Course Overview

Class Description:

In this fundamentals course, you will learn all about SOPs (surface operators) to create a fully procedural chandelier in Houdini. You will learn essential sops with the latest version of Houdini including both curve and poly-based geometry creation. Learning SOPs are necessary for creating good dynamics later on. You will learn the anatomy of attributes, which is vital and will help you understand all future tutorials. You will learn a wide array of tools and concepts such as using different types of noise, copying, and instancing, working with for-loops, and a basic intro to both VEX and VOPS. 

Learning Outcomes:

Students that are new to Houdini will leave with more confidence as well as a deeper understanding of attributes and geometry creation tools and how they are used to create a procedural system.


Course curriculum

    1. 1. Initial Setup

    2. 2. Creating Groups

    3. 3. What are Attributes?

    1. 1. Initial Setup

    2. 2. Using the Chain SOP

    3. 3. Positioning the Chain

    1. 1. Different Ways to Make the Profile Curve

    2. 2. Adding Noise to the Curve

    3. 3. Setting the Curve Shape

    4. 4. Using Attribute Wrangle

    1. 1. Making a Ratio using Attribute Wrangle

    2. 2. Extracting Points for the Rings

    3. 3. Adding Normals

    4. 4.- Making the Ring

    5. 5. Using Ray SOP

    6. 6. Finishing the Ring Setup

    1. 1. Setting the Normals for Candle Holders

    2. 2. Setting up Attribute VOP

    3. 3. Sculpting the Curve

    4. 4. Adding the Tier Geometry

    5. 5. Finishing Up

    1. 1. Setting New Attributes

About this course

  • $90.00
  • 56 lessons
  • 3 hours of video content
Session 1

Building the Core Structure

In this session, we will build the essential framework for our chandeliers. From there, we will define the main shape and learn to create inter-connected systems that allow for highly iterative designs.

  • Introduction
  • The Importance of a Gradient
  • Working With Noise and Ramps
  • Writing Conditional Statements in VEX
  • Reusing Your Work
  • Controlling Points With Functions
  • Manipulating Point Scale
Session 2

Introducing Details and Expanding Procedural Systems

This session is about bringing details to the chandelier and using more advanced curve-based modeling techniques. The session will also demonstrate the importance of planning ahead when working procedurally.

  • Expanding on Curve-Based Modelling Techniques
  • Exploring Grouping Methods
  • Identifying Points Using Attributes
  • Working With For-Loops

Instructor

Debra Isaac

Founder of Houdini.School

Debra Isaac is a visual artist, animator, and the founder of Houdini.School. She teaches at UCLA in the Design Media Arts Dept. and has over 10 years of experience teaching Houdini. She loves community building, hosts monthly Houdini Battles, and co-organizes The Los Angeles Houdini User group (LAHUG). She is passionate about scientific visualization, motion graphics, and emerging technologies. Her clients have included Intel, Mattel, and The UCLA Art|Sci Center.

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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

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REFUND POLICY:


Multi-Session Courses
Students may request a refund up to 1 day before the start of the course. Students may also withdraw from Multi-Session Courses at any time and are entitled to a pro-rated refund. The withdrawal date must be 1 day before the next class they intend to drop.

On-Demand Courses
All on-demand courses are non-refundable.

How to Drop a Class
Please send a request to drop a class via email to [email protected].
Your written request to drop any or all of your classes must include:
  1. Student’s full name
  2. Name of the course(s) being dropped

Testimonials

“Thanks Debra, was fun and makes me think how fast something like this can be done if you know what you are doing ”

Kyryl

“Heya! This was really cool, glad I caught the tweet this morning & signed up last minute I'm self-taught and only ever learned via recorded materials, it's so helpful being able to ask questions in real-time!”

Linsey Raymaekers

“Hi Deb, Your teaching style is brilliant and I'm learning a great deal from your procedural modeling class.”

Larry Groff

See you in Class!