Houdini Essential Training

Discover Houdini, a leading package for procedural 3D content creation. Learn about core geometry and animation concepts, lighting, shading and rendering techniques, and more.

Introduction

• Welcome
• What you need to know
• Exercise files

1. Interface

• Navigation
• Viewport and display modes
• Panes
• Desktops
• Preferences
• Display options and visualizers
• Global animation options
• Nomenclature
• Network view
• Node flags
• Geometry spreadsheet
• Tree view
• Shelf Tools

2. Geometry

• Object vs. suface context
• Geometry types
• Viewing standard attributes
• Selection
• Grid and snapping
• Basic box up modeling
• Polysplit and edge loops
• Clip and mirror
• Polybevel and divide
• Curve SOP
• UV unwrap
• Creating groups
• Creating attributes
• Copy SOP
• Copy SOP with template attributes
• Copy SOP with stamping
• Packed feometry
• Geometry with VDBs
• VOP SOP
• Subnetworks
• Caching geometry
• Export Alembic
• Import Alembic

3. Animation

• Keyframes
• Animation editor
• CHOP networks
• Expressions in parameters
• Noise and filtering
• Copy stamp channels
• Apply copy stamp channels
• Channel SOP
• Importing animation into CHOPS
• Cache animation data

4. Rendering

• Cameras
• Flipbooks
• Mplay
• IPR rendering
• Basic mantra settings
• Mantra quality settings
• Render passes, AOV
• Open GL ROP
• Geometry ROP
• FBX ROP
• Alembic ROP

5. Shading

• Assigning materials
• Principled shader
• Using textures
• Displacement
• Basic custom shader
• Subdivision settings

6. Lighting

• Light types: Point and spot
• Light types: Distant
• Light types: Area
• Light types: Environment and HDR
• Sun and sky lighting
• Light bank and light linking

7 . Dynamics

• Rigid body dynamics setup
• Adding objects to the simulation
• Changing dynamic object types
• Collision geometry fundamentals
• Refining dynamics network
• RBD active node
• Caching simulation results
• Applying lo-res sim to hi-res geometry
• Wire simulation setup
• Refining wire simulation
• Deforming geometry with wires

8. Particles

• Creating velocity attribute on objects
• Emitting particles from objects
• Emitting particles from attributes
• Refining particle simulation
• Caching particles
• Post-simulation color modification
• Rendering particles

9. Volumetric Simulations

• Emitting smoke from an object
• Refining smoke simulation
• Key fluid simulation nodes
• Caching output
• Pyro Shader

10. Compositing

• Render scene overview
• Compositing layers
• Rendering output

Conclusion

• Next steps