Houdini is often used at major studios to bridge the gap between custom R&D/engineered solutions, and the end result produced by the artist. Very often the Houdini artist must take on a variety of technical challenges such as physics, rigging, logic, and scripting to accomplish the shot or task.
The topics in HOU202 are geared towards better preparing the artist/TD for challenges they may encounter in a studio setting by guiding students through two production scenarios. The first scenario is the development and deployment of a geometry breaking system using Houdini SOPs for procedural geometry processing, as well as Houdini DOPs for rigid body dynamics to create breaking effects. The second production scenario will guide the artist through the process of assembling a simple Houdini rig for crowd deployment, along with the development of a procedural crowd placement and randomization system using digital assets, hython (houdini python) scripting, and CHOPs.
With these two examples the Houdini artist can improve his/her on-the-job decision making process by learning skills such as when to choose proceduralism vs hand sculpting/animation, knowing the right time for scripting, and how to use Houdini's native features in simple ways to produce complex effects.
