Hello

I am new to Houdini and devoting a lot of time to this practice - 2-3 hours a day at minimum. I also want to learn technical skills outside of just Houdini to make me a more nuanced VFX artist within the Houdini pipeline. I am wanting to focus on environmental sims/VFX, but have the skills to work in other areas of Houdini as need be.

I understand that other areas of computer graphics rely on a knowledge of Open GL and DX to do programming work, but I am unsure if doing sims and environmental VFX would rely heavily on this.

For experienced Houdini artists: what are the aggregate skills you think an artist should know to be viable in this work? I know python is used for scripting, and VEX is loosely related to C and handy for graphics work, but what else is there to know?

I will not try to tackle this all at once, but I want to plot the next few years of my education

Mathematics, engineering(statics, dynamics, fluids), physics are good. At least to grade 12 and better if you do undergrad books.

Game programming books reveal what is happening underneath it all too.

Industry publications for general audiences may also help attune your attention to emerging technology and established principles. A working understanding of real world lighting and optical lens constraints also seems advantageous.


Cartoon Brew - animation industry
http://www.cartoonbrew.com [www.cartoonbrew.com]


Mike Seymour & Co - vfx features
https://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-art-of-rendering/ [www.fxguide.com]


Cinefex - venerable behind the scenes movie magazine
http://www.cinefex.com/blog/ [www.cinefex.com]


Ian Failes - fx journalist
https://vfxblog.com [vfxblog.com]