HOUDINI HIVE PRESENTATIONS AND IGNITE WORKSHOPS
SEPT 23-25, 2025
Last year SideFX hosted the worldwide Houdini community in Toronto at Houdini HIVE Horizon. This year Houdini HIVE Equinox goes bigger with a multi-day event where participants have access to IGNITE workshops, HIVE presentations, and social events.
We look forward to bringing the community together and look forward to seeing more people from around the world!
Register early to secure a spot.
Please feel free to sign up for more than one workshop.
Make sure that you only sign up for one workshop for each time slot.
VENUE
Houdini Equinox is being held at 1 King Street West in downtown Toronto. This is also a good option for people visiting from out of town. Check the link below to learn about event rates.
HIVE
THEATRE
IGNITE WORKSHOP
ROOM 1
IGNITE WORKSHOP
ROOM 2
Animation | Workflows
IGNITE WORKSHOPS
Join us for hands on experience with Houdini. There are lots of topics to choose from and each have been labelled with the levels of knowledge you will need to get the most of the workshop.
Register to secure a spot.
TUESDAY ALL DAY | SEPT 23
Intro to Houdini
Debra Isaac
Room 1 | 9 AM-5PM
Learn how to navigate Houdini’s interface and become familiar with Houdini’s powerful node-based environment, while also applying familiar animation principles. Through hands-on exercises, you’ll explore essential nodes and techniques.
This is a beginner-level workshop designed for the 3D artists and animators who are completely new to Houdini! By the end of this workshop, you’ll feel much more comfortable with Houdini and have a solid foundation to start leveraging its powerful capabilities in your animation projects.
Intro to Character
Roy Kristoffersen
Room 2 | 9 AM-5PM
Learn how to create a character from scratch in Houdini, utilizing the powerful KineFX rigging system. The character will be modeled, skinned, and rigged, and ready for animation via APEX. This class will showcase how Houdini and KineFX offer a superior workflow for character creation and rigging.
This is a beginner-level workshop designed for the riggers who are completely new to Houdini!
WEDNESDAY MORNING | SEPT 24
Character FX
Sam Taylor
Room 1 | 9 AM-12PM
Learn Houdini 21 Character FX workflows, with a focus on character preparation, grooming, dynamic hair, and cloth simulations using Vellum. Participants will also learn how to handle prop deformations, CFX post-processing, and output to create polished, production-ready CFX setups.
This is an intermediate to advanced-level workshop, designed for artists with a solid grasp of key Houdini workflows. This session offers practical guidance to building scalable hair, cloth, and prop simulations that integrate seamlessly into animation and production pipelines.
Pyro FX
Jeff Guttin & Nick Culver
Room 2 | 9 AM-12PM
Learn Houdini 21 Pyro FX workflows, with a focus on the latest presets, recipes, and tools that make it faster and easier than ever to create a wide range of high-quality fire, smoke, explosion effects and much more.
This is an intermediate-level workshop, ideal for artists looking to streamline their FX workflows, this session will demonstrate how to quickly set up and customize production-ready Pyro FX simulations using Houdini’s enhanced tools, while maintaining full artistic control. From ambient smoke to cinematic explosions, you’ll learn practical techniques for generating effects that are both scalable and art-directable.
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON | SEPT 24
Character Rigging
Carlos Valcarcel
Room 1 | 1PM - 5PM
Learn Houdini 21 Character FX workflows, with a focus on character preparation, grooming, dynamic hair, and cloth simulations using Vellum. Participants will also learn how to handle prop deformations, CFX post-processing, and output to create polished, production-ready CFX setups.
This is an intermediate to advanced-level workshop, designed for artists with a solid grasp of key Houdini workflows. This session offers practical guidance to building scalable hair, cloth, and prop simulations that integrate seamlessly into animation and production pipelines.
Car Dynamics and MPM
Viswesh Rameshkumar and Alexandre Sirois-Vigneux
Room 2 | 1PM - 5PM
Learn Houdini 21 Car Destruction and RBD workflows, from pre‑fracture prep to secondary deformation. In the second half of this session you will learn about the new features of the MPM solver for adding realistic environmental FX like mud, liquid, and debris to enhance your shots.
This is an intermediate-level workshop, designed for artists with a foundational understanding of Houdini, the workshop provides the tools and techniques needed to create impactful, cinematic simulations with control and flexibility.
THURSDAY MORNING | SEPT 25
Animation Intro
Anna Goodman
Room 1 | 9 AM-12PM
Learn how to apply animation principles in Houdini 21 with direct hands-on experience. Learn all about Houdini’s new animation features to block, refine, and polish the motion.
This beginner-level workshop is designed for participants interested in exploring animation in Houdini. You’ll learn the essential tools and techniques required to create compelling motion, gaining a solid foundation for animating characters.
Solaris and Karma
Chris Rydalch
Room 2 | 9 AM-12PM
Learn fast and efficient methods for setting up look development, lighting, and rendering in Houdini 21using Solaris and Karma, with an emphasis on the powerful new shading and lighting features. The session will demonstrate how these tools streamline the process, making it easier than ever to create high-quality, production-ready results.
This is an intermediate workshop designed to give you the skills to take advantage of Houdini 21’s enhanced shading and lighting capabilities for efficient, flexible, and visually compelling renders.
THURSDAY AFTERNOON | SEPT 25
Animation Workflows
Warren Leathem
Room 1 | 1PM - 5PM
Take a deeper dive into the new Houdini 21 Animation tools. Learn how to combine traditional keyframe animation with physics-based motion to achieve dynamic, realistic, and art-directable results.
This is an intermediate-level workshop which introduces students to the latest Houdini 21 animation tools with a focus on how to create and combine complex motion with ease.
Copernicus
Alex Hamer & Alex Tamisier
Room 2 | 1PM - 5PM
Explore the Houdini 21 Copernicus tools used for complex image processing, advanced texturing, and more.
This intermediate-level workshop shows you how to create powerful procedural workflows for production-ready results.
HIVE PRESENTATIONS
Throughout the three days there will be ongoing presentations by industry experts showing how they use Houdini in their pipeline. The topics of these presentations will posted at a later date... Stay Tuned!