Foundations 20.5

In this lesson, you will take your first steps into Houdini as you model a coffee cup then use dynamics to simulate a collection of gumballs falling into it. You will apply textures and materials, add lights and a camera then render out the finished sequence. By touching all aspects of this shot, you will begin learning how to navigate your way through Houdini and its node-based workflow.

In this lesson you will start from scratch to model, render, animate, and simulate a soccer ball, also known as a football in many parts of the world. You will create a classic bouncing ball animation using the principles of squash and stretch, apply textures and materials, add lights and cameras, and explore the use of dynamics to simulate a group of soccer balls.

A great way to understand Houdini’s node-based workflow is to explore it in the context of a project. It is important to start learning how to think and work procedurally. In this lesson, you will learn how to create your own custom brickify tool using procedural nodes and networks to define its function and interface.

Learn how to use Houdini’s modeling tools to create an old west revolver. A lot of this work will be accomplished in the viewport and will teach you how to model interactively. Houdini’s node network will be used for some modeling tasks and to organize your work. The revolver will be created using primarily Polygon Modeling Tools with a focus on creating good topology that can be subdivided at render time.

Learn how to use the Solaris Lookdev, Layout and Lighting tools to create a market scene using existing assets. The Solaris environment converts everything into USD [Universal Scene Description] which is an open source initiative created by PIXAR. The Solaris/LOPS context allows you to work with USD natively using procedural nodes to manage key USD concepts.