11:00 AM CEST
When the Drop Becomes a Splash

We'll take over a decade of fluid design commercial work experience simplifying it into the key ingredients for making production-level simulations. She talks about her path to Houdini and how simplicity brings the best results. Karolina builds the mindset for you to carry to Houdini's small-scale simulations, making its workflow less scary, efficient, creative, and splashy-fun.

Karolina Sereikaite, born in 1988 in Lithuania, after graduating bachelor's in Psychology has found her full creative freedom in CGI. Founder of Catalysee and LearnWateryDesign platform. Her work has been displayed at Coachella twice, Tokyo Shibuya Center, and New York Times Square. She is often referred to as Fluid Design Queen in social media and in 2022 celebrated 10 years in Motion Design. 

11:45 AM CEST
Speedier Trees in Houdini: Botanically inspired production - does it work?

Reflecting on the state of foliage modelling after 3 years of R&D in Houdini. I will share my journey, workflow and hopefully some insights into the world of videogame plants, botanical research, simulation and UX design. I will also dive deep into the production pipeline that we have built at Applied Intuition, revealing the tips, tricks and nodes that went into building our "speedy" in-house tree creation tools.

George Hulm began his career 15 years ago as an amateur level designer in the Unreal Tournament mod community. He got his first commercial break creating levels for the indie hit Overgrowth, and since then, has worked on projects of all shapes and sizes, picking up a variety of tools and skills along the way. Recently, in the role of lead technical artist, George helped HistoricVR ship their debut Steam title, GuildfordCastleVR. These days, he tackles creative and technical challenges alongside the talented team at Applied Intuition. George teaches technical art to masters students at Gloucester University and occasionally shares tutorials via his YouTube channel - Undini. 

1:00 PM CEST
Grooming and Simulation Methods
for Different Hair Types

The appearance and movement of hair are so interdependent processes that they cannot be done separately in most cases. How to make hair look amazing and not ruin everything later? :))) How not to break the visual appearance of hair by simulation? What should be done at the grooming stage to effectively use simulation later for artistic image improvement? Different hairstyles have different problems and require different approaches to solve the problems. I will show my workflow of creating different types of hair and talk about how Houdini helps me to solve the above problems due to its procedural nature.

Andriy Bilichenko is a visual artist, owns both the latest digital technologies and methods of traditional oil painting and drawing. Honorary Chairman of the defunct Order of Houdini Fighters. 

2:15 PM CEST
Flower Garden

Taking a look at the creation of flower growth for BG, FG and Hero Flower-Assets in Electric Theatre Collectives Shortfilm "Flower Garden"

Carl Krause is a FX Artist and Generalist from Germany with a dedication to film and animation. During his studies at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg he developed a fascination for computer graphics and its experimental use for telling compelling stories. After his studies he gained experience as an artist at several companies including Electric Theatre Collective London, Psyop NY and Sehsucht Berlin. He currently works at ScanlineVFX (Netflix) as a FX Artist. 

3:30 PM CEST
Procedural This, Procedural That  

Nikola Damjanov, who has been with Nordius, a mobile gaming company in Belgrade, Serbia, for 11 years, talks about how he has delved into procedural work as a means to enhance efficiency and avoid repetitive design and texturing tasks. He initially utilized Substance Designer and later transitioned to Houdini for procedural tasks in game development, enabling him to create environments and effects. Additionally, Nikola developed systems that facilitated rapid feedback and iteration from game designers. Alongside his professional endeavors, he engaged in personal projects involving the generation of texture variations, stylized rendering, and procedural animations employing mathematical functions and layered noises.

Nikola Damjanov is a Generalist 3D Artist with over ten years of diverse experience. Working for the past eight years at Nordeus, Nikola has been actively improving his artistic skills, exploring new tools and adopting them as early as possible. He is a game artist by day, and a procedural tinkerer by night.

4:45 PM CEST
Designing Feathers Using Houdini at FOLKS

In this session, Amelie will share practical insights and techniques for creating realistic feathers and birds using Houdini. Discover the step-by-step process of crafting avian models, seamlessly integrating them into shots. Don't miss this valuable opportunity to enhance your VFX skills and delve into the fascinating world of feather design.

Amelie Goursat has a passion for creating visually stunning effects, she has been an integral part of the team for over three years. Amélie honed her skills and expertise through her studies at ESMA Toulouse, where she laid the foundation for her successful career in the field. Amélie has made significant contributions to various high-profile projects, including her work on "The Umbrella Academy," "Wednesday," and "The Curse of Bridge Hallow." Her technical proficiency and artistic vision have played a crucial role in bringing these productions to life, showcasing her talent and dedication as a key member of the FOLKS team.

6:00 PM CEST
Strokes & Waves:
Designing for Stills and Motion in Houdini 

In his talk, Bastian will share the process of making the cover art for 3D World’s 300th-anniversary issue as well as other commercial projects to illustrate various strategies when designing for still and moving images. He’ll demonstrate how to harness Houdini’s unique power to surgically shape and craft your design when bringing your artistic vision to life.

Bastian J. Schiffer Shaped by a musical background and guided by an unwavering passion for generative art, creative coding and holistic design systems, is a creative looking to answer creative challenges through well-crafted and intentional design solutions. Strongly believing design to not just be an aesthetic craft but a conscious approach to shaping the world we live in, he strives to craft meaningful, engaging and sustainable results through contextual understanding of the subject matter and putting an emphasis on a strategic and thorough design process.

7:00 PM CEST
The Art of Burning 

A look into a fully art-directable procedural fire setup that works for pretty much everything if you need to burn things down.

Fabian Nowak is the Head of FX and FX Supervisor at The Yard VFX. He has worked over the last decade in London, at MPC and ILM (Industrial Light & Magic), exclusively on big blockbuster films, such as Guardians of The Galaxy, Jungle Book, Lion King, Jurassic World, Avengers Infinity Wars & End Game, and many others. He was awarded a VES in 2017 for best effects simulations in a photoreal feature for Jungle Book. Back in France a few years ago, he's now driving the FX Department at The Yard, where he's dedicated to delivering the best effects possible on every exciting and challenging show.