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There is now a H20.5 version of this lesson - CHECK IT OUT

TOTAL DURATION: 1h 15m 44s

Welcome to Houdini. 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.

These tasks will introduce you to many different parts of Houdini as you create your first Houdini scene, explore the interface and discover some of its most important tools. You will learn how to work interactively in the Scene View and how to use the Network View to manage your nodes as you refine your model and build your animation rig. You will also set up materials and textures on the Solaris Stage then you will render using Houdini’s built-in renderer Karma, and finally create a Rigid Body Simulation.

Houdini Foundations for Houdini 19.5 is now available as Downloadable PDF and a Print-on-Demand book through the Lulu Ebook company. This 224 page book contains 9 chapters designed to help artists take their first steps into Houdini.

CREATED BY

rmagee
ROBERT MAGEE

Robert Magee is a Senior Product Marketing Manager at SideFX who has been working with Houdini for 20 years. He has created lots of learning material and demos designed to help artists understand how going procedural with Houdini can benefit their work.

More from Robert Magee

COMMENTS

  • ozzy561 2 years, 10 months ago  | 

    Just started learning Houdini. Fantastic tutorials Robert, thank you.

  • Mike_A 2 years, 9 months ago  | 

    How would you adjust the animation of the soccer ball while viewing the scene from the camera created in Solaris?

    • rmagee 2 years, 9 months ago  | 

      If you want to keep a close camera/animation relationship then I would have set up the camera at the object level then used Scene Import to get that camera into LOPS. Then you can go back to the object level and animate knowing that the camera will be the same in LOPS - You could also use a Scene Import to bring in the animated soccerball but then you would need a cache lop to get motion blur.

    • rmagee 2 years, 9 months ago  | 

      There is also a LOP import Camera node at the object level where you can take the camera from the stage back to the object level. That wouldn't work in this case though because the bouncing ball was rotated after the USD file was imported into LOPS - you could apply those transforms to the object and then you would have the camera properly aligned with the bouncing ball for tweaking.

  • MarkHawk 2 years, 8 months ago  | 

    On Lesson 09, around 0:55, we export the animation using the USD Export node. When I export it, mine never exports as .usd. Instead, it exports as .usdnc. (extensions, naming, and save location match yours.) When I get to about the 02:39 of lesson 09, I can't import the .usd animation. It can't see the file. When I try and force it or change the extension to .usd, it gives me a flag error. When I try and bring in the .usdnc it flags an error. Both errors say, "Unable to find layer file: Animate (then my path) " I'm using the Houdini Apprentice Non-Commercial 19.5.368. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

    • nogoodgofer 2 years, 7 months ago  | 

      I looked the extension up, and .usdnc is the non-commercial version (it can't be opened by software other than Houdini). I was able to make the file visible by clicking in the bottom right of the import window (it lists extensions) and switching it to the *.

  • MarkHawk 2 years, 8 months ago  | 

    Reached out to another Houdini artist, who explained It's because I am using the non-commercial Houdini. NC = non com. Just like all my scene files are .hipnc.

    • MarkHawk 2 years, 8 months ago  | 

      Bought the indie version and restarted the project. I was able to export a .USD and reimport it to finish lesson 9. Not ideal but I can at least continue moving forward.

      • nogoodgofer 2 years, 7 months ago  | 

        At least you have the pro version, this is cool. To get .usdnc file visibility you switch the readable files (lower right corner in the import window) to the *.

  • SpeLL 2 years, 8 months ago  | 

    Robert, thank you so much for a great tutorials.
    For a beginner it was very useful and interesting.
    In the last episode, we created a simulation in object context, and the backdrop was previously created in Solaris so that it can be reused in several shots.
    So the question is how to reconfigure the scene so that when rendering the simulation in Solaris, the balls do not penetrate through the backdrop?

  • thracekelsick 2 years, 7 months ago  | 

    Thanks for this tutorial Robert! I'm fairly new to Houdini, (coming from Maya), and this was helpful. I will say it would have been great if project management had been addressed more at the beginning tho. I had to lookup a separate video to try and understand the $HIP & $JOB environment variables, and how to use them

  • Smedina2 2 years, 6 months ago  | 

    Hi really like the tutorials. I am learning about Houdini, but the soccer ball's UVs did not want to show or download in the parameter panel. What can I do? Thank you

    • rmagee 2 years, 3 months ago  | 

      Post to the Learning Materials forum - include hip file and screen grab.

  • Ritika_jn 2 years, 5 months ago  | 

    When we export USD, I am getting a .usdnc file instead of the normal .usd file. Why's that ?
    And how can I resolve it?

    • marcusjungerstam 2 years, 3 months ago  | 

      It's just the non commercial version. You have to get Houdini Indie to get "normal" usd.

  • BunglebeetTV 2 years, 4 months ago  | 

    My ball looks way to smooth. Any advice???

    • rmagee 2 years, 3 months ago  | 

      Hard to tell without seeing your scene. Post to the Learning Materials forum. Show and image and maybe post the hip file.

  • marcusjungerstam 2 years, 3 months ago  | 

    I'm pretty new to Houdini and this turorial is really great to get up and running. I learned alot! Thanks Robert.

    • rmagee 2 years, 3 months ago  | 

      Glad that it is helping!

  • JoeRan 2 years, 3 months ago  | 

    Thank you for your commitment to making free study materials available!
    It's very difficult to find quality courses without spending money, thanks to you many people like me will be able to lay the first stones to build an important path.

  • bexarclaw 2 years, 3 months ago  | 

    Quick tip: if your using the apprentice license, the export extension is .usdnc. (not .usd). You'll need to make note of this when using the File Pattern within the Reference node. Also, I had to switch the "Show files matching" to *, which allow to me locate the geo/soccerball_anim.usdnc file.

  • Lightbox3d 2 years, 2 months ago  | 

    downloaded project only got the textures. Tutorial doesn't explain how to assign it either. Lots of missing gaps in these tutorials really...

    • rmagee 2 years, 2 months ago  | 

      Assigning the textures can be found in Section 6: Lookdev: Materials.

  • v12345 2 years, 1 month ago  | 

    I was using the pdf to create this soccer ball tutorial. It took time for me to understand what file selector is next to texture map. was stuck for days due to this. I was trying to open soccerball_color.rat using file open. Hopefully I will complete the tutorials soon.

    • Ra138 2 years, 1 month ago  | 

      I completed this tutorial. I just need perfection in camera and lights part.:)
      Yeah, I was lost when I couldn't find the file selector.
      1. Take help from videos
      2. Ask someone
      3. Search help menu.
      4. Read basics pdf , watch the video once again if I get stuck.

  • v12345 2 years, 1 month ago  | 

    In the parameter view, file selector next to texture map.

  • Ra138 2 years, 1 month ago  | 

    So we create the grid while the soccer ball is in the same view.

  • Ra138 2 years, 1 month ago  | 

    Where does the ball go while we are creating the grid?

  • Ra138 2 years, 1 month ago  | 

    Ok it's on the stage. Initially I wired the grid node within the scene import. Then used undo to do it the correct way.

  • Ra138 2 years, 1 month ago  | 

    I could not set the insignia. Just proceeding with steps to complete it without insignia

  • Ra138 2 years, 1 month ago  | 

    All my cameras in Solaris are making the ball very big. A single patch covers the whole screen. Unable to get the right view.

  • Ra138 2 years, 1 month ago  | 

    Ok used alt+RMB to make the ball small

  • Ra138 2 years, 1 month ago  | 

    The ball is above the plane in build but it goes into the plane in solaris. How to correct it?

  • Ra138 2 years, 1 month ago  | 

    Step 6 materials unable to get the mat in material path for both soccer and backdrop. Okay I did it...How I did it? I will have to recheck.
    Also I did not find the texture tab mentioned in part 6 step 03. It's simply nowhere to be found.
    What do I do?

  • Ra138 2 years, 1 month ago  | 

    Hi there,
    I am unable to perform part 8 step 7 and 8.
    Squash_ctrl handle squash and strech. Please help. Where is this squash_ctrl handle?

  • Ra138 2 years, 1 month ago  | 

    Done pufffff

  • gerogero0812 1 year, 11 months ago  | 

    Just started learning Houdini. Fantastic tutorials Robert, thank you.


    Warning
    Import of SHOP materials is not supported. Ignored material /obj/soccerball_geo/uvquickshade1/shop_definition/texture_material

    I am getting the above error.
    How can I resolve this?

  • Sam22 1 year, 11 months ago  | 

    These tutorial series are the most professionally taught I've seen in my 13+ years of experience in 3D. The clarity, depth of knowledge, and practical examples make them exceptional. Thank you for creating such high-quality tutorials!

  • BrianG61 1 year, 11 months ago  | 

    I've been following this tutorial, but I'm stuck in Part 9 Step 3. I've followed steps 1 and 2, but I'm not getting the result I should have in Step 3, mainly the bouncing soccer ball is not appearing. I see the lights objects, but the ball and its animation are not there. I'm suspecting it has something to do with where the .usd file is located. The tutorial PDF and the Video say two different things in Step 1. The PDF says set Output File to "$HIP/geo/soccerball_anim.usd", but the video says "$HIP/usd/soccerball_anim.usd" No matter which I use, I get nothing. What am I missing?

    • JasonR 1 year, 7 months ago  | 

      just spent the last 30 mins trying to solve this, as it was also happening for me.
      in the file pattern try adding " " surrounding the file path pointing to your usd file
      I think it happens if any of your directories leading upto the file contain any spaces

      hope it works for you

      • defteros001 10 months, 2 weeks ago  | 

        Thank you very much! I also encountered the same problem and your advice helped me solve that!

  • AndyTheBouncer 1 year, 10 months ago  | 

    Thanks for making this. As a long-time developer and learner, I have one pet peeve about these tutorials I'd like to respectfully express.

    When people are trying to figure out the conceptual basics, it's really important to stay laser-focused on the core concept you're trying to get across. Many programming language example and tutorial authors use variable names like 'var' or 'int' or function names like 'func,' making it difficult for people unfamiliar with the syntax to parse what's a keyword, operator, variable name, etc. Or they might use some weird syntax short form, or counterintuitive logical construct when it has nothing to do with the concept at hand. People writing tutorials for more technical GUI programs, on the other hand, tend to include way too many practices or shortcuts from their own workflow-- like keyboard shortcuts. Sure, keyboard shortcuts are critical to getting professional-level productivity, but using menu options or standard GUI elements to perform tasks gives learners another visual cue for how the program is structured and organized, while shortcuts just add another layer of abstraction to decode. That adds to the cognitive load of new learners, especially those with ADHD and other types of neurodivergence common among both technical and creative types.

    Obviously those things are critical to increasing productivity, but when you're trying to figure out how something works, productivity optimizations just aren't particularly useful.

  • natrianvfx 1 year, 10 months ago  | 

    Amazing tutorial, thank you very much! I'm having a blast learning Houdini

  • alialdouseri 1 year, 6 months ago  | 

    having an amazing tutorial.

  • Eirik_Halvorson 1 year, 6 months ago  | 

    I'm loving these tutorials, thanks so much Robert. But I have one question. Where did the principled shader node go in the VEX workspace? I'm using the latest non-commercial version of Houdini (20.0.506) and when I search for it in the Tab menu, it is simply not showing up. Thanks for any help with this!

    • J Mart 1 year, 6 months ago  | 

      Same issue here. Maybe principled shaders have been deprecated for Solaris in H20 in favor of USD shaders? Not sure. I can build a principled shader over in my node graph but they aren't available in the Solaris graphs. Would be nice to have a quick update on this.

      • Eirik_Halvorson 1 year, 6 months ago  | 

        I found a tutorial on YouTube that roughly follows the newest version's node setup, using the KarmaMx (I think that's how it is called) material system, but for some reason the materials aren't displaying properly in the camera view. Perhaps there's a step missing somewhere. It would be great if these tutorials were updated to match with H20. I really want to learn this software.

    • jinglepp 1 year, 6 months ago  | 

      I found a easy way to add Principle Shader to the Material Library in stage. change to shop networks and add a Material Shader Build ,in it and add Principle Shader,then cut or copy it and paste to the Material Library, remember to turn on the Material flag , and now it works fine.

      • SinusAlpha 4 months, 1 week ago  | 

        Thank you very much, it works <3

  • alimon 1 year, 6 months ago  | 

    Hi, thank you for making such a great and informative tutorial. I just wanted to mention that for Part 9, naming my "Output Picture" in the "karmarendersettings" node to "$HIP/render/anim/soccerball_anim_$F2.exr" led to the exrs not appearing in the designated folder. After trying a few thing, I was able to fix the issue by calling it "$HIP/render/anim/soccerball_$F2.exr" instead. It seems like the extra "_anim_" breaks it. I was using Houdini Apprentice Non-Commercial 19.5.605, so maybe it only affects this version.

  • Fernando_Criativo3d 1 year, 5 months ago  | 

    Hi, I had to add a UVFlatten to the backdrop to map it properly!

  • Fernando_Criativo3d 1 year, 5 months ago  | 

    Hi, I hit the extract in the last tutorial (00:00:40) but nothing happens....my version is 20.05.568

  • Crazy_Chintu 1 year, 5 months ago  | 

    I can't find principled shader in materiallibrary.
    Is it not available in apprentice?

    • rmagee 1 year, 4 months ago  | 

      You can get it in the Material Palette - drag it into the Material Library then you will be able to use it.

      • Eirik_Halvorson 1 year, 2 months ago  | 

        This worked beautifully! Thanks Robert!

      • bradyjasona 7 months, 1 week ago  | 

        Thank you! This did it.

  • redfox8170 1 year, 4 months ago  | 

    The tutorial works fine for me, but there are 2 points to add.

    First: Exact values. Please set and SAY the exact values for each numbered parameter! Otherwise, if only barely chosen by hand, the follower will not get the same result as you on his screen!!

    Second: The changing of views. I could not change the views, like zooming in or else, while being in UV-changing-mode. What button or basic setup did I miss?
    Please SAY EVERY BUTTON YOU PRESS! That's very important for beginners! Having just one setup not in the same way as the tutor, ruins the complete process of following the tutorial, because you at home, don't see, what is shown on the screen!

    Same is with window-splitting. At the beginning of part 5, the UV-mapping is off the screen and the angle is completely different to the end of part 4! How can I get the same startup-viewport? I can not ge the damned UV-window off and I am still not able to adjust my screen-angle with the mouse-buttons! Where is the icon, to reactivate those functions? Sorry for asking such simple questions, but if you certify it a "beginner"-tutorial, you must act like teaching beginners then, too.

    The rest of the content is ok for me so far. I could follow almost ervery step and my screen looks the same as in the end of part 4.

    • rmagee 1 year, 4 months ago  | 

      The exact steps are outlined in the step-by-step PDF - the video is designed to provide a visual guide to what is in the PDF.

  • Th22X1 1 year, 3 months ago  | 

    @rmagee on houdini 20 you cant complete the the tutorial, as the material building workflow is substantly changed. I've managed to build it via >Karma Material Builder and imported the the textures via the mtlximage node, but after assigning the material to the soccerball geo ive got a weird uv-output. Half of the ball on the frontal side of the ball with the logo is properly displayed the rest not. So, not knowing whats the problem im assuming the quickuvshade node doenst work with Solaris/Karma? On Mantra everyting is ok.

  • Dev_Sheth 1 year ago  | 

    Hi, I was saving to disk(animation export) and this error for syntax in line 1 error came up, anyone can help?

  • koolman52 11 months ago  | 

    thanks for all the tutorial.
    in the houdini version 20.5 there are a couple of things different like the materials and the most important thing is that i am working in the free version so i can´t export the file of the soccerball to put it in solaris like the video does. So i used a object import in the solaris scene.

    Thanks

  • rmagee 10 months, 4 weeks ago  | 

    I think you can export the usd file by choosing usdnc as the extension - that should work.

  • defteros001 10 months, 3 weeks ago  | 

    Hi, I'm using 20.5 Houdini Apprentice, and I can't find the principled shader node through TAB in the VEX Builder. Does anyone have any idea about this? Thanks!

    • rjorr04 10 months, 2 weeks ago  | 

      I had the same issue.

      Up above, rmagee (Robert) mentions: "You can get it in the Material Palette - drag it into the Material Library then you will be able to use it."

      If I'm guessing right, you're probably in the stage environment at the moment. To do what Robert is suggesting, click on the area where it says stage (or stage/materiallibrary if that's where you are ), and then select mat.

      This is the Material Palette - I'm guessing.

      In "mat", you can create a principled shader. Do that and then copy it. Go back to the stage environment - using the same method you did to get to the material palette. Go into your material library, and paste the principled shader.

      Hope this helps :)

    • Stivan 6 months, 1 week ago  | 

      I got around this by using the approach in the H20.5 Welcome tutorial. I created Quick Surface Materials for the backdrop and soccerball, sent them to a Merge node along with the backdrop and soccerball scene import. Then set a Material Linker after the merge and assigned the materials there.

  • Ariasgabo 9 months, 3 weeks ago  | 

    Hi, I have houdini 20.5 and when exporting usd it exports it as usdnc when placing the reference node it tells me that the node cannot be obtained. What should I do?
    Excuse my English, I'm translating

    $ Unable to find layer file: ANIMATE/intro_lesson_start/ intro_lesson_start/usd/soccerball_anim.usdnc
    Fixed invalid USD path: /_01
    & Targeted missing explicit primitive: /soccerball _anim

  • Lycon 9 months, 3 weeks ago  | 

    Impossible to follow :/

  • stevef 9 months, 3 weeks ago  | 

    So hard to follow along. He talks and clicks through things so quickly that you have to rewatch multiple times.

  • MrBulldops 8 months, 2 weeks ago  | 

    This tutorial is amazing. I personally love the pace, I find it a great speed to follow along at.

  • evilcain 7 months ago  | 

    Apart from the Tex folder, the rest of the Intro lesson project folders are empty. Some help please!

    • rmagee 7 months ago  | 

      You are going to use them in the lesson. The textures are the only files you need to get started.

  • Stivan 6 months, 1 week ago  | 

    If anyone is having the issue of onion skinning not working in H20.5, go to Edit / Preferences / 3D Viewports and change the renderer from Vulkan to OpenGL. Then restart Houdini.

    • Alveezy 3 months, 1 week ago  | 

      Thank you!

  • banana_monkey 6 months ago  | 

    Hi.
    I have Houdini 20.5.
    I can't find "principle shader" in material library node.
    Anyone know how to solve this ??
    Sorry for not enough my English.

    • cruzdh2035 5 months ago  | 

      You need to go to the material level, right where you change from stage to object level, there you can add it and the press ctrl + x to cut it and paste it in the material library. :)

  • davesl 5 months, 3 weeks ago  | 

    Compared to the first tutorial a lot more details go unexplained. Still a great tutorial but it's so easy to miss an important mouse click that goes unmentioned or quickly moved on from.

  • combocombowombo 5 months, 3 weeks ago  | 

    looks good !!<keep it up>"

    • combocombowombo 5 months, 3 weeks ago  | 

      yes

  • nathan08 5 months, 1 week ago  | 

    I'm really grateful for these tutorials. Over all they're awesome. Just one thing, it's frustrating as a first time learner to not notice little things like when you clicked on the pin vertices button and then have the have the whole UV editor disappear and not know how to get it back in the same way as it shows up when you create the uvflatten node. The only way I could find to bring back the UV editor so it appeared the same way with the same buttons at the top was to delete the uvflatten node and recreate a new one. Manually splitting the panes didn't give me the same menu items. It makes the program feel very touchy, like I have to know exactly what little button to click on next the get the result I want. I know this is all part of the learning curve but sometimes I'm like sheesh! Lol! Sorry for the rant.

    • rmagee 5 months, 1 week ago  | 

      To get the UI you are looking for you need the UV Flatten node to be selected and the Handle tool active. Anytime a node has a special UI associated with it you need to select the node and get the Handle tool. If the UI gets lost then go to the select tool then back to the Handle tool - that should bring things back.

  • nathan08 5 months, 1 week ago  | 

    Also, doing an action and then saying what you're doing moments afterwards makes it so you have to go back and rewatch alot because you're still doing other things at the same time as speaking about what you just did. lol Confusing. Again, I'm so grateful for these tutorials just trying to offer some constructive feedback.

    • rmagee 5 months, 1 week ago  | 

      Have you downloaded the PDF document? That has all the steps outlined in detail. That should help if the video is confusing. In fact the PDF was meant to be the tutorial - I recorded the video in case something in the PDF didn't make sense.

      The video actions vs narration are off a bit because it was the tail end of COVID when I made those videos and I recorded the videos first at my house then added sound latter as a VoiceOver - it didn't sync up very well in some cases - I am now recording voice and video at the same time for H20.5 videos. That seems to be working better.

  • nathan08 5 months, 1 week ago  | 

    Thank you for your responses! Very Helpful!

  • nathan08 5 months, 1 week ago  | 

    There seems to be a bug. When I uncheck Enable for the normal map and then go restart the render (Karma XPU) the bump remains. The only thing that make it go away is removing the file path for the normal map. All other settings were left alone... Texture type is set to Normal; linear color space; UV tangent space.

    Also, adjusting the Effect scale isn't doing anything. I'm happy to make a screen recording if you like.

  • nathan08 5 months, 1 week ago  | 

    Karma CPU fixes the issue.

  • nathan08 5 months, 1 week ago  | 

    Karma XPU appears to be responding incorrectly to the reflection and roughness maps as well. I'm guessing I'm either doing something wrong, missing a setting or this is a known issue.

    • rmagee 5 months, 1 week ago  | 

      Are you using Houdini 19.5 or 20.5? What material did you use? the principled material or the quick surface material? The principled material does not work with XPU - you can follow the welcome to Houdini lesson (written fro H20.5) to see how to use. the quick surface material.

      • nathan08 5 months, 1 week ago  | 

        Ok, that's the problem. Thanks again.

        Sorry I'm blowing up this thread. When I add a transform node after the light mixer, the pivot point is at the bottom of the ball. The PDF doesn't tell what to do in this case. I noticed at time code 5:50 when you go back to the stage the pivot point is at the bottom for you as well. When I follow the steps exactly as in the video the pivot point always shows up at the bottom of the ball.

        • rmagee 5 months, 1 week ago  | 

          RMB-click on the handle and choose "APivot Mode" - now move the handle up to the center of the ball - Then Choose "Pivot Mode" again and you will have a new pivot point and can rotate around the center.

          • rmagee 5 months, 1 week ago  | 

            It appears that this works differently in 20.5 compared to 19.5. I am working on an update to this lesson for 20.5 - will sort these things out in the update.

            • nathan08 5 months, 1 week ago  | 

              Thank you. That worked. I found that holding down ctrl makes the pivot snap to the center.

  • problaems 5 months ago  | 

    When attempting to UV flatten after selecting all primitives, I get 1032: Fatal error: Segmentation fault. Please help.

  • Marlondmc 4 months, 2 weeks ago  | 

    Hi, I'm taking the second lesson of Houdini love so much. I'm struggling with the uv quick shade node, I can't see the uvs on my tex folder. Could you help me please

    • rmagee 4 months, 2 weeks ago  | 

      Do you have the unflatten node selected and the handle tool active? Go to the select tool then back to the handle tool. That might jiggle it into place.

  • emmanuel_2003 3 months, 3 weeks ago  | 

    Kindly help!!!! I am unable to add/see the numbers in the visualization scene panel for ATTRIBUTECREATE NODE part which you do just before FOR EACH NUMBER NODE pls help i have done everything exactly as tutorial .

    todays date 01/03/2025
    I am using the non commercial version

  • Immy_Raja 1 month, 2 weeks ago  | 

    just finished , just want to say thank you, really enjoying your tutorials

  • rezakazemi596 1 month ago  | 

    hi tanks for god lesen ihave houdini 20 worker i dont have principled shader what can pelis help

  • rezakazemi596 1 month ago  | 

    tanks i anderstand

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