilous land. Searcher Clade, his son Ethan, and Searcher's long-lost father, Jaeger, discover they are journeying inside the body of a giant cosmic turtle that supports their world, Avalonia. The Disney Animation Effects and Crowds teams utilized innovative techniques and Houdini’s procedural tools to create the film’s spectacular visuals. Key effects include the energy wave "Pando Pulse," defensive "Pando Zaps," the flamethrower-like "Pando Thrower," and the perilous "Acid Lake." The meticulous collaboration across departments ensured each effect seamlessly enhanced the story, immersing the audience in a visually stunning and emotionally resonant experience.
Houdini 20.5 Released
Houdini 20.5 includes hundreds of new workflows and improvements including the MPM solver for solid mechanics, Copernicus for image processing, Quick Surface Materials for access to Material X and new rigging and animation tools.
Commercial Projects | The Marmalade
Hamburg-based 'The Marmalade' is a visual advertising studio specializes in product-related work like chocolate, beverages, and cosmetics. In this feature you will learn about how they leverage Houdini to combine CG and real-world footage to achieve the perfect 'Marmalade' look in projects like for Toblerone, Nutella, and Coffee Mate.
League of Legends
In this Houdini Connect we visit Sauvage.TV in Barcelona and highlight their collaboration with Riot Games on a new music video for the League of Legends franchise. Learn more about how they developed a groundbreaking tool in Houdini that allowed traditional artists to paint directly onto geometry, adding human imperfections to CGI renders. The process bridged the gap between traditional art and advanced digital techniques, resulting in a handcrafted feel.
SIGGRAPH 2024
Join us in Denver for SIGGRAPH 2024. Come and learn more about Houdini 20.5 and how it can help you in your work.
H20.5 Keynote | HIVE Presentations
HIVE PRESENTATIONS NOW ONLINE: Also the Houdini 20.5 Keynote and the Sneak peek.
Fur Look Development
Explore a shot that includes fur creation and Karma rendering using Houdini. Learn how to configure a melanin node for accurate fur shading and coloration. Set up Karma Fur shading properties for realistic fur rendering. Learn how to prepare the properties and camera settings for optimal results.
AXIS Studios | 15 Years
Over the past fifteen years, AXIS has leveraged Houdini for various tasks, from FX and lighting to CFX and grooming, becoming adept in its use. This feature delves into specific projects like "Scrooge: A Christmas Carol", "A Man Called Otto", and "Magic the Gathering: The Dawn of the Phyrexian Invasion" highlighting how Houdini's powerful tools and procedural workflows enable the studio to handle complex tasks efficiently. Discover how Houdini enhances AXIS's ability to deliver high-quality, varied projects across animation, film, and game cinematics.
Annecy 2024
June 13 | This year at ANNECY, SideFX is hosting a Houdini HIVE dedicated to KineFX Character Rigging and Animation
Blackhawk Destruction FX
This course guides you through creating a VFX shot from start to finish, including integrating CG elements into live-action footage. Picture yourself as an FX artist in a studio, and join us as we navigate every step – from interpreting the brief and strategizing your FX scene to crafting each element and seamlessly blending them into real footage.
OFFF Barcelona 2024
RECORDINGS ONLINE | This year's OFFF Barcelona included a Houdini HIVE where you can connect with a community of Offline/Online designers, Motion Designers, Thinkers, Sound Designers, Graphic Designers, Theorists, Developers, Professionals, and Students – in one of the world's most beautiful cities.
Mardini | Winners
Congratulations to the winners of the MARDINI 2024 Daily Art Challenge where Houdini artists competed for cool prizes by creating a new image or animation everyday during the month of March. Each week has a theme and each day has a Houdini node to help inspire the artwork.
H20 Tech Art Challenge Winners
Congratulations to the winners of the SIDEFX LABS Tech Art Challenge which gives tech artists the chance to compete with the rest of the Houdini Community for cool prizes by creating Houdini Digital Assets for use in game engines, or as utilities inside Houdini itself.
Avatar 2 | WETA FX
In this feature Nicholas Illingsworth, FX Supervisor at WETA FX chats with us about how they put Houdini to use in the production of Avatar 2, specifically around the creation of water and fire related VFX. Nicholas also discusses how Houdini was integrated into proprietary toolsets used at WETA FX as well as the benefits of a procedural workflow.
EPC 2024
APR 15-19 | Join us for three days of in-person, hands-on Houdini training and two day of conference talks in Breda, Netherlands. In collaboration with the Breda University of Applied Sciences, this paid conference will feature highly experienced procedural experts covering topics such as world building, game prototyping, pipeline optimization and more.
Darkslope Smart Stage
SideFX Software, makers of the popular Houdini VFX software today announces a strategic partnership agreement with Dark Slope, the Toronto-based virtual production and spatial gaming company. The partnership includes a material investment to be directed towards the launch of an advanced virtual production smart stage in Toronto, set to open in the Spring of this year.
Gamedev Workshop TAMU
SideFX and Texas A&M are teaming up on a full-day, hands-on workshop to help you learn how to leverage Houdini's procedural workflows in realtime projects. Chillennium 2024 Game Jam participants can level up their skills for the big day! Three educational tracks offer something for everyone – from brand new to experienced Houdini gamedev artists!
Project Pegasus HIVE
SCHEDULE NOW ONLINE: Join us for the Project Pegasus HIVE on Nov 28 and 12 PM EST. Project Pegasus is an in-house tech demo designed to use Houdini's procedural workflows to create an open world 3D environment that integrates with the latest technologies in Unreal Engine 5.
Houdini 20 Released
SideFX is pleased to announce the release of Houdini 20 which is available for download today. Houdini 20 includes hundreds of enhancements and new workflows including Karma XPU, Feathers, Clouds, Material Catalog, Render Stats, Quad Remesh, APEX Character Rigging & Animation tools and more.
Houdini 20 HIVE Online
RECORDINGS ONLINE: The following H20 HIVE presentations were recorded in London England on October 26th and are now available as individual presentations.
Greyscalegorilla Plus
Greyscalegorilla, makers of premium assets and tools for 3D artists, is pleased to announce the availability of their photoreal 3D asset library, Greyscalegorilla Plus, for all major 3D applications, including Houdini.
Houdini 20 Keynote
You’ve seen the Sneak Peek, now you can finally learn more about all of the latest features that are coming to Houdini 20 this November. The Keynote was recorded live on October 25th at the Curzon Cinema in London, England.
Coca-Cola Masterpiece | ETC
ETC London's Greg McKneally walks through the creation of "Coca-Cola Masterpiece," a collaborative effort involving various animation and visual effects techniques. The project involved building a set, incorporating classic artworks and merging the work of different artists. They used a mix of digital and traditional animation techniques, character animation, rigging, special effects, and cutting-edge machine learning to add style and movement to the painting. The project also resulted in the development of a tool called “Paintery" for 3D animation using paint strokes and creative trust among the artists to explore innovative solutions. The project was a collaborative and exciting endeavour, emphasizing trust between artists and clients.
NBA Finals | Panoply
Meet Simon Holmedal and Mark Lindner who will tell you more about their collaboration with ESPN to transform the visual experience of the 2023 NBA Finals. Their goal was to establish a flexible, procedurally-based foundation for the show's visual effects, allowing for adaptable design changes. This involved innovative techniques like manipulating texture coordinates and UV corners to achieve striking iridescence and seamless transitions from silver to gold. Panoply leveraged a PDG Network to efficiently manage information, respond to feedback, and maintain adaptability throughout the creative process, gaining the trust and confidence of ESPN.
Solaris Essentials
In this video series by Adam Swaab, you will learn how to bring in an animated scene from the OBJ/SOPs context, into LOPs and render it out with Karma and MaterialX. The point of this series is not to get into a technical breakdown of USD and USD concepts. Instead, it is a distilled set of videos that aim to simplify rendering in Houdini and demystify rendering for artists working solo or in a small pipeline.
Realtime Rendering Summit 2023
The University of Utah and SideFX is excited to bring together students and industry experts to explore how Realtime Rendering skills are being applied to create next generation experiences for gaming, AR and VR.
Black Mirror | Framestore
In this Houdini Connect feature we visited Framestore’s London facility to meet Gabriela Ruch Salmeron (Head of Groom/CFX) and Jay Khan (VFX Supervisor) to learn more about their ‘hair raising’ work creating a werewolf in Black Mirror’s 'Mazey Day' episode.
Theory Accelerated Studio
Urban Bradesko has released the Theory Accelerated Studio, a learning platform designed to teach feature film quality FX using the Axiom GPU-based solver. The site has been launched with four free workshops with more to come. SideFX is proud to be a sponsor of this site to help ensure access for the whole Houdini community.
SIGGRAPH 2023
RECORDINGS AVAILABLE! | Learn from the SIGGRAPH 2023 talks conducted by industry professionals and SideFX product specialists.
Annecy 2023
RECORDINGS AVAILABLE! | SideFX is happy to bring the Houdini HIVE to Annecy on June 13, 2023 with presentations focused on the art of animation! Learn from industry experts how Houdini can be used to bring your characters to life and Solaris can be used for layout, lookdev and lighting.
Building an Anime-Centric Pipeline | Polygon Pictures
Meet Pavel Kisaragi, Technical Director at Tokyo-based Polygon Pictures, who oversees their pipeline. Learn how this anime-centric animation studio utilizes Houdini in their studio today and how they will be using in future revisions to their pipeline - including Solaris and the extended usage of PDG (Procedural Dependency Graph).
Gran Turismo 7 | Polyphony Digital
Akira Saito – Chief Technical Artist of the Scenery Design Team at Polyphony Digital – walks through some of their Houdini workflows for the making of the Gran Turismo series of games – including scenery creation, car modeling, and procedural modeling.
Paris HIVE 2023
RECORDINGS AVAILABLE! | SideFX was proud to host the Houdini HIVE to Paris with presentations by both industry professionals and SideFX technical experts. Join us to discover how studios use Houdini's procedural software to create content for film, television, games, and more!
Solaris Workshop | London
JUNE 19-20 | Sign up for the Solaris Workshop which is being held in London, England. This workshop is designed to help artists transfer their skills to Houdini and take advantage of Solaris and its node-based workflow. Each workshop is 2 days in length and is designed for either artists new to Houdini or existing Houdini artists. Each workshop comes with breakfast and lunch on both days, a Houdini t-shirt and the Houdini Foundations book.
Ben Mears RIP
It is with deep sadness that I am sharing the news that our friend and colleague, Ben Mears, passed away over the weekend.
Mardini 2023 Winners
Check out the Winners of the 2023 MARDINI Daily Art Challenge - Congratulations to everyone who entered and especially to those who won an Iron Heart Prize.
Hydra Studios
Hydra was founded by three former colleagues who met whilst working for many years at Axis Studios in Glasgow. Sergio Caires is Hydra's CG Supervisor, Mikas Sadauskas is Head of Pipeline/ R&D and Debbie Ross is Hydra's Exec Producer.
OFFF 2023
RECORDINGS AVAILABLE | This year's OFFF Barcelona included a Houdini HIVE where we connected with a community of Offline/Online designers, Motion Designers, Thinkers, Sound Designers, Graphic Designers, Theorists, Developers, Professionals, and Students – in one of the world's most beautiful cities.
SEGA
In this feature, we visit SEGA's HQ in Tokyo, Japan and meet resident artists Masaharu Ijichi and Hiroyuki Yohda who take us through the history of Houdini at SEGA and highlight some of the key use cases over the years - from Sega Rally, House of the Dead, and of course the infamous Yakuza series.
ONI | Megalis
For Netflix's animated series 'ONI: Thunder God's Tale', the artists at Tokyo-based studio Megalis were tasked with bringing to life puppet-like characters with a stop-motion aesthetic.
Houdini for Apple Silicon now Gold
SideFX is excited to announce the gold release of the Houdini Apple Silicon build to coincide with the H19.5.534 production build. The Houdini Apple Silicon build is built natively for macOS arm64 so Mac users can take full advantage of the power of Apple silicon M1 and M2 chips.
Specimens
Specimens is a personal project that is the fulfillment of a long-standing dream to create animations of non-existent, yet believable underwater creatures. See how these imaginary creatures were created by Paweł Grzelak.
SideFX Labs Tech Art Challenge 2022 Winners
Congratulations to the winners of the SIDEFX LABS Tech Art Challenge 2022 which gives tech artists the chance to compete with the rest of the Houdini Community for cool prizes by creating Houdini Digital Assets for use in game engines, or as utilities inside Houdini itself.
Nature/Code/Drawing | Junichiro Horikawa
In this Houdini Connect feature, we follow up with Junichiro Horikawa, an Algorithmic Designer and Architectural Programmer based in Tokyo, Japan. In 2022, Junichiro teamed up with Graphic Designer named Hiromasa Fukaji and together they assembled an exhibition of drawings created using computational design methods using Houdini that were then output using a plotter.
Texas A&M | Digital Art Workshop
RECORDINGS AVAILABLE | SideFX hosted one day workshop at Texas A&M on Feb 3, 2023 dedicated to the digital arts. Whether you are studying visualization, gamedev, or music/dance/perfomance, these workshops will show you how computer graphics can enhance your career.
Foundations Book
The Houdini Foundation tutorials are now available in a print on demand book. Houdini Foundations is for artists who want to learn how to use Houdini and its node-based procedural workflow to create 3D computer graphics for film, TV projects or video games.
Canary
One of the first projects to be completed at Rodeo FX Animation — the new animation division of the award-winning visual effects company — is the short film Canary. Directed by Pierre-Hugues “PH” Dallaire and Benoit “Ben” Therriault, Canary tells a cautionary tale set in a coal mine in 1922, where a young boy called Sonny looks after the canary tasked with detecting lethal methane gas.
Education/Studio HIVE 2022
RECORDINGS AVAILABLE | Hear from leaders at the top schools, who are creating programs to foster high quality, hireable talent - and hear from the studios on what they're looking for when hiring. The Houdini Education Team at SideFX is thrilled to support these discussions and the strengthening of relationships between academia and industry.
Gamescom Asia 2022
RECORDINGS AVAILABLE | SideFX was pleased to participate at Gamescom Asia 2022 where our guests spoke about exciting ways that Houdini is being used to create video game experiences.
Encanto
The Disney animated feature Encanto introduces movie audiences to the Madrigals, a Colombian family whose many generations live together in a magical house. When the magic begins to fail it is up to Mirabel (Stephanie Beatriz) – the only member of the Madrigals who lacks a special gift – to uncover the hidden secrets that will allow her to reforge the bonds holding her family together.
VIEW Conference 2022
VIEW Conference is the premiere international event in Italy on Computer Graphics, Interactive Techniques, Digital Cinema, 2D/3D Animation, VR and AR, Gaming and VFX. VIEW 2021 will continue to focus on exploring the increasingly fluid boundary between real and digital worlds. SideFX is pleased to be a sponsor of the VIEW Conference and is participating in a Panel that you can watch online on Oct 20. The event runs from Oct 16-21, 2022.
Commercial Projects | Digital District
Meet Victor Simonnet (CTO) and Marc Thomas Cave (Head of 3D and VFX Supervisor) at Digital District's facility in Paris, France. Digital District is well know for their specialization in visual effects work at home and abroad, and in this feature we'll take an inside look at a few of their recent projects.
GameJam 2022 Winners
SideFX recently held its 3nd annual game jam where participants had one week to use Houdini to build games based on the theme “Against All Odds”. Participants game jammed from all over the world, either in teams or alone, to create a variety of fun and unique games.
SIGGRAPH 2022
RECORDINGS AVAILABLE | These presentations from SIGGRAPH 2022 include a variety of topics such as Houdini 19.5, Houdini in production and education and learning.
Riders Republic | Ubisoft
Riders Republic is an open world sports/adventure game created by Ubisoft. In this feature you will meet Yann Fieux, Olin Georgescu, and Fred Saclier from Ubisoft's facility in scenic Annecy, France who will take you behind the scenes and tell you more about the benefits of working within a non-destructive procedurally-based pipeline and highlight their 'Kicker Tool' used to generate ramps throughout the gorgeous open world that replicates many of the US National Parks.
Introducing My Learning
As learners go through all the lessons in the SideFX library, they can now organize their learning using the New My Learning Dashboard. They can build up a list of tutorials they are interested in, track their progress to completion then review their accomplishments.
Houdini 19.5 Released
SideFX is pleased to announce the release of Houdini 19.5 which is available for download today. Houdini 19.5 focuses on improving the quality of life for artists throughout the Houdini community. Whether you work on feature films, television, video games or motion graphics, Houdini 19.5 brings you new and enhanced tools to meet your most demanding production requirements.
Houdini 19.5 Sneak Peek
Here is a preview of some of the new tools and functionality coming in Houdini 19.5 - next week we will go into more detail to show you what changes and improvements will be in the next version of Houdini - see you then!
Houdini 19.5 Launch and Games Workshop
You are invited to the launch event for Houdini 19.5 on July 18 and the Games Workshop on July 19 in Montreal.
Living Worlds | California Academy of Sciences
Go behind the scenes of the recent planetarium feature 'Living Worlds: The Search Begins' - which focuses on the search for life beyond Earth, and that leads the audience to the icy moon of Enceladus, Saturn's largest moon. Jeroen Lapre and Erik Krumrey from the California Academy of Sciences describe the detailed work involved in the project.
Paul Esteves
Meet Paul Esteves! Based in Munich, Paul is a Freelance Motion Designer and CG Artist who has also been teaching the fundamentals of Houdini through his social media channels and through SideFX.com tutorials. In this feature, we 'connect' with Paul in-person and learn more about his path to Houdini and get his insights on how to get started. This is an ideal feature for those who want to get their feet wet with Houdini.
Touch of Colour
Abstract design can be often perceived as accidental or pure luck, rather than specific intent and design. We talk with Jakub Špaček, the artist behind "Touch of Colour" (the new animated sequence seen in Houdini CONNECT videos) about the design and thought process in the creation of this fluid dynamic effect. Jakub also provides the *.hip file used to create this animated sequence, free for download.
Annecy Festival 2022
SideFX is pleased to participate at the 2022 Annecy Animation Film Festival where our guests will speak about exciting ways that Houdini is being used to support the art of animation. The Annecy Festival has established itself as a global event dedicated to animation, bringing together the most esteemed professionals from the sector to celebrate animation’s creative and diverse styles and techniques.
Houdini Game Jam 2022
SideFX is proud to announce the 3rd annual Houdini Game Jam! Everyone is invited to participate and use Houdini to make games for a chance to win games and game dev prizes. Houdini Game Jam 2022 will take place over the course of one week from June 17th to 24th 2022.
FMX 2022
Recordings now Online of the THE HOUDINI HIVE SERIES at FMX 2022. These sessions brought together top artists from the Houdini community to take behind-the-scenes looks at recent projects. In each case, you will learn how procedural techniques in Houdini help artists consistently create high quality work.
Student Access to Houdini Education
SideFX is pleased to announce that students now have direct access to rent Houdini Education for home use. Previously, students could use the FREE Houdini Apprentice at home then use Houdini Education in a school lab. Now students can rent Houdini Education for $75 USD per year.
HEX Episode 10
Welcome to Episode 10 of HEX, an ongoing series of interviews with people from the Houdini community - studio artists, indie artists, developers, tech partners and event organizers.
Sniper Elite 5 Trailer | Rebellion
He Sun, Head of VFX at Rebellion Film Studios gives us the rundown on the Houdini VFX behind their recent cinematic trailer for Sniper Elite 5 - repurposing existing game assets for use in their USD workflow, including terrain, vegetation, lighting, and more.
Character Workflow | Rig, Animate, Secondary Motion
The following videos will cover character workflow using KineFX. We will be going over an elephant rig, keyframing a quadruped animation, running a ragdoll sim and applying secondary motion to give added detail to the elephant "for free". Download the free rig and elephant scene file to follow along!
Mardini 2022 Winners
SideFX is proud to announce the winners of the MARDINI 2022 Daily Art Challenge where Houdini artists competed for cool prizes by creating a new image or animation everyday during the month of March. Each week had a theme and each day had a Houdini node to help inspire the artwork.
Crafting Belief for Discovery of Witches
When Historian and alchemist enthusiast, Diana Bishop visits Oxford her research leads her to the “Book of Life” which sets her off on a hero’s journey; ”time-weaving” between modern day and 16th Century Elizabethan London; with scrying magic to fire drakes and some of the most breath-taking architectural FX. REALTIME provides “on-set support, previs and an array of VFX magic” created with Houdin.
Unreal Engine 5
The wait is over—Epic Games has announced that Unreal Engine 5 is now available to download! With this release, Epic Games aims to empower both large and small teams to really push the boundaries of what’s possible, visually and interactively. UE5 will enable you to realize next-generation real-time 3D content and experiences with greater freedom, fidelity, and flexibility than ever before.
Venom 2 | DNEG
Chris Sokalofsky, Lead Animator at DNEG Vancouver talks about the technology behind Carnages's tentacles in this film's big cathedral battle sequence and how they brought their Houdini and Maya toolsets together via Houdini Engine.
Houdini @ GDC 2022
Recordings of the three virtual presentations are now online. Learn about Project Titan, SideFX Labs and other production techniques that involve Houdini.
Raya and the Last Dragon
In Disney’s animated feature Raya and the Last Dragon, a young warrior princess called Raya (Kelly Marie Tran) goes in search of Sisu (Awkwafina), the fabled last dragon, to help her banish a terrifying enemy from her homeland of Kumandra. Throughout the film, effects animation serves not only to bring spectacle, but also advance the narrative and support character development.
Mardini Daily Art Challenge
Welcome to the MARDINI Daily Art Challenge 2022 - your chance to compete for cool prizes by creating images or animations! With a different challenge every day during the month of March, you'll have 31 chances to enter and win.
H19 Apple Silicon Tech Preview
SideFX is pleased to announce the Houdini 19 Apple Silicon build which is a technical preview providing early access for macOS users on Apple M1 hardware. The current version of Houdini 19 works on M1 via Apple’s Rosetta translator. The Silicon build will provide a more optimized native build.
Ukraine Crisis
At SideFX we are devastated by the crisis in Ukraine, and our thoughts are with all of those facing the unfathomable challenges today and ahead. We are donating to the Canadian Red Cross Ukraine Humanitarian Crisis Appeal in support of humanitarian relief efforts in Ukraine.
Tech Art Challenge HIVE
These talks bring together five of the tech artists who entered the SIDEFX LABS Tech Art Challenge. Learn how they approached the design of their tool and how each tool serves a special purpose within CG pipelines.
The Sands of Dune
Adapted from the classic science fiction novel by Frank Herbert and directed by Denis Villeneuve, Dune transports audiences to the planet Arrakis, where feuding factions compete for control of the desert world’s priceless resource: spice.
Space Sweepers | Bottleship
Bottleship's Hristo Velev takes us behind-the-scenes of their VFX work for Space Sweepers, a Netflix film. Learn more about how they built a massive space station that they collided into the Earth, as well as how they built cities that were later engulfed and destroyed by a shockwave of smoke and pyro.
Amazon Hyena | The Mill
In this Houdini Connect feature, The Mill's Tony Atherton (FX Supervisor) and Adam Droy (VFX Supervisor) talk about how they brought to life a photoreal hyena using Houdini to groom the character, create muscles and skin, simulate fur using vellum, shot assembly, and lighting tools.
SIDEFX SNACKS V2 | Mojito Magic
This is a full course from Tim Van Helsdingen, where you will be doing Vellum fluids, RBDs, texturing, lookdev and lighting in Solaris and rendering in Karma. Then you will composite all passes in Fusion, to make your very own fake drink ad. Full project file download is included!
Houdini Game Jam Winners
SideFX is happy to announce the winners of the 2nd annual Houdini Game Jam! All of the games can be downloaded, and played for free on the Houdini Game Jam submissions page on Itch, information about how Houdini was used to make each game is available as well.
Complete A-Z Terrain Handbook
This tutorial series covers everything that you will likely ever need, to understanding how to create terrains in Houdini. Starting from foundation layer of HF nodes and their functions, to using generated masks to create textures in COPs, to scattering geometry using said-masks, to applying and rendering them in a LOPnet with Karma.
SIGGRAPH Asia 2021
Join us at the Houdini HIVE: SIGGRAPH Asia 2021 for a full day of educational presentations by industry professionals. These will take place on December 14th at SIGGRAPH Asia in Tokyo where these pre-recorded presentations will be streamed online and broadcast to room G409 [4F Block]. On December 15th, the same presentations will be streamed using Youtube LIVE for people who are not able to make it to SIGGRAPH Asia.
Houdini HIVE Education/Studio
The Houdini HIVE: Education/Studio Edition brings together faculty and studio representatives from around the word to discuss how to produce quality, hireable talent. The Houdini Education Program is thrilled to support these discussions and the strengthening of relationships between academia and industry.
Houdini Game Jam 2021
SideFX is happy to announce the 2nd annual Houdini Game Jam! Everyone is invited to participate and use Houdini to make games for a chance to win game dev prizes.
HEX Episode 9
Welcome to Episode 9 of HEX, an ongoing series of interviews with people from the Houdini community - studio artists, indie artists, developers, tech partners and event organizers.
Tech Art Challenge 2021
Congratulations to the winners of the SIDEFX LABS Tech Art Challenge which gave tech artists the chance to compete with the rest of the Houdini Community for cool prizes by creating Houdini Digital Assets for use in game engines, or as utilities inside Houdini itself.
H19 Launch & HIVE
Join us on October 28 on Youtube LIVE for Houdini HIVE presentations by industry experts that cover a range of topics related to the new version of Houdini. On October 29, a Solaris workshop takes a look at the lookdev, layout and lighting tools in Houdini 19.
Houdini 19 Sneak Peek
SideFX is pleased to announce the Houdini 19 Sneak Peek with new features and improvements to KineFX, Muscles & Tissue, Crowds, Solaris, Karma, Modeling, Pyro FX, FLIP Fluids, Vellum, RBD Destruction, FEM, Grooming, PDG, and more.
HEX Episode 8
Welcome to Episode 8 of HEX, an ongoing series of interviews with people from the Houdini community - studio artists, indie artists, developers, tech partners and event organizers.
Houdini HIVE SIGGRAPH
Recordings for the Houdini HIVE SIGGRAPH are now available. The HIVE presentations cover a range of topics including creature FX, USD and fractals.
HEX Episode 7
Welcome to Episode 7 of HEX, an ongoing series of interviews with people from the Houdini community - studio artists, indie artists, developers, event organizers - you name it!
Houdini HIVE Gamedev
Recordings now Available! Thanks for joining us at the Houdini HIVE Gamedev for two days of educational presentations. On Day 1, learn from top industry professionals how they use Houdini in game development for both AAA and Indie games. Day 2 is an in-depth workshop where we take you from the basics of what a Houdini Digital Asset is, and how to use it (beginner level) - then show you how to create and optimize HDAs for Gamedev (intermediate level) - and finally, important workflow tips when developing a procedural pipeline (advanced level).
HEX Episode 6
Welcome to Episode 6 of HEX, an ongoing series of interviews with people from the Houdini community - studio artists, indie artists, developers, event organizers - you name it!
HEX Episode 5
Welcome to Episode 5 of HEX, an ongoing series of interviews with people from the Houdini community - studio artists, indie artists, developers, event organizers - you name it!
HEX Episode 4
Welcome to Episode 4 of HEX, an ongoing series of interviews with people from the Houdini community - studio artists, indie artists, developers, event organizers - you name it!
Houdini HIVE Europe
Watch the recordings of the Houdini HIVE Europe which brought us two days of educational presentations by industry professionals. In conjunction with OFFF Barcelona and FMX, this HIVE features sessions on motion graphics/advertising, VFX, character FX, Solaris lighting, lookdev & layout, rendering - and more!
Muscles and Character FX
Main Road Post VFX Supervisor Andrey Maximov talks about the evolution of their inhouse muscle tool, developed over the course of several films dating back to version 15 of Houdini. Using a mix of wire solver, FEM and more recently, Vellum - this muscle toolset was used to deliver character FX for both facial and body simulations (of tissue, muscle, fat and skin). Films like Attraction, Cosmoball and Sputnik, have shaped and refined the muscle toolset along the way. We get a glimpse of the innovation and artistry that goes on behind-the-scenes at MRP!
Populus Run
In this Houdini Connect, indie game developer Alexey Kalinin talks about using Houdini to build procedural assets for FIFTYTWO's newest game, Populus Run. Learn about the assets that were used to create a variety of characters, levels, and props which are then brought into the Unity game engine to build the final game.
Mardini HIVE
Recordings are now online for the Mardini HIVE which brought together a handful of daily challenge winners to share the techniques used to create their winning entries.
Mardini Winners
SideFX is proud to announce the winners of the MARDINI Daily Art Challenge where Houdini artists can compete for cool prizes by creating a new image or animation everyday during the month of March
HEX Episode 3
Join us April 9 at noon EDT for Episode 3 of HEX, an ongoing series of interviews with people from the Houdini community - studio artists, indie artists, developers, event organizers - you name it! In this episode...
The Seed of Juna | Mayhem Mirror
Álvaro García, a VFX Artist and Filmmaker, takes us through the wide gamut of VFX used to create the trailer for The Seed of Juna - a 3D animated science fiction film. Learn more about how they stress tested Houdini as they made their foray into working within a realtime pipeline.
HEX Episode 2
Welcome to Episode 2 of HEX, an ongoing series of interviews with people from the Houdini community - studio artists, indie artists, developers, event organizers - you name it! In this episode...
Mardini Daily Art Challenge
IT BEGINS! Join the MARDINI Daily Art Challenge which gives the community the chance to compete for cool prizes by creating a new image or animation every day during the month of March 2021.
Houdini Engine for Unreal and Unity now Free
SideFX is pleased to announce that Houdini Engine for UE4 and Houdini Engine for Unity are now available for commercial customers for free. Previously free for artists using Houdini Indie, this now gives commercial artists and studios the ability to widely deploy procedural assets created in Houdini to the UE4 and Unity real-time 3D platforms for use in game and XR development, virtual production and design visualizations.
HEX Episode 1
Welcome to Episode 1 of HEX, an ongoing series of interviews with people from the Houdini community - studio artists, indie artists, developers, event organizers - you name it!
Absolute Post
Meet James Coore (Head of CG) and Ameen Abbas (FX TD) from the New York/ London-based studio Absolute Post. In this feature they chat with us about their recent work creating electricity effects for a Maserati ad, generating greeble-like transition effects in an Adidas ad that depict a real world enviornment changing to a virtual enviornment, and lastly how they created turbulent river rapids for an episode of the Outlander television series.
Totally Unexpected Safety Drill | Houdini Game Jam 2020
The game "Totally Unexpected Safety Drill" won 1st place in the Houdini Game Jam 2020. Learn how the team utilized Houdini Digital Assets (HDAs) and SideFX Labs tools to develop the game using Houdini, Houdini Engine, and Unity.
Siren | Folks VFX
Learn from Folks VFX's Louis-Philippe Clavet and Charles Gariepy how they used Houdini's layout, set dressing, crowd, FX and PDG tools to bring a massive underwater battle to life for the grand finale of episodic series Siren.
Panic Shopper | Houdini Game Jam 2020
The game "Panic Shopper" won 2nd place in the Houdini Game Jam 2020. Learn how the team used a variety of Houdini Digital Assets (HDAs) and the Procedural Dependency Graph (PDG) to build and quickly iterate the game using Houdini, Houdini Engine, and Unreal Engine.
Run Chicken Run | Houdini Game Jam 2020
Brian Hill won 3rd place in the Houdini Game Jam 2020 for his game, "Run Chicken, Run!". Learn how he created a variety of Houdini Digital Assets (HDAs) that allowed him to quickly iterate and develop the game using Houdini, Houdini Engine, and Unreal Engine.
Houdini HIVE Japan
On Dec 10th, the Houdini HIVE Japan brings together artists from the growing Houdini community in Japan. With some presentations being delivered in Japanese, with English captions and some being delivered in English with Japanese captions, there is lots to learn from these industry experts.
Worldwide HUG
BRUSSELS HUG January 21 at 5PM CET/11 AM EST - Python states: Take HDA to the next level. Houdini User Groups bring together artists to talk about their experiences working with Houdini's node-based workflow in production. Now HUGS from around the world are coming together to create a series of online presentations.
Epic Games Invests in SideFX
Epic Games is now a minority investor in SideFX. In Epic, SideFX gains a strong partner whose passion for the industry closely aligns with ours.
Houdini Education HIVE
Art Battle now Nov 19! Presentation recordings from the November 12 Houdini HIVE Education Edition are now online!
Nodevember 2020
Nodevember is a yearly event to encourage and promote procedural art. The perfect fit for Houdini artists, SideFX is pleased to be participating in this industry-wide event. Nodevember is a challenge, not a contest. No matter your field or skill level, any and all node-based/procedural creations are welcome!
Houdini 18.5 HIVE
To celebrate the release of Houdini 18.5, SideFX is pleased to bring two days of presentations by artists and developers highlighting many of the new features. This includes such topics as KineFX, gamedev, modeling, environments, PyroFX and CFX.
Houdini 18.5 Released
Houdini 18.5 is now available to download. Explore all of the new features including KineFX, interactive Pyro FX, Vellum brushes and much more.
Automaton | Pixar
Pixar’s Automaton short, directed by Krzysztof Rost and produced by Michael K. O’Brien, recently premiered as part of the SIGGRAPH 2020 Computer Animation Festival. While Pixar has a long history of releasing CG shorts, Automaton is perhaps a little different than most of the studio’s short film outings.
Houdini 18.5 Sneak Peek
This sneak peek video reveals some upcoming features of Houdini 18.5. There are various areas of software development update, including both game engine plugins, PDG, SOPs, pyro, FLIP fluids, rendering, and much more. Get a taste of what is to come in the next release of Houdini.
Houdini Game Jam 2020 Winners
SideFX is proud to announce the winners of first-ever Houdini Game Jam! SideFX held its first ever game jam where participants had one week to use Houdini to build games based on the theme “Don’t Panic!” Over 80 people game jammed, either in teams or alone, to create 47 fun and unique games.
Project Blue Book | Stormborn Studios
Meet Goran Pavles and Manuel Tausch, founders of Vancouver-based Stormborn Studios. In this feature they talk about their recent work for Project Blue Book, a tale from the high seas. They and their team dove into this project head first using Houdini's ocean toolset and FLIP fluids to create impressive crashing waves that collide with a USS Navy ship as well as a UFO.
Frozen 2 | Disney
In Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee’s Frozen 2, we return to the world of Arendelle with Elsa and Anna, and we venture further into new places, such as the Enchanted Forest. These new adventures required new approaches to effects for Walt Disney Animation Studios. Here, the team behind the work break down their various challenges on the film.
HOULY Daily Challenge
SideFX is proud to announce the winners of the HOULY Daily Challenge! We are amazed at all of the fantastic entries and it was hard for the judges to choose the best.
Houdini Game Jam 2020
SideFX is proud to announce the first-ever Houdini Game Jam! Everyone is invited to participate in the jam and use Houdini to make games for a chance at winning awesome prizes!
Houdini 18 Backport
With the latest Houdini 18 Build 499, there are a number of production-ready features that are being made available early. From Topo transfer, to path deform, to viewport fog, there have been many enhancements added into Houdini 18 that you can take advantage of right now!
Control | Remedy Entertainment
Johannes Richter, Principal VFX Artist at Remedy Entertainment takes us through the creation of 'reactive environments' in the game Control where the gamer essentially has the ability to smash their surroundings into pieces, and more.
The Lion King | MPC Film
This photo-real world saw MPC Film rely on several tools and techniques, including SideFX Houdini for procedurally building environments, for helping to simulate the fur of many of the film’s animals, and for simulating certain naturalistic phenomena such as water, fire and dust.
Houdini HIVE Worldwide
Recorded presentations are now online! The Houdini HIVE Worldwide event brought together Industry experts and SideFX staff to present on a wide range of educational topics. The goal in each case is to explore how Houdini and its procedural node-based workflow can be applied to the work you do on a daily basis.
The Art of Houdini Tests
If you look around the web - on YouTube or vimeo, on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook - there’s a wealth of effects artists posting their latest Houdini tests and R&D projects. Some of these are for specific projects. Some are simply where the artist is trying out a new feature or technique. And of course some of them are just for fun.
Game Jam 2020 | Houdini Contest Winners
SideFX held its fourth annual “Game Jam with Houdini” contest for Global Game Jam games that were made with Houdini. This year’s contest received game entries from all over the world, including the United Kingdom, United States, United Arab Emirates, Sweden, Hungary, Germany, France, Canada, Guatemala, Netherlands, and Poland.
Let Them Trade | Spaceflower
In this Houdini Connect video Thomas Otto of Spaceflower talks about the development of his new indie game, Let Them Trade. He shows his workflow for modeling procedural assets in Houdini and bringing them into Unity for the purpose of concepting and fast iterations.
Houdini HIVE Gamedev Presentations
Join us to discover how game studios use Houdini's procedural software to create content for games, virtual worlds and more. Many thanks to all of the artists that joined us for Houdini HIVE Gamedev online.
COVID-19 Update
Like all of you, we’ve been monitoring the evolving global impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). We are taking the situation very seriously, and have taken steps here at SideFX to safe-guard our customers, staff and partners. Our team is well-equipped with online systems and processes to continue to service you throughout these unprecedented times.
Houdini HIVE GameDev
SideFX is bringing the GDC Houdini HIVE presentations online on March 25-27. The first two days will be filled with educational and inspiring presentations by both SideFX technical experts and industry professionals and on the third day we will stream games that were Made with Houdini.
Building a Procedural FX Pipeline for AoE II | Virtuos
Ever since its humble beginnings, Virtuos has relied on a comprehensive set of tools to provide art, animation and game development services to clients worldwide. Houdini is one such tool that has seen extensive use in the making of both games and film.
A Real-Time Journey into Houdini | Matt Workman
Matt Workman is a cinematographer and founder of Cinematography Database who in recent times has used game engines to help previs and plans shots. He also developed Cine Tracer, a real-time cinematography simulator made in Unreal Engine.
Houdini HIVE at GDC 2020
NEW PLANS: With the announcement that GDC is being postponed, SideFX is making plans to take the HIVE online in order to make sure the presentations are available to the community . More information will be posted as soon as we have the details worked out.
Australia Road Trip 2020
Don’t miss the 2020 Australia Road Trip, making stops in Sydney on Feb 21st, Melbourne on Feb 26th and Adelaide on Feb 28th. Paul Fratesi and our very own Jeff “Old School” Wagner will be bringing you the latest features and improvements in Houdini 18 while guest speakers show you how Houdini is being used in production.
Global Game Jam with Houdini Contest 2020
Welcome to the 4th Game Jam with Houdini Contest! Any Global Game Jam 2020 team that uses Houdini to make their game jam game is eligible to enter the contest. Last year, SideFX held their third Houdini Contest which resulted in some awesome winning games. We are excited to return in 2020 with another contest. Read the instructions below on how to get a free temporary Houdini Indie license and how to enter on the Global Game Jam website.
USD Solaris | Animal Logic
Luke Gravett, Associate FX Supervisor at Animal Logic discusses their push to simplify and unify their pipeline workflow processes by moving fully to Pixar's Universal Scene Description (USD) format, including the use of Houdini's new Solaris toolset for lighting / lookdev / layout.
Thom Yorke - Last I Heard (…He Was Circling The Drain)
The music video for Thom Yorke’s ‘Last I Heard (…He Was Circling The Drain)’, from his solo album ANIMA, is almost hard to describe. You’re best off watching the whole thing and absorbing the surreal imagery. The video, directed by Art Camp and Saad Moosajee, runs in black and white and combines 3D animation and cell animation, including a variety of CG imagery completed in Houdini.
Feather FX | Alt.VFX
Not all feathers are created equal. Learn how Alt.VFX from Brisbane, Australia hired a SideFX intern who had developed a feather tool. They then worked with him to adapt it to their requirements for their clients Toyota and Bank of Melbourne, to add plumage to both a robin and a penguin.
Nanotale - Typing Chronicles | Fishing Cactus
See how indie game studio Fishing Cactus used Houdini to develop their game Nanotale - Typing Chronicles. From character rigging and animation to procedural level design assets, Houdini and Houdini Engine were important time-saving tools in their game dev pipeline.
Houdini 18 Released
SideFX is pleased to announce the release of Houdini 18. This release introduces SideFX Solaris, a USD-based context for lookdev, layout and lighting that brings procedural tools to this important part of the pipeline and SideFX Karma Render (beta), a new HYDRA-based renderer that integrates into the Solaris environment. This release also includes SOP-based tools for configuring Destruction and Pyro FX shots and a focus on UX and optimization throughout the software.
SIGGRAPH Asia 2019 Presentations
Many thanks to all of the artists that joined us for Houdini HIVE at SIGGRAPH Asia in Brisbane.
Houdini HIVE at SIGGRAPH Asia 2019
Houdini HIVE is back at SIGGRAPH ASIA this year on November 19, with a full day of educational sessions and studio presentations! Featuring professional artists from top studios from around the world, and SideFX product experts...
Huawei Mate 20 | Unexpected
Unexpected - a post-production studio in Stuttgart, Germany - is a relatively new user of Houdini for ad production. Learn how they put it to good use to create a gorgeous environment for this Huawei commercial featuring Gal Gadot.
H18 Launch Presentation
Check out the latest additions in Houdini 18 - including Solaris - Houdini's layout, lookdev and lighting platform. Plus learn about the latest features in Vellum, fluids, pyro, destruction, modelling and more.
Houdini 18 Sneak Peek
Introducing the Houdini 18 Sneak Peek video which previews some of the amazing new features coming to the upcoming version of Houdini. From a Sparse Pyro Solver to Solaris, the new USD-based context for lookdev, layout, lighting and rendering, Houdini 18 is packed with enhancements for a wide range of production tasks.
Men In Black International | DNEG
Imagine being given this brief: twin aliens whose natural state is some sort of ‘pure energy’ are shot, causing the energy to spill out of them and then ultimately coalesce back into human form. That’s what director F. Gary Gray tasked DNEG with for one particular sequence in Men in Black: International, where the twins face off against the film’s two heroes, Agent H (Chris Hemsworth) and Agent M (Tessa Thompson). DNEG solved the energy effects for the twins using Houdini, which came about via a combination of particle and fluid simulations.
Captain Marvel | RISE FX
In Captain Marvel - directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck - we get to see the Kree Empire's capital planet of Hala, the home of Carol Danvers, aka Vers (Brie Larson). Hala is a planet made up almost entirely of one gigantic city, constructed for the film by RISE FX.
Spider-Man: Far From Home | Sony Pictures Imageworks
The climactic show-down in Spider-Man: Far From Home sees London’s Tower Bridge ‘attacked’ by a Super Uber Elemental (SUE). Of course, it is an illusion conjured up by Mysterio, but the creature and its wealth of watery, fiery and atmospheric effects had to appear real to the citizens of London, and to the audience.
Hennessy - The Seven Worlds | MPC London
MPC London's epic visual experiment to represent the seven different taste notes of Hennessy in the form of a four minute short film, directed by Ridley Scott. In this short, they run the gamut of VFX using Houdini's tools to generate clouds, celestial scenes, flocking birds, a woodlands shapeshifting character, and more.
Character FX | MPC New York
A inside look at MPC New York's Character FX pipeline, with a focus on furry creatures. Learn how they seamlessly replaced the mouth of a live action dog with a CG double for Bush's Baked Beans. See how they created a piano playing CG goat for McDonalds.
Reindeer Ready | Framestore
Framestore's Ahmed Gharraph and Grant Walker talk about the making of their reindeer for McDonald's Christmas.
SIGGRAPH 2019 Presentations
Many thanks to all of the artists that joined us for Houdini HIVE at SIGGRAPH - three great days with presentations from both industry professionals and SideFX technical experts.
SideFX Solaris
SideFX is pleased to announce SideFX Solaris at SIGGRAPH 2019. Solaris brings a new context called LOPS, or lighting operators, that brings native USD support to Houdini to allow for comprehensive lookdev, layout and lighting workflows.
2019 Houdini Reel
SideFX is proud to present the 2019 Demo Reel featuring the amazing work of Houdini customers worldwide. The shots in this reel represent the creativity and hard work generated by the Houdini community of artists. Congratulations to everyone involved for these fantastic shots!
Houdini HIVE at SIGG 2019
SideFX will be at SIGGRAPH this year with the Houdini HIVE - three days of presentations and learning which take place on July 30 - August 1 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in rooms 401 & 402A. These sessions will include presentations using Houdini latest tools and techniques, panels geared towards students, social events and much more.
Toy Story 4 | Pixar
Pixar’s newest animated feature film, Toy Story 4, contains many challenging sequences where effects animation, effects simulations and procedurally generated effects were going to be necessary in order to tell the new adventures of Buzz and Woody and the rest of the film’s characters.
Exploding Zombies! | RealtimeUK
RealtimeUK's Graham Collier breaks down hordes of zombies for a recent spot for Zombie Army 4: Dead War
SideFX Partners with Unity
SideFX is now a Unity Technologies Verified Solutions Partner, forming an even deeper integration between the two software platforms.
Houdini HIVE Paris Presentations
Many thanks to all of the artists that joined us for Houdini HIVE in Paris. It was a great day with presentations from both industry professionals and SideFX technical experts.
Trailmakers | Flashbulb Games
Learn how indie studio Flashbulb Games builds procedural level design assets in Houdini then manipulates them in Unity using the Houdini Engine plug-in to create the huge world for their open-world multiplayer racing game Trailmakers.
Ant-Man and The Wasp | DNEG
Learn about the effects in Marvel's blockbuster from DNEG's Daniel Jenkins (FX Supervisor), Alessandro Ongaro (VFX Supervisor), and Gero Grimm (FX Lead). Highlighted sequences include the car chase, including a macro-fluid sprayed windshield wiper - and the quantum tunnel, with exploding energy bursts.
Dumbo | MPC
One of the first times we meet Dumbo, the titular character in Tim Burton’s recent live action reimagining of the classic 1941 animated feature, he is covered in hay and straw. The natural debris serves to slowly reveal the incredibly cute baby elephant to both audience and the other characters in the film, and MPC’s effects simulations for the straw - on top of its CG Dumbo - were a crucial part in making that reveal possible.
Houdini HIVE Paris
SideFX is bringing the Houdini HIVE to Paris on June 4 with presentations by both industry professionals and SideFX technical experts. Join us at the HIVE to discover how studios use Houdini's procedural software to create content for film, television, games, and more!
FMX 2019 Presentations
Many thanks to all of the artists that joined us for Houdini HIVE at FMX in Stuttgart. It was a great show with presentations from both industry professionals and SideFX technical experts. how studios use Houdini's procedural software to create content for film, television, games, and more!
Houdini Crowds
Houdini Crowd Tools recently won a Technology & Engineering Emmy® Award for "Cost Effective Crowd Simulation Tools". In this Houdini Connect we talk with the developers of the tools - Edward Lam and Cameron White. We also speak with two studio artists who have used Houdini Crowds in their creative projects - Nile Hylton from The Mill NYC, who worked on Nike: Awaken the Phantom - and Lous-Philippe Clavet from Oblique FX, who worked on French feature film Junior Majeur.
Exile Skies | DMM
Learn from Xanthos Vouldis, Game Director at DMM Games, on how their tiny team used Houdini's procedural workflows for Exile Skies for a variety of gamedev art, including terrain generation - saving them time, and allowing for quick iterations at any stage of the process.
Mitski | A Pearl
An original look and feel to animation can be a tricky thing to pull off, but that’s exactly what the makers of the music video for Mitski’s ‘A Pearl’, have been able to do by combining both 3D and cel animation techniques.
Houdini HIVE at FMX 2019
SideFX is bringing the Houdini HIVE to FMX on May 1 & 2 with educational and inspiring presentations by both SideFX technical experts and industry professionals. Join us at the HIVE to discover how studios use Houdini's procedural software to create content for film, television, games, and more.
Ralph Breaks the Internet | Disney
In CG animation, everything you see on the screen needs to be designed and built. In a film with such a rich array of characters and locations as Ralph Breaks the Internet, that world-building would be a monumental task set for the artists at Walt Disney Animation Studios, and one in which all the departments at the Studio worked together to produce the final visuals.
Game Jam Contest Winners
Global Game Jam hit its 11th year in 2019 and claimed the title of “Biggest Game Jam Ever” yet again. Teams had just 48 hours to make a game based on the theme of "what home means to you". GGJ 2019 continued to break records with 47,000 game jammers participating to make 9,000 games at 860 sites in 113 countries. SideFX sponsored Global Game Jam for the fourth year in a row and provided Houdini Indie licenses to all game jammers to use in the development of their games.
GDC 2019 Presentations
Many thanks to all of the artists that joined us for Houdini HIVE at GDC in San Francisco. An impressive line up of presenters provided unique insight into how Houdini techniques are used by gamedevs and studios. SideFX is pleased to be able to publish these presentations for you to view online, and thanks all the presenters for their contributions to the HIVE!
Houdini 17.5 Released
Whether you are a feature film VFX artist, a game developer or a commercial studio, Houdini 17.5 brings you new and enhanced tools to meet your most demanding production requirements. Houdini 17.5 is a important release that includes a number of key features including the introduction of PDG | Procedural Dependency Graph.
Candy Crush | King
We connect with Peter Ridgway, Global CG Supervisor, and Miguel Mendez, Technical Artist, on how KING has developed a global platform of modular tools that utilize Houdini and the Houdini Engine to enable artists to develop 3D environments for any KING game.
Houdini HIVE at GDC 2019
SideFX is bringing the Houdini HIVE to GDC on March 20-22 with educational and inspiring presentations by both SideFX technical experts and industry professionals.
Australia Road Trip 2019
SideFX’s Paul Fratesi and Jeff Wagner are returning to Australia this February, making stops in Sydney, Adelaide, and Melbourne, with a trio of community events. Jeff “Old School” Wagner will bring you up to speed on the latest features and improvements in Houdini while guest speakers show you how Houdini is being used in production.
Character FX & Crowds Talks
Check out recordings of some of the talks from the Houdini for Character & Crowds Knowledge Workshop. Learn from top Houdini studios such as Axis Studios, Framestore, The Mill, Lunar Animation, and NineteenTwenty!
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse | Sony Pictures Imageworks
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse has proved to be one of the most innovative animated features released in recent times. Directors Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman tasked Sony Pictures Imageworks with using 3D animation combined with more of a 2D aesthetic to bring the story of the latest Spider-Man, Miles Morales, to life.
Character FX & Crowds Production Talks
Join us for an amazing day of educational presentations by some of London's top Houdini artists. Learn how firms such as Axis Studios, Framestore, The Mill, Lunar Animation, and NineteenTwenty are using Houdini's Character FX and Crowd tools in their work!
Global Game Jam with Houdini Contest 2019
Welcome to the Game Jam with Houdini Contest! Any Global Game Jam 2019 team that uses Houdini in some way to make their game jam game is eligible to enter the contest. Last year, SideFX held their second Houdini Contest which resulted in some excellent winning entries. We are excited to return in 2019 with another contest. Read the instructions below on how to get a free temporary Houdini Indie license and how to enter on the Global Game Jam website.
SIGGRAPH ASIA 2018 Presentations
Many thanks to all of the artists that joined us for Houdini Hive at SIGGRAPH Asia in Tokyo. With an impressive line up of presenters, everyone was given a unique insight into Houdini techniques used by artists and studios. SideFX is pleased to be able to publish six of these presentations for you to view online and thanks all the presenters for their contributions to the community.
Running of the Horses | The Mill
The Mill's Dan Yargici (Houdini TD), Tony Atherton (FX Supervisor) and Sam Driscoll (Visual Effects Supervisor) were tasked with turning 25 horses into a team of 80 horses for a Lloyds Bank advertisement - which included the horses running down a beach and through the waves.
Reflection & Notion | Manuel Köster & Richard Frangenberg
While students at Hochschule Darmstadt, Manuel Köster and Richard Frangenberg developed two projects using Houdini: "Reflection", about blood diamonds and an antelope made of crystal, and it has a beating heart in it - and "Notion", about an artist who wants to bring his ideas to life.
Adrift | Milk VFX
Problem solving. It’s one of the principal things visual effects artists need to do. Presented with a story they must help realise, or some plates they need to add photoreal imagery to, VFX artists look to their experience, skills, and often specific tools to solve these problems.
Houdini Education in France
CG schools in France are rapidly adopting Houdini in every area of their curricula. To find out what impact Houdini is having on their programs, students and graduates, we spoke with four instructors - including Yann Pennetier (ESMA), Bruno Ebé (ArtFX), Joan DaSilva (LISAA) and Philippe Meis (Supinfocom).
Houdini HIVE at SIGGRAPH ASIA 2018
SideFX will be at SIGGRAPH ASIA this year with the Houdini HIVE - one days of presentations and learning which take place on December 6 at the Tokyo International Forum. These sessions will include presentations using Houdini latest tools and techniques.
The Meg
Jon Turteltaub’s The Meg features giant sharks, large-scale ocean action scenes and some pretty nifty submarine gliders. So much of the film required water interaction - both on top and underneath the surface - that visual effects were a key component in getting The Meg done. Helping to craft these VFX was Sony Pictures Imageworks, which utilised Houdini in a big way to deal with all the different kinds of water simulations in the movie.
H17 Launch Presentation
SideFX's Cristin Barghiel (VP of R&D) and Scott Keating (Senior Product Designer) cover the top features of Houdini 17 at the launch event in Montreal on October 2, 2018.
Houdini 17 Sneak Peek
Houdini 17 Banshee includes a wealth of new features, including a GPU-accelerated multisolver for cloth, hair, soft bodies and grains, a new white water solver, a material-based destruction framework, facial autorigs, fullbody IK, enhanced animation and modeling workflows, UV autoseaming, GLTF I/O, gamedev tools and much more.
Planet Alpha
Game designer and 3D artist Adrian Lazar talks about how Houdini was used in the development of his indie game, Planet Alpha. You'll learn how Adrian got started with Houdini, the procedural workflows he used, and his advice to new Houdini users.
HIVE SIGGRAPH 2018 Presentations
Watch the Houdini HIVE presentations recorded at the 2018 SIGGRAPH in Vancouver, Canada on August 14-16.
Open Source Academy Software Foundation
FX Guide reports that for the first time in history, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and The Linux Foundation have partnered together to launch the Academy Software Foundation. The ASWF is a new nonprofit organization that will provide a neutral forum for open source software developers across the motion picture and broader media industries to share resources and collaborate on technologies for image creation, visual effects, animation and sound.
V-Ray for Houdini Open Beta
CG Channel reports that the Chaos Group has released Beta 1 of V-Ray for Houdini, the new edition of the renderer for SideFX’s VFX-industry-standard 3D animation and effects software. The current beta supports most of Houdini’s key features, including hair, fur, volumes, and many simulation types, and includes the new scene intelligence and GPU rendering features from V-Ray Next.
Houdini HIVE at SIGGRAPH 2018
SideFX will be at SIGGRAPH this year with the Houdini HIVE - three days of presentations and learning which take place on August 14-16 at the Vancouver Convention Centre in rooms 208 & 209. These sessions will include presentations using Houdini latest tools and techniques, panels geared towards students, social events and much more.
Modern Combat Versus
Gameloft is a French video game publisher based in Paris, founded in 1999. The company presently operates 21 development studios worldwide, and publishes games with a special focus on the mobile games market. Since the beginning Gameloft has strived to bring quality and great user experience to their players on the mobile space.
Paddington II
The capers of Paddington continue in this latest series release - Paddington II. Learn how Framestore's VFX team in London had tackled many of of the challenges they faced when integrating a CG character into live action.
HIVE Utrecht 2018 Presentations
At Houdini HIVE Utrecht, the community came together for a packed day of informative sessions in two tracks: Advertising/Motion Graphics and Video Game Development.
Far Cry 5
Ubisoft's Étienne Carrier talks about their work on Far Cry 5, including how they used Houdini and the Houdini Engine to help build the beautifully realistic world set in Montana, where a cult has invaded and needs to be ...dealt with!
Xiaomi Commercial | Megalis
Learn how Megalis created beautiful abstract advertising for Chinese phone manufacturer Xiaomi, taking the viewer on a journey from tiny to massive, all in one camera shot - and how Houdini's procedural workflows allowed for quick iterations to power Megalis's creative process.
Black Panther
Learn how Method Studios used Houdini for the signature cymatic effects prevalent in the world of the Wakanda nation seen in the film, where its inhabitants have harvested the sound vibration powers of vibranium contained in an asteroid that once landed there.
Q&A: Red Ring Entertainment
FMX 2018 just wrapped up and amongst the presenters, were two guys from Red Ring Entertainment, Kalin Stoyanov and Ivo Tonchev. While not everyone may recognize their names at first, anyone who has seen the sneak peek video from Houdini 16 will surely have seen their work!
FMX 2018 Presentations
There were a lot of wonderful presentations by industry experts at Houdini Day at FMX this year. For anyone who couldn't make it to Stuttgart, here are some of the key presentations for you to view online.
Lotto Max Bear | SHED
Montreal's SHED tackled the challenge of creating a beautiful family of bears with 'bigger than life' personalities - finding a balance between stylization and realism.
Houdini HIVE Utrecht
SideFX is heading to the Netherlands to host Houdini HIVE Utrecht - on Wednesday, June 6 - featuring a packed day of informative sessions in two tracks: Advertising/Motion Graphics and Video Game Development / AR/VR.
FMX 2018
SideFX is looking forward to another fantastic day full of inspiring and educational presentations at FMX 2018! You will have the opportunity to learn more about Houdini, from industry professionals as well as SideFX's own Jeff “Old School” Wagner. Check out how Houdini was used to build eye-popping, creative VFX in recent blockbusters and ad campaigns around the world, find out how you can bring your Houdini skills to market - and of course, grab yourself the latest Houdini T-shirt. We have an exciting roster of presenters, so be sure to line-up early!
GDC 2018 Presentations
SideFX was proud to bring the Houdini HIVE to GDC this past week. Thanks to everyone who joined us at the booth to learn more about Houdini with educational and inspiring presentations by both SideFX technical experts and industry professionals.
Game Jam with Houdini 2018 Contest Winners
SideFX sponsored Global Game Jam for the third year in a row and provided Houdini Indie licenses to game jammers to use for their game development. SideFX also held it’s second “Game Jam with Houdini” contest for the games that used Houdini.
Thor Ragnarok
When you have to orchestrate a major battle between superheroes and villains and then destroy an entire realm, you better have the right tools for the job.
Houdini HIVE at GDC 2018
SideFX is looking forward to exhibiting at GDC again this year! We are bringing back the HIVE theme with Houdini-related educational and inspiring presentations - by both SideFX technical experts and industry professionals Join us at the booth to discover how game studios use Houdini's procedural software to create content for games, virtual worlds and more. Chat with experts at the demo pod to get a closer look at Houdini's procedural node-based tools or try your hand at the Marshmallow Melee VR Tournament for a chance to win a custom Houdini gamepad
Kia Hamster
Veteran character VFX artist Andy Boyd sits down with fellow JAMM artists Brian Burke and Zak DiMaria to chat about their latest work featuring a new addition to the Kia Hamster family.
A Night of Celebration
At the Scientific and Technical Awards, Sir Patrick Stewart invited Kim Davidson and Mark Elendt to the stage to accept the Academy Award of Merit and Jeff Lait, Mark Tucker, Cristin Barghiel and John Lynch to accept a Scientific and Engineering Award.
Production Build Update 16.5.378
The latest production build brings important improvements to the licensing and render restrictions on Houdini Indie while also adding a powerful new UV Flatten tool and important refinements to FBX import and export.
3D World | Get Procedural
This issue brings a special theme to 3D World and we have a huge section on Houdini, the king of procedural workflows.
Collision Geometry in DOP Simulations
In this webinar Jeff 'Old School' Wagner focuses on the importance of generating good collision geometry for the various DOP solvers in Houdini.
80 LEVEL | Creating Snowy Scenes
Jakub Cieślik discusses the production of his latest winter scene and the way he used Substance, Houdini and UE4 to generate realistic results.
Thor Ragnarok
You may have noticed there are a lot of comic book and superhero films released these days. All those films require a significant amount of visual effects, and the workload is often spread amongst multiple VFX studios. Rising Sun Pictures (RSP), based in Adelaide, Australia, has had a hand in several superhero movies recently, regularly delivering some of the most iconic and memorable scenes in them.
Global Game Jam Contest 2018
Welcome to the Game Jam with Houdini Contest! Any Global Game Jam 2018 team that uses Houdini in some way to make their game jam game is eligible to enter the contest.
Houdini COPs for Games | Mike Lyndon
SideFX Games TD Mike Lyndon will start with the basics for anyone who hasn't used COPs before, or has some experience with Nuke. He'll then dive into more and more complex examples that show how COPs can work with other contexts in Houdini.
Ary and the Secret of Seasons
Meet eXiin – a talented Brussels-based indie games team, and the creators of the upcoming title 'Ary and the Secret of Seasons' – a 3D action-adventure puzzle game for PC and console. Learn how they use Houdini's procedural workflow for tools and techniques along with Houdini Engine to create a rich world with a wide variety of content and characters.
“Made With Houdini” Games and VR at IndieCade 2017
On October 6th through 8th, hundreds of game developers, designers, artists, and game fans gathered in the Little Tokyo area of Los Angeles to celebrate IndieCade 2017. Started 10 years ago, IndieCade is an annual festival that showcases the best and most innovative indie video games, board games, card games, and VR experiences being created today.
SideFX releases Houdini 16.5
SideFX is pleased to announce the release of Houdini 16.5 – which continues Houdini 16’s push into character, rigging and animation enhancements – as well as adding a wide variety of new features and improvements in VFX, modelling, rendering and UI.
Moana
When Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Moana hit screens in 2016, it immediately connected with audiences of all ages. Directors Ron Clements and John Musker had found a story rich in Polynesian culture that was also daring, funny, dramatic and powerful.
Horizon Zero Dawn | Rivers and Cables
Go behind the scenes with two senior artists at Guerrilla Games to learn how Houdini was used to help create some of the dazzling environments featured in Horizon Zero Dawn. Ben Schrijvers demonstrates a river tools system - and Vladimir Lopatin walks through a cable generator.
Houdini 16.5 Sneak Peek
Take a look at some of the great new tools and enhancements coming in Houdini 16.5 such as motion path editing, polyreduce, rounded edge rendering, narrow band flip simulations, optical flow, gamepad camera, and so much more.
L’École NAD
In this Houdini Connect video, we talk to Montreal-based L'École NAD who is celebrating their 25th year. NAD offers programs in Visual Effects and Game Development. Learn more instructor and industry veteran Robin Tremblay.
Procedural in Motion Presentations
The Procedural in Motion presentations are now online - educational sessions on procedural 3D workflows for advertising and motion graphics.
ST: New Horizons
New Horizons is a total conversion mod for the video game Stellaris. This mod allows players to select from a large number of civilizations in the Star Trek universe and includes lore appropriate starships, species, events, and more. SideFX recently caught up with Alex, Musa, and Marc of Paradoxical Development Group to talk about their work on ST: New Horizons and how they used Houdini on the project.
UPP
If you thought the complex effects simulations, character, modelling, animation, lighting and rendering capabilities of Houdini were limited to big-budget blockbuster films, think again. A whole raft of Houdini work is done in other areas, too, including in commercials.
Game of Thrones | Season 6
Matthew Rouleau - a VFX Supervisor at Rodeo FX in Montreal - takes us behind the scenes of Game of Thrones Season 6. Matthew talks about using Houdini to deliver film-quality shots on a TV schedule - including their use of Houdini on GoT for destruction, explosions, fire, mist, water sims, RBDs and rendering.
Procedural in Motion
Join us for the first-ever "Procedural in Motion" event - a half-day of educational sessions focused on procedural 3D workflows for motion graphics and advertising.
Presentations: Houdini HIVE at SIGGRAPH
The SIGGRAPH 2017 Houdini HIVE presentations involve three days of educational sessions designed to help you learn how Houdini can be used in your work. We are recording the presentations as we go and will be updating this page with new videos as they become available.
Houdini HIVE at SIGGRAPH 2017
SideFX is coming to SIGGRAPH this year with three days of presentations and learning called Houdini Hive. The HIVE will take place on August 1-3 at the LA Convention Center in Meeting Rooms 501A&B. These sessions will include presentations using new Houdini offerings, panels geared towards students, social events and much more.
2017 Houdini Customer Reel
SideFX is proud to present the 2017 Demo Reel featuring the amazing work of Houdini customers worldwide. The shots in this reel are a small sampling of the creativity and hard work performed by the Houdini community of artists. Congratulations to all the artists and studios responsible for these fantastic shots!
Castle Defender VR Released for HTC Vive
Castle Defender VR has been released! In this VR “tower defense” game the player must protect their castle from waves of attacking pirates by strategically throwing out knights, archers, bombs, and healing potions. The game gets increasingly difficult as the waves of pirates get bigger and bigger.
Nunnyunnini | American Gods
We talk with Tendril about the awesome short they created for the TV show American Gods.
2017 End User Event (EUE) Presentations
It was wonderful to see such great audiences at EUE 2017. The enthusiasm for Houdini grows every year especially with such a great lineup of industry presenters.
Attraction / Night Guard
Russian studio Main Road | Post’s VFX breakdown for its work on Fedor Bondarchuk’s Attraction, released earlier this year, demonstrates the complex CG work behind the alien invasion film.
Smurfs: The Lost Village
Learn how Sony Pictures Imageworks' artists created a dramatic levitating ribbon of water sequence, luminescent vegetation and magical effects for Smurfs: The Lost Village, and how they captialized on Houdini’s ability to interact with animation and other tools in the pipeline. FX supervisor Spencer Lueders breaks down how Imageworks carried out the impressive work.
Art of VFX | Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2
In 2012, Paul Butterworth explained to us the work of Fuel VFX on PROMETHEUS. He then worked on IRON MAN 3, THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE and X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST. In 2014, Fuel VFX is acquired by Animal Logic. Within this studio, Paul works on INSURGENT, AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON and CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR.
The Atlantic | Oceans in Disney's Moana
Disney’s engineers used special software to make a magical, authentic body of water.
RISE | Doctor Strange
Put on your safety goggles because the sparks are gonna fly! Simon Ohler, FX Supervisor at RISE FX gives a behind-the-scenes look at how they created fire whips and circular portals for Doctor Strange using Houdini.
Digital Domain | Fate of the Furious
There’s no shortage of enormous stunts and effects action in The Fate of the Furious, directed by F. Gary Gray, just like the previous seven films in the high-adrenaline franchise. But, also just like the Fast and Furious films that have come before, these practical stunts are often mixed with an array of digital visual effects.
FMX 2017 Presentations
It was wonderful to see such great audiences at FMX 2017. The enthusiasm for Houdini grows every year especially with such a great lineup of industry presenters.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 with Fuat Yüksel and Johannes Richter
At FMX 2017, Framestore's Johannes Richter and Trixter's Fuat Yüksel chatted about their recent experiences during the VFX production of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
80 LEVEL | Ghost Recon Wildlands
Benoit Martinez, Vincent Delassus and Erwin Heyms discuss the technical challenges of producing huge open world worlds and how procedural tools helped solve them.
CG Society | Creating VFX for Games
We had the pleasure of sitting down with FX Artist Andreas Glad to discuss his career path in VFX for games, experience working on the Battlefield franchise at DICE, and his methods for creating awesome effects with Houdini.
End User Event 2017
SideFX is heading to Utrecht for another End User Event, featuring a packed day of informative sessions conveniently located in a pub. Houdini Day will provide you with the opportunity to learn more about the software, from both industry professionals as well as SideFX's own product specialists.
Game Jam with Houdini Contest Winners
SideFX also held a “Game Jam with Houdini” contest where the games that used Houdini were played and judged by a panel of twelve game industry experts.
More Flexible Houdini Engine
SideFX is pleased to announce that all Houdini Engine floating licenses now include global access – allowing users to bring them to the cloud for their own use. Additionally, weekly rentals have been added to the existing annual and monthly rental options for greater flexibility.
Framestore
For two recent visual effects blockbusters - Doctor Strange and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - Framestore’s FX team was called upon to craft some rather magical, and memorable, effects shots.
Le Château de Sable
The tools at the disposal of new filmmakers today can mean that almost anything is possible - even, it turns out, complicated characters and environments made completely out of sand.
SideFX at FMX 2017
Join us again this year for another fantastic and informative Houdini Day at FMX 2017 in Stuttgart, Germany.
Ubisoft's Ghost Recon Wildlands
We talk with Ubisoft's Benoit Martinez, Erwin Heyms, Twan de Graaf and Guillaume Jobst about crafting Ghost Recon Wildlands.
Toronto Game Jam
This is the twelfth year for Toronto Game Jam, hence the name "TOJam: What Twelves Below", and will take place on May 5 - 7, 2017 at George Brown College in downtown Toronto.
Mikros Image
We talk with Paris, France-based Mikros Image on their VFX work for feature films, commercials, animation, music videos etc - with a look at two recent projects: (1) Taj Mahal - where they used Houdini to create art directable fire on a building facade; and (2) Les Revenants - where they used procedural modeling to build a dam, and Houdini's water and destruction capabilities to have a storm completely destroy it.
GDC 2017 Houdini Presentations
Check out some of the great presentations from the SideFX booth and the Houdini SkillDev day at GDC 2017.
Axis
We talk with Glasgow's Axis - on their work for game trailers and cut scenes, TV commercials, VR theme park rides and more - including projects for Halo Guardians, Destiny, Guild Wars 2, Project Overdrive, Famous Grouse etc...
Marvelous Machines Contest Winners!
SideFX is pleased to announce the winners of the Marvelous Machines contest. There were lots of great entries and congratulations to everyone who entered.
Oculus Story Studio
Robert Boh-Chun Chen describes how he approaches the creation of immersive, personal VR experiences that go beyond what's possible in traditional film - and how he used Houdini's procedural techniques on Oculus's Henry and Dear Angelica projects.
80 LEVEL | Procedural Landscape Generation
80 Level talks with Alexander Dracott about the new Houdini 16 terrain tools, which could offer some interesting alternatives to your standard World Machine workflow for environment design.
Hangar 13 - Mafia III
SideFX speaks with Ewan Croft, Eugene Kuczerepa and Martin Ruzicka from Hangar 13 on how they use Houdini for gamedev, including in their latest release, Mafia III.
2017 Games & VR Reel
Here's a look at some of the amazing games and VR projects that Houdini artists have been working on!
Game Developers Conference 2017
SideFX is excited to be back at GDC for another year of educational and inspiring Houdini-related presentations by both SideFX technical experts and industry professionals.
SideFX Releases Houdini 16
Houdini 16 enhances core modeling, rendering and animation tools while focusing on user experience, performance and scalability for Film, TV, Games, Advertising and VR
Houdini 16 Down Under
SideFX's Paul Fratesi and Jeff Wagner are returning to Australia this February, making stops in Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney with a trio of community events.
Electric Theatre Collective
London's ETC showcases two of their recent projects - an animated ad for Freeview, and a music video for Massive Attack. ETC uses Houdini as the backbone of their production pipeline to maximize efficiency so their artists can focus on creating outstanding work.
Houdini 16 Launch Video & VFX Festival
Tune in to the launch of Houdini 16 Amarok! On February 6 we'll be live-streaming the keynote presentation from the event we're hosting at Rich Mix in London. We are also hosting Houdini Educational Days at the VFX festival.
3D World | Houdini 16
In issue 218, 3D World takes an exclusive look at the new features coming your way in Houdini 16, and they’re impressive.
SPLICE
SPLICE is a post-production studio based in Minneapolis, with a focus on episodic TV and commercials. They started offering visual effects 5 years ago, and had to evaluate which software tools to build their pipeline with. Rather than wrestle with a large mix of platforms and plug-ins, they decided to use Houdini for the backbone of their pipeline. As a smaller studio, they feel Houdini allows them to craft high quality results, in less time, and meet the needs of their demanding clients.
Houdini 16 seminar in JAPAN
SideFX will be introducing Houdini 16 in Japan in two locations, Tokyo and Fukuoka. Click on the link to register. The presentations will be delivered in Japanese.
GameJam Contest
Will you be participating in Global Game Jam 2017? Are you interested in using Houdini for your game jam game? If you said yes, the “Game Jam With Houdini” contest is for you!
Realtime UK | Dropzone
Exploding CG aliens are fun to watch, and fun to make - just look at the recent Sparkypants Studios Dropzone trailer by RealtimeUK, in which a legion of mech pilots take aim against a hive of alien creatures. The trailer also features significant amounts of facial animation and vast rendered environments.
ManvsMachine
An in-depth discussion with Simon Holmedal about creativity and workflow - featuring commercial work crafted for Nike. Simon is a Motion Designer, Technical Director, and 3D Artist at London's ManvsMachine.
Chillennium Game Jam
Chillennium is an annual student Game Jam organized by students, for students - hosted by the Texas A&M Department of Visualization. This unique event brings participants from across the nation to collaborate and compete. Participants have 48 hours to plan, design, and develop a video game from scratch!
FX Guide | Dr Strange’s Magical Mystery Tour
Marvel’s latest comic book hero to receive the big-screen treatment is Doctor Strange. The creation of artist Steve Ditko, Strange (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) is a master of ‘black magic’, armed with magical objects and a pet cloak, he defends earth against other dimensions.
80LVL | Building Volumetric Clouds
3d artist Camelia Slimani talks about how she creates her amazing volumetric clouds in Houdini. She gives us some nice tips and tricks while discussing all of the stages of production.
VR Innovators
We speak with some of the innovative artists using Houdini to create rich, immersive virtual worlds. Speakers include Kevin Mack (ShapeSpaceVR), Nick Young (MachinEyes), Mike Murdock (TriHelix), Robert Chen (Oculus Story Studio), and Jordan Halsey (VR Playhouse).
BFX Festival | Bournemouth, England
Returning to Bournemouth in 2016, BFX has been designed to celebrate and promote the visual effects, computer games and animation industry, inspire the next wave of talent and share the latest knowledge.
Dropzone | RealtimeUK
Check out the making of video put together by RealtimeUK to showcase their VFX work for Dropzone.
Zoic Studios | Sarah McGee
As the Pipeline Manager at Zoic Studios, Sarah McGee helps to identify and remove bottlenecks in the pipeline, and evaluates graphic tools to make production flow as efficiently as possible. In 2014, when Zoic decided to take their effects capabilities to the next level, they selected Houdini as their go-to software platform.
FXGuide | Kubo and the Two Strings: Water Effects
From the opening minutes of Kubo and the Two Strings, directed by Travis Knight, it's clear that team at LAIKA broke new ground for the company with the vast amount of water effects in the film. That's not to say there hasn't been any water on screen in their previous films, but it was treated as a practical effect and not CGI.
Disney Animation Studios | Zootopia
When Walt Disney Animation Studios set out to bring its animated hit Zootopia to life they faced a mammoth task. The animated animal world had many unique zones and inhabitants. Environments as diverse as a rainforest and a frozen tundra were key story points in the film, each requiring its own sense of scale and even a unique climate and atmosphere. Then, inside each zone would live a mix of often furry creatures who would need to also interact with rain, water, vegetation and even…flies. Here’s how Disney Animation pulled it off.
Rising Sun Pictures | X-Men: Apocalypse
The stand-out sequence from the 2016 suite of summer films has to be Quicksilver’s X-Mansion super slow-mo (or super high speed, depending on how you look at it) rescue scene from X-Men: Apocalypse. A stunning mix of practical stunts, effects simulations and re-timed plates, the rescue’s visual effects were orchestrated by Rising Sun Pictures under overall VFX supervisors John Dykstra and Matt Sloan. Here, RSP, which returned to Quicksilver after working on the thrilling kitchen scene in X-Men: Days of Future Past, details how it used Houdini to pull off many of the stunning shots.
Honda | Alt.VFX
You might have seen Houdini used for some of the biggest feature film effects recently, but the software is also at the centre of much smaller productions. That includes this recent ‘Chase It’ TVC for Honda with visual effects by Alt.vfx in Australia.
RISE Visual Effects Studio
Why would a studio implement an end-to-end Houdini pipeline? Andreas Giesen and Simon Ohler from RISE | Visual Effects Studios outline the benefits. Germany's RISE has grown exponentially since opening in 2007, with studios in Berlin, Cologne, Stuttgart and Vienna - and has contributed VFX to some of the world's biggest movie franchises including Avengers - Age of Ultron, Captain America, Iron Man 3, Guardians of the Galaxy and Harry Potter.
Education Spotlight
More than ever before, animation and visual effects studios are seeking qualified Houdini artists. This special report explores the studio requirements for Houdini artists, what schools and studios can offer to help meet the high demand, and what the experience has been like for young artists as they transition into their first Houdini job.
Houdini Roadmap | SIGGRAPH 2016
In this presentation from SIGGRAPH 2016, Robert Magee, Senior Product Marketing Manager at SideFX, introduces the Houdini roadmap, a look into the Houdini of today and the Houdini of tomorrow. To explore this roadmap, Robert takes a look at key areas of Houdini and how they are being developed, then, sneak peeks some of the features you can expect in future releases.
FX Guide | Who you gonna call?
Has anyone ever yelled out 'who you gonna call?' without someone answering 'Ghostbusters'? The iconic comedy from 1984 is such a classic that news of a reboot was met with internet outrage. Yet as the film found an audience, many felt it was great to see a new take and very different version with women in the lead roles.
Method | AICP Reel
Every now and then something in the visual effects, animation and design world comes along that manages to resonate with, well, pretty much everyone. Such was the impact of Method Studios’ motion captured dancers with multiple ‘coverings’ made of fur, feathers, particles and other effects for the 2016 AICP Sponsor Reel.
2016 Houdini Reel
SideFX is proud to present the 2016 Demo Reel featuring the amazing work of Houdini customers worldwide. The shots in this reel are a small sampling of the creativity and hard work performed by the Houdini community of artists. Congratulations to all the artists and studios responsible for these fantastic shots!
SideFX Commits to Education with Dramatically Lower Pricing
SideFX is pleased to announce new lower pricing for Houdini Education to make it more affordable for schools to choose Houdini and its award winning procedural workflow for their curriculum.
Houdini at SIGGRAPH 2016
SideFX is excited to be back at SIGGRAPH for another year of educational and inspiring Houdini-related presentations - by both SideFX technical experts and industry professionals.
Born Digital Japan
SideFX is pleased to announce the beginning of a new relationship with Born Digital, Inc.. Starting July 1, 2016 Born Digital is authorized to sell and support SideFX products, including Houdini the software used to create visual effects, animation and game development tools for the world’s top movies and games.
80LVL | Mastering the Procedural Power of Houdini
An interview with Ahmed Saadi, a freelance VFX Artist originally from Iraq.
FX Guide | Raining Octopuses
After seeing this great new spot, fxguide spoke to Deluxe’s Method Studios Senior VFX Supervisor Benjamin Walsh about how they made it rain octopuses.
FX Guide | Method Studios NY throws Particles-off Dance-off for AICP
Method Studios NY was chosen by production company RSA to create the 2016 sponsor reel for the AICP Show awards which honor work done in commercial productions.
FX Guide | Apocalypse, how?
X-Men: Apocalypse picks up ten years after the events of X-Men: Days of Future Past, with Professor X (James McAvoy), Magneto (Michael Fassbender), and Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) all on very separate paths, until Apocalypse is awakened to find that he does not really enjoy the 1980s. Visual effects were covered by a range of companies and FX Guide spoke to three of them.
Cartoon Brew | X-Men: Apocalypse
If there’s one thing in Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Apocalypse that’s got everybody talking, it’s the mansion rescue sequence that showcases the powers of supersonic mutant, Peter Maximoff (aka Quicksilver) played by Evan Peters.
FX Adventures in Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
SideFX chats with Dynamics Artist Neilan Naicker and VFX TD Raymond Popka on rapid prototyping and creating textures for the dynamic water system in Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, doing RBDs fracturing and destruction sequences and how to populate thousands of background chickens using a custom particle system with little graphical and computational overhead.
Substance in Houdini
Today, Allegorithmic is happy to present a Substance plugin for Houdini. With this integration, Houdini can read Substances in the form of .sbsar files, and Houdini users can tap into the power of procedural textures created with Substance Designer.
Outside
When upgrading their animation pipeline, Montreal's SHED Animation evaluated several software platforms. They selected Houdini based on its non-destructive workflow and integrated end-to-end pipeline feature set. SHED used the development of their animated short teaser "Outside" as the first project to transition to the new pipeline.
SHED'S Houdini Animation Pipeline
When upgrading their animation pipeline, Montreal's SHED Animation evaluated several software platforms. They selected Houdini based on its non-destructive workflow and integrated end-to-end pipeline feature set. SHED used the development of their animated short teaser "Outside" as the first project to transition to the new pipeline.
SideFX Releases Houdini 15.5
SideFX is pleased to announce the release of Houdini 15.5 with an improved workflow for modelers, more accurate crowd controls, a new VR lens camera for rendering to industry-standard formats and support for third party rendering in Houdini Indie.
RealTime UK: Smite
Cinematic game trailers can be some of the most challenging digital content to produce - in just three or four minutes the trailer must communicate the ‘spirit’ of the game, tell a compelling story with interesting characters, and impress with stunning graphics and effects.
Taylor Swift: Out of the Woods
Learn more about how Ingenuity Studios tackled may of the VFX challenges presented during the production of Taylor Swift's 'Out of the Woods' music video. In particular, Ingenuity tackled growing vines, avalanches, sand and ice simulations and computer generated wolves, leaning heavily on the capabilities of Houdini to turn 100 shots around in only three weeks.
The Aha! Moment
When learning any skill - from violin to golf to software - there can be a moment in time when something 'clicks' and you feel a sense of "ahhha, now I get it". The aha force is strong in people learning and working with Houdini, and we've heard this over and over. SO... we decided to ask some people about their own a-ha moments.
Outside
SHED animation studio and SideFX are co-producing an animated short called "Outside". The worldwide premiere of the teaser launched on Saturday at TAAFI - The teaser was produced in Houdini - including modeling, characters, animation, lighting and rendering in Mantra
Planet Alpha 31
SideFX talks with Adrian Lazar about his indie game Planet Alpha 31. Created using Houdini, this game shows how independent gamedevs can benefit from the procedural tools in Houdini.
Houdini at IndieCade 2015
Learn all about Houdini at IndieCade 2015 with Ben Mears, Games Community Manager at SideFX. He speaks with indie game developer Luis Garcia (Lune) about the development of the game DragonMaze, previews footage from Planet 31 by Adrian Lazar and talks to intern Matt Suarez about a procedural city generator being used in a Sky City VR project.
Houdini Engine for UE4
SideFX is excited to announce the release of Houdini Engine for UE4. This plug-in provides game artists and developers with access to Houdini’s award-winning procedural technology right inside the UE4 editor.
FX Animation | Our Newest Certified School
Side Effects is pleased to announce that FX Animation Barcelona 3D School is the newest member of our certified school program!
Announcing Pluralsight
As of late September 2015, the full Digital-Tutors training library was integrated into Pluralsight, effectively retiring the Digital-Tutors name and brand.
SideFX Releases Houdini 15
Just nine months after artists first got their hands on Houdini 14, SideFX has announced the release of Houdini 15 with onion skinning, new shader building tools, crowd ragdolls and Houdini Engine 2.0.
The Avengers: Age of Ultron
For the Avengers: Age of Ultron, Australia’s Animal Logic was tasked with shots that leaned towards the visually abstract. From the VFX for the JARVIS hologram, the Ultron hologram, and a trip into cyberspace, they were faced with open-ended requests that would require experimentation and creative vision.
Skål!
Skål!, the Swedish word for “Cheers,” is the title of an animated short film about a pair of boozing hamsters who have a score to settle. The film is the creation of a talented group of students from Germany’s Institute of Animation at Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg.
Cloud Computing by GridMarkets
GridMarkets and SideFX today announced a strategic partnership designed to increase productivity and reduce costs for studios and artists who create Houdini visual effects and Houdini Mantra renderings.
Maxon Announces Houdini Engine for C4D
SideFX and MAXON are pleased to announce the availability of a public beta of the Houdini Engine for Cinema 4D plug-in. The Houdini Engine makes it possible for Houdini Digital Assets to work inside other digital content creation applications. Now Studios can build custom effects using Houdini's node-based workflow and give access to artists utilizing MAXON Cinema 4D.
Big Hero 6
Disney turned to Houdini’s procedural toolset to provide an efficient workflow, rapid iterations and high-quality VFX. Whether they were forming large swarms of microbots, adding smoke and contrails to Baymax’s rocket thrusters or bringing an alternate dimension to life, artists at Disney turned to Houdini’s procedural toolset to provide an efficient workflow, rapid iterations and high-quality VFX.
The Book of Life
The Book of Life brings a spectacular vision of our world and the next to the big screen while telling a story about love, loss and redemption. Inspired by the Mexican holiday El Dia de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead, director Jorge Gutierrez. Reel FX Animation studios used Houdini and Houdini Mantra to realize his fantastic vision with the vivid colors, ornate detail and spiritual symbolism typical of this holiday.
Ambition
With Houdini in their pipeline, Platige Image had a robust set of tools that would help them accomplish all of their VFX work within a tight deadline
SideFX releases Houdini 14
SideFX an industry leader in 3D animation and visual effects software, is proud to announce the immediate release of Houdini 14.
Houdini Indie on Unity Asset Store
SideFX is proud to announce the availability of Houdini Indie and Houdini Engine Indie on the Unity Asset Store. Independent game makers can now enjoy the power of Houdini’s procedural node-based workflow under a limited commercial license.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
The cinematic adventures of our friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man are well known for their groundbreaking VFX work. With The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Sony Pictures Imageworks (SPI) continues to bring audiences blockbuster movie effects as they introduce the villain Electro. To bring Electro to life and to create a variety of VFX shots ranging from destruction, water, explosions and more, Houdini played an integral role.
Frima Studios
Frima Studios is a digital entertainment studio specializing in social and web games, virtual worlds, console games, mobile games, as well as animation and VFX. Art Director Kristofer Eggleston and his colleague Technical Artist Étienne Carrier have brought procedural generation of game content into Frima’s production pipeline by using Houdini to generate geometry, animation, game assets and game levels. Houdini’s node-based workflow has given Frima the tools to work through a wide range of game production challenges.
Killzone Shadowfall
One of the most anticipated launch titles for the release of the PlayStation 4 was Killzone: Shadow Fall by Guerrilla Games. Early gameplay footage had shown an impressive visual design which took advantage of the power found in the PS4.
Main Road | Post - Stalingrad
Main Road|Post, a Russian VFX studio added numerous effects to the film Stalingrad including numerous destruction and debris shots. One of their biggest challenges was to seamlessly integrate and match up VFX elements into shots where practical effects already existed. This included shots with existing smoke and fire footage. They had to generate CG crowds that could react realistically to explosions while choreographing a sequence of shots depicting a military aircraft’s fiery descent into Stalingrad’s town square.
Prime Focus - White House Down
This summer, the US president’s home took quite a beating in the action-packed film White House Down. With VFX work by the Prime Focus World teams in London, Vancouver and Mumbai, who combined to deliver a total of 326 shots, this movie featured two explosive sequences involving a high speed limo pursuit and an attack on the White House from a trio of attacking F22 Raptor jets.
Halo 4 Spartan Ops
Halo 4 Spartan Ops is an immersive animated series brought out in support of the Halo 4 in-game storyline. To bring this series to life, Axis worked on all 1200 beautifully rendered CG shots. At Axis, Houdini is a core production tool that they use for a wide variety of lighting and VFX work. Houdini’s Mantra renderer has become a key tool for Axis and Halo 4 Spartan Ops is just one of their many projects rendered in Mantra where unbelievable realism was the goal.
Method - Kia Space Babies
In Method Studios most recent Super Bowl spot for Kia, a son asks his father the age-old question of “where do babies come from?” The response leads Method to an epic CG project and Houdini made it possible to include a variety of visual effects elements for the spot including clouds, water, fur, smoke and fire.
Framestore - Skyfall
For Skyfall, London’s Framestore worked on all of the digital effects needed for this impressive sequence. To learn more about how Houdini was used , Side Effects talked to Diarmid Harrison-Murray, Head of 3D commercials at Framestore and CG supervisor for the title sequence.
Psyop - JBL: Ear of the Storm
Psyop unleashes the destructive power of Mother Nature in this spot created for JBL.To bring this storm to life, the team needed to manage huge datasets and generate custom tools that would help them meet their client’s expectations. Houdini and its procedural node-based workflow was chosen to help them navigate through all of the project’s twists and turns.
Image Engine - Battleship
mage Engine is a Vancouver-based VFX studio who specializes in feature film work. Given the fact that Director Peter Berg was impressed by their work from the feature film District 9, Industrial Light & Magic awarded them work on his most recent project, Battleship.
Naughty Dog - Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
Taking the procedural approach, Naughty Dog delivers a whole new level of FX realism in the latest edition of the Uncharted series. With Houdini, they found a solution that would give them flexibility and control, while making it easy to export to their proprietary gaming engine. By using a procedural approach, they were able to save time and add more realistic FX to their game.
Electronic Arts - SSX
To create all of these highly complex environments, under a very tight time budget, EA turned to Houdini to take this game to a whole new level. With Houdini, they were empowered with the ability to give the game a tremendous boost in playable content without having to embark on a staff recruiting spree.
Robot VFX - Fugu and Tako
For this project, the answer was Houdini which was used to develop a number of detailed facial animation and tracking techniques. The chosen approach resulted in a character that echoes the voice and character of the actor in a very convincing and original way.
Kim Goossens - NHTV: Procedural Game Development
To meet this hunger for content, many studios are looking for faster ways of producing game content without hiring an army of modellers. Kim Goossens from the IGAD program at NHTV University of Applied Sciences in Holland is an advocate of procedural modeling techniques for game development and has been teaching his students how to apply Houdini to this task.
ReelFX - Rockettes Magical Journey: Humbugged
For this unique project, Reel FX was recruited to create CG wintery sets and generate a giant ice monster that the Rockettes would perform with on-stage. With the audience wearing 3D glasses, the dancers become perfectly immersed within their digital backdrop.
Human-Ark | Lost Town of Switez
Director Kamil Polak and Human-Ark complete what began as a grad project and deliver a highly polished piece to film festival circuit. The task at hand appeared overwhelming at a first, especially given that only a small group of four to five artists and two technical directors would handle all the extensive effects, layouts and rendering for the film. Houdini was chosen for the backbone of the pipeline because of its procedural workflow and its strengths in rendering, managing crowds, and developing environments.
Blue Sky Studios - Rio
In the movie Rio, Blue Sky Studios takes the opportunity to live up to their name and create a skyscape filled with playful clouds for Blu the macaw and his feathered friends. In CG, clouds can be quite complex and need to exist in wide varieties. Blue Sky turned to Houdini to help them build cloud tools which would provide the team with an efficient pipeline and the necessary creative control.
Dr. D Studios - Interview with Dr. D
Dr. D is a comprehensive digital production studio located in Sydney, Australia that has a knack for attracting top-notch artists from around the globe. They are presently in the heat of production, working on Happy Feet 2 and are recruiting talented Houdini artists to lend a hand.
Bretz S-Tate - We Can Dance
Bretz, a German-based manufacturer of high-quality modern furniture recently recruited fellow Germans We Can Dance animation studio to create a sleek commercial that represents their brand and showcases the latest addition to their product line - the S-Tate.
Pixar - Toy Story 3
Employing many of the top minds in computer graphics, Pixar has a tradition of building proprietary tools which they can develop and improve as needed. At the same time, they also work with off-the-shelf solutions and in the last few years this has included using Houdini and its procedural, node-based approach. Pixar has integrated Houdini on top of their proprietary tools and has recently increased its deployment of Houdini by acquiring a site license of Houdini Batch to support future projects.
The Embassy VFX - Battle: Los Angeles
The Embassy used this film to launch a brand new Houdini-based visual effects pipeline that was designed to keep them organized while allowing them the creative freedom to create great shots. Using Houdini Digital Assets, the shot management system, called SH Master, was used as a key component of this pipeline.
Guerrilla Games - Killzone 3
In every video game series, each new version comes out bigger and better than the last. In “Killzone 2" Guerrilla Games added more realistic in-game effects by using Houdini for fracturing, cloth simulation and terrain generation. In Killzone 3, they have again upped their game, creating more realistic environments which are both larger and more extreme.
Axis Animation - Dead Island
Scotland’s Axis Animation specializes in creating high impact video game cinematics. In the trailer for Dead Island, zombies attack a family during a dream vacation that goes horribly wrong. In this trailer, Axis Animation created a story-driven short that quickly went viral. Find out how Houdini was used to create all the mayhem and gore.
Brigham-Young University - The Dream Giver
More than ever, Houdini artists are in high demand and it is the perfect time for students to add Houdini skills to their arsenal. As a result, Houdini is gaining popularity in the education sector where schools are incorporating Houdini’s procedural-based approach into their curriculum. One such school is Brigham-Young University (BYU), an undergraduate university located in Provo, Utah.
Radium | ReelFX - Katy Perry: Firework
Sexy, fun and flirtatious are words best used to describe pop star Katy Perry's music videos. Using Houdini, the team at Radium/Reel FX were able to create stunning photo-realistic fireworks that were used in conjunction with practical pyrotechnic effects.
Storm Studios/Gimpville - Troll Hunter
It is exciting to see an international film tackle an effects-heavy movie with such style. Both Storm Studios and Gimpville relied on Houdini to bring this film to life. The studios used Houdini to create natural elements that integrated with the environment; to create effects where the trolls turn to stone; to add fur to the trolls and more.
Cinesite - Clash of the Titans
Leading London-based visual effects house Cinesite played an instrumental role in bringing modern technology to this classic tale. With Houdini by their side they brought to life the monstrous, scorpion-like creatures called the Scorpioch. This was accomplished over the course of 176 shots. Cinesite refers to their work in the new updated Clash of the Titans as some of their most creative work to date.
JL Design - Al Jazeera
Asia is now an industry hot spot and home to the Taiwan based studio JL Design. ChiChung Tso, head of production at JL Design, became interested in Houdini only a year prior to working with it on a real project. Already familiar with The Foundry’s Nuke compositor, Tso recognized the benefits of working with a node-based solution and was eager to apply the same approach to his 3D work.
Mr. X | Double Negative - Scott Pilgrim vs The World
Scott Pilgrim Comes Leaps From the Comic Panels and Onto the Big Screen. To bring Scott Pilgrim’s world to life, CG effects were used to not only support video game battles and comic book graphics but also to enhance the real world shots. Houdini played a role in both these tasks with Mr. X using it for digital snow and Double Negative using it for a very intense battle of the bands.
Realise Studio - Mr. Furry
With MTV’s latest branding initiative, the pop-culture giant lets their hair down with the help of Realise Studio in England. In this new MTV identification spot, Realise used Houdini to bring Mr. Furry to life as he struts along looking cool. Along the way, his fur changes shape, texture and color to a high-tempo synthed-up soundtrack.
Framestore - Avatar
Read about Framestore's contribution to the Oscar winning feature film, Avatar, using Houdini. The Houdini team included Gunnar Radeloff, Adrien Toupet, Ben Frost, Tom Bolt and was led by Guillaume Fradin. This small team of artists and technical directors were able to make a significant contribution to the overall shot count by using Houdini's deep toolset to help them meet the high standards set out by James Cameron.
Rhythm & Hues - Wolfman
Read how Rhythm & Hues turned to Houdini Pyro Tools to set the Wolfman ablaze. In addition to dynamic transformation scenes and the sheer terror of a werewolf on the loose, the movie includes a pivotal scene where the Wolfman is set ablaze. For this key scene, Rhythm & Hues was faced with the challenge of creating fire effects which would not give away their CG origins.
Jed Swartz - Five Years on Mars
Follow the Mars Rover Spirit's adventures on its journey across the red planet with the help of Jed Schwartz Productions.
CIS Vancouver- Invictus
CIS Vancouver already had experience creating crowds for the big screen although the grandeur of the stadium in Invictus would require a level of control not available from their existing in-house system. They needed a system that would give them maximum control over demographics, actions and spectator appearance. Therefore, CIS decided to develop a custom crowd system that would allow them to work procedurally using Houdini at the core.
Red Chillies VFX - De Dana Dan
Recently, Red Chillies VFX added Houdini to their growing operation. Right away, Houdini proved its usefulness in an important scene in their latest production De Dana Dan directed by Priyadarshan and produced by Venus films. In this romantic comedy, two down and out guys are spurred on by their wealthy girlfriends to come up with enough money for them to elope, otherwise their engagements are off. In an attempt to meet this demand the two men resort to kidnapping a millionaire’s dog and the shenanigans begin.