Netherlands Film Academy

Houdini Courses

At our school, Houdini plays a central role in the curriculum, with dedicated courses and assignments integrated into the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th years of the program.

The exact content of these courses evolves continuously to stay aligned with the latest developments in the software and the VFX industry at large.

In the 2nd year, students begin with the fundamentals, covering topics such as procedural modeling, basic animation, lighting, and rendering using our render farm. As the year progresses, the complexity increases, introducing concepts like scene assembly, software interoperability, USD, dynamics, and character FX (including grooming).

The 3rd-year curriculum becomes highly customizable, with MasterClasses tailored to the interests and ambitions of the students. In recent years, these have included topics such as crowd simulations, USD authoring, Python scripting, custom HDA development, pipeline optimization, and more.

In the 4th and final year, students use Houdini as a full-fledged VFX tool—often serving as the central hub where all aspects of CG and VFX work converge.

Students receive approximately 8–10 weeks of Houdini instruction in the 2nd year, and 3–4 weeks of advanced MasterClasses in the 3rd year. Throughout all years, our dedicated Houdini instructor, Rudi Nieuwenhuis, is available to support and mentor students in any Houdini-related work.

As you can see, Houdini is one of the core tools in our VFX education. It forms a pillar upon which students build much of their creative and technical work.