I just wanted to share – I finally started learning Houdini. My dream for a long time has been to work in film as an FX artist. Right now I’m going through Christian Bohm’s course to get the basics.

Quick background: I spent about a year before this on 3D modeling for games (props and environments). It was a good experience, but I realized it wasn’t really for me. Still, it gave me some foundation in 3D.

Now I’ve switched to FX and it feels way more exciting, even if half the nodes still make no sense. My goal is simple: keep pushing, build a reel, and one day hopefully land at a studio that works on movies.

I just wanted to say it out loud here and maybe hear from people who already work in FX: am I on the right track by focusing directly on Houdini from the start? Any simple advice for beginners would be great.

Thanks, and good luck to everyone else grinding through this beast of a software.

Hi,

Welcome to the exciting world of Houdini. I don't have any tips for you about entering the vfx world. Because i'm more like a hobbyist. But you can go to https://www.tokeru.com/cgwiki/Houdini.html [www.tokeru.com] for some great beginner tutorials.
If you look in the Houdini drop-down there are also more advanced tutorials.
And https://entagma.com/ [entagma.com] has loads of more advanced stuff.
And for some pro level Vex (programming) you can go to https://pragmatic-vfx.com/ [pragmatic-vfx.com]

And as a side note. don't be shy to use co-pilot. It can help you with some simple tasks. Like creating a patch off grass.

One of the best things you can do is find a really good instructor. Moeen Sayed from Nine Between is in my opinion the best. His tutorials are very well produced, clear, concise and easy to follow. His tutorials can be found in the Learn section of SideFX website. Good luck on your journey.