Hello!

My name is Alex, I'm currently a Junior studying Visual Effects. Last summer I worked at a company called iD Tech, which is basically a summer camp for kids and teens to learn programming languages, robotics, animation and other cool up-to-date technologies. I was an instructor in modeling and animation with Maya and 3D printing and as I was teaching I saw so much potential in integrating the possibilities of teaching kids how to make their codes a beautiful visual piece.

With that said, I'm wondering what should I say to this company if I want to suggest them to teach Houdini to kids. Should I tell them to buy licenses or to use Houdini apprentice? or would Side FX be interested in this camp were Houdini can be taught at very young age and potentially purchased by those kid's parents?

Also, is this a good idea? Am I too crazy because we have to teach them how to do everything in one week?

I think you can probably do some simple 3D projects in a week. If you have some preset materials/textures, then the result can look pretty good while giving the kids plenty of chance at creativity. I think the best thing is probably to contact to the SideFX education department to see what's available.

https://www.sidefx.com/products/houdini-education/ [sidefx.com]
https://www.sidefx.com/education/education-programs/education-inquiry/ [sidefx.com]

Probably the best bet is to just use Apprentice; It's free and since it's just summer camp of one week, it's likely their first time and won't mind the watermark; Then for those who really want to pursue more, they can get the Indie version afterwords.

I think you have a good idea and not crazy.

In my opinion the ideal approach would be to have someone likeyourself develop a project ahead of time and think about some variations that the kids doing the project might want to venture off into. In other words, work with Houdini to some degree first.

That way, as things progress there aren't any surprise ‘obstacles’ or ‘gotchas’ along the way that turn the project into a troubleshooting rather than creative focus.