15 HOUDINI TOP tips

Industry experts share their Houdini tips and tricks to help you get to grips with the versatile 3D software

Houdini is an extremely versatile software, and these expert tips will be sure to enhance your 3D workflow

By utilising a node-based, procedural approach, 3D software Houdini from Sidefx provides digital artists with a remarkable level of power, flexibility and control. It’s a complex piece of kit – so much so that you would be hard pushed to find someone who knows everything about it, or who really understands the software and its many features inside out. The majority of Houdini users utilise the software to carry out very specific tasks, with few taking full advantage of its highly extensive toolset and capabilities. That said, in recent times the software has become more artist friendly, so now’s the time to jump right in.

So whether you’re completely new to Houdini or just want to hone up on its many features, going back to the basics is often a great way to speed up your workflow or learn about tools that you may not already be hugely familiar with. Over the next few pages, leading artists share their top Houdini tips, including specifics on enhancing your workflow by Chris Rydalch (Blue Sky Studios’ FX technical director), character creation and rigging from Kalin Stoyanov (creative/animation director at Red Ring Entertainment), terrain generation with 3D artist Aron Kamolz and creating a robot with personality by freelancer Philipp von Preuschen.