HS-203: Character Design and Modeling
Students will leave the class with a range of new techniques for designing and creating variations of original characters in Houdini and learning to use the program to quickly create new designs.
Course Overview
Class Description:
This course will walk students through the process of creating a character in Houdini from concept to a full 3D model that can be rigged, animated, lit, and rendered. We will use a number of VDB and boolean operations to create semi-procedural character designs quickly in Houdini based on sketches that we will also create and iterate on in the program.
Learning Outcomes:
Students will leave the class with a range of new techniques for designing and creating variations of original characters in Houdini and learning to use the program to quickly create new designs.
Course curriculum
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1. Introduction
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2. Setting up HDAs and Radial Menu
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1. Set Up
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2. Advantages of Hotkeys
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1. Draw Curve VS Stroke SOP
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1. Sketching Concept Art
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About this course
- $45.00
- 30 lessons
- 1.5 hours of video content
Character Design and Modeling
★ Introduction + installing HDAs ★ Character Designs and sketches ★ Procedural techniques for modeling characters ★ Blocking out the model ★ Painting attributes and preparing the model for shading and rigging
- Defining Meshes and 2D Transformations
- Homogeneous Coordinates
- Transforming 3D Meshes via 4D
- Multiplying Matrices to Adjoin Objects
- Inverse Matrices and Applications
- Optimization of Matrix Computations
- Challenges: Degeneracy, Euler Interpolation, Gimbal Lock
- Quaternions in Rotation Computation
- Linear Blend Skinning and Deformation Hierarchies
Instructor
Christopher Rutledge
CG Artist / Filmmaker
Chris is a CG Artist / Filmmaker based in the USA who likes to make floppy characters. He has made a number of shorts and music videos that have screened at festivals, aired on Adult Swim, and received Vimeo Staff Picks. He has also worked as a freelancer in commercials. Since starting his career he has pivoted his software arsenal to be focused entirely around Houdini, for which he is a staunch advocate. You can find a number of tutorials on his YouTube and Gumroad pages, as well as linked on his useful free Houdini resources doc www.houdininerd.com .
WHAT YOU NEED TO TAKE THIS COURSE
- Computer (Please see SideFx system requirements)
- https://www.sidefx.com/Support/system-requirements/
- A second monitor is recommended, but not necessary
- Houdini (Apprentice License is free)
- Exoside Quadremesher (optional)
- CR's Quick VDB Modeling HDAs (included in the course)
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:
- Student’s full name
- Name of the course(s) being dropped
Testimonials
“Got to do @tokyomegaplex 's Character Design in Houdini class today through @HoudiniSchool, and took the opportunity to make my favorite (and the derpiest) #pokemon I could think of. The class is fantastic - 10/10 most fun I've had in Houdini in a while. https://twitter.com/Aeyoqen/status/1432892905778077697 ”
Psy