SideFX partners with Endava
SideFX has partnered with Endava, a leading technology services corporation, to transform synthetic data creation for AI and ML applications. Through this partnership, artists and developers will benefit from the ability to generate highly varied and realistic data sets in Houdini with pixel-perfect ground truth annotations that mimic complex real-world environments.
2025 Game Art Challenge
Welcome to the 2025 Game Art Challenge which gives artists the chance to compete for cool prizes by creating Art and Assets for use in realtime game engines. Compete for prizes in three categories that focus on Environments, Realtime FX and Game Art Tools.
Mardini 2025 Winners
Check out the Winners for the 2025 MARDINI Daily Art Challenge - With a different challenge every day during the month of March, artists had 31 chances to enter and win. This year, each week featured a different Houdini focus area – with a daily prompt to inspire the artwork.
Community News Feed
Godzilla Minus One | Shirogumi
This Houdini Connect episode dives into the making of Godzilla Minus One with VFX Artist Shinji Miyake from Shirogumi Inc. Miyake shares how the studio tackled the film’s intense visual effects, from destruction and water simulations to capturing the terrifying scale of Godzilla. With a focus on procedural workflows using Houdini, the episode explores Shirogumi's creative and technical challenges, the emotional tone of the film, and the collaborative spirit behind one of Japan’s most visually ambitious monster movies.
Virgin Media Whizzer | Untold Studios
In this Houdini Connect Untold Studios offers a behind-the-scenes perspective on their VFX process, focusing on their collaboration with VCCP and Virgin Media to produce a memorable feature with a CG walrus. Take a deep dive into their VFX pipeline, highlighting Houdini as the central software for simulation, lighting, and rendering.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Nunnyunnini | American Gods
We talk with Tendril about the awesome short they created for the TV show American Gods.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.