Learning Houdini

Join animator Scott Pagano to discover the awesome power of Houdini, a 3D animation package offering an all-procedural workflow and node networks for faster, more complex renders.

Introduction

• Welcome
• Using the exercise files

1. Overview of Houdini

• Overview of the Houdini paradigm
• Understanding the interface
• Setting Houdini preferences
• Creating a new project

2. Geometry in Houdini

• How to create basic primitive shapes
• How to modify geometry
• Understanding groups
• Understanding attributes
• Using the Copy node
• The power of copy stamping
• Understanding additional geometry functions

3. Animating in Houdini

• How to set keyframes
• Introduction to the Animation Editor
• Introduction to the Motion FX level
• Applying procedural animation channels to geometry
• Manipulating animation channels

4. Shading in Houdini

• Using the Mantra surface shader
• Using the Material node to apply shaders to geometry
• Shading attributes
• Adding texture maps to the shader

5. Lighting in Houdini

• Creating and positioning lights
• Adjusting light parameters
• Using sun and sky lighting

6. Rendering in Houdini

• Working with the Mantra rendering node
• Understanding important Mantra settings
• Render passes in Mantra

7. Particles in Houdini

• How to emit particles from an object
• How to use forces to influence particle motion
• Understanding the POP Source node
• How to instance geometry to particles

Conclusion

• Next steps