July 28, 2008 — cmiVFX | cmiStudios is pleased to announce another Houdini Software Training Video for FX TDs migrating from other Fluid Simulation software packages. With the assistance of Side Effects Software and artist Brian Goodwin from Framestore, they are launching the first volume in their upcoming Fluids For Houdini Series. Viewers of this video will gain a good understanding of how Houdini's fluid tools operate. New users may want to consider taking the cmiVFX Houdini Fundamentals course before learning about Fluids.

"I would like to personally thank you and Brian Goodwin for the excellent Houdini Fluid Integration for TD's." says Houdini artist Ole Geir Eidsheim. "I bought it this morning, and have now finished it with a great hunger for more. I really hope there is more where this came from? Brian's style of teaching and narration suited me perfectly, so please extend my gratitude and compliments to the guy. He actually made me 'get it' when it comes to fluids and passing data though DOPs, which is quite remarkable."

Course Outline:

Introduction

Fluids are often thought of as just being a surface that is rendered and effects that are applied to this surface, and often these can be treated as independent effects however in this video, I focus on exposing that what makes Houdini unique, that being the ability to create complex scalable particle simulations like splashes and bubbles, where these effects rely on the fluid simulation to introduce complex customizable behavior.

Applying Concepts

When trying to generate fluids, there are a number of secondary effects that are normally added to create the sense of realism. Relying on canned effects can only take you as far as prebuilt methods normally do. However being a Technical Director, one normally needs to push things further and have an underlying insight into how the technology behind the tools we use work in order to create effects that are realistic but controllable. This video focuses on exposing how to generate these effects from the ground up by using unconventional methods of taking simulated data out of any fluid simulation and using this in your own custom VOP networks.

Starting At The Beginning

I don't aim to cover all the concepts behind generating fluids, however there needs to be a chapter that gives you enough to get you started, specifically starting with generating the data we need for the effects we want to create. So I cover a couple of problems you will run into when generating fluids for the first time. Since it is focused on getting underneath the hood, I refrain from using to many prebuilt techniques and try to reveal how things actually work when sourcing from object within your scene while handling collisions between liquids and other rigid body objects through to tips on handling larger simulations and finally on how to write data out.

Integrate Your Fluid Simulations Into Other Simulations

Having the ability to allow your fluid simulation to effect other simulations, and having them interact with each other help generate really realistic effects. Not only do your fluid simulations have the ability to advect other objects but others can effect your fluid simulation simultaneously, both through forces and through collisions.

Dealing With Sign Distance Fields

The heart of the lectures are about working with that data that fluids simulations produce but is often unknown. That being the volume data that fluid store attributes like density, velocity and various others that can be customized. We look into how this data is added and how this data is extracted and most importantly, how we can generate custom VOPs that sample this data and use it in other places.

Integrating Volume Data Into Custom Particle Effects

Finally we take this data from fluids and build up custom particle effects that tightly rely on the fluid simulation. Solving problems that range from birthing particles inside a volume, faking collisions and attractions through to creating custom pop networks that extract data from the fluid object and behave as is the two elements co-existed and were simulated simultaneously, giving the user the ability to craft effects in layers and ultimately creating believable particle effects.

The Author

Brian Goodwin is 26 years old and is a FX TD working at Framestore in London where he jumps between using massive for crowds and Houdini for effects. He has worked on numerous commercial projects and has just finished working on a The Chronicles of Narnia - Price Caspian and is busy working on Baz Luhrmann's new movie, Australia. He began his career in South Africa working in various commercial houses namely, Masters and Savant, Refinery and Blackginger where he was the lead FX TD. Aside from commercial and film projects, He enjoys working on music videos through Lung Animations in South Africa which allow him to try new techniques in the field.

About cmiVFX

cmiVFX is a leader in High Definition Video Training for the Visual Effects Community. To test drive the new cmiVFX TVOD © system, click here For additional information about cmiVFX, visit www.cmivfx.com.

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