Creating Custom Houdini Solvers with VEX Wrangles
Wrangle nodes are one of the most powerful and versatile workflows available in Houdini, which is why they’re so popular with professionals. This course will teach you how to use them to achieve sophisticated solutions. Software required: Houdini 15.
What you'll learn
Often while working on high-end feature films, TV shows, or commercials, it is necessary to create completely procedural setups that are both robust and controllable. This course, Creating Custom Houdini Solvers with VEX Wrangles, is designed to teach you techniques and workflows to help achieve exactly that. In this course, you will learn how to create sophisticated setups that are required to achieve a completely procedural sticky slime system. First, you will learn to utilize Wrangle nodes extensively with VEX scripting to create a dynamic Sticky Constraint Solver that will be the driving force behind the whole system. In addition to the Sticky Constraint Solver, you will learn how Wrangle nodes can be used inside a DOP Network to control a Position-Based Dynamics Solver, otherwise known as the Grain Solver. The course will also take you through how FLIP simulations can be used to complement the effect. By the end of this course, you'll have the practical skills to achieve robust, controllable and procedural setups for high-end Houdini VFX projects. Required Software: Houdini 15.
Table of contents
- Attribute Retention 11m
- Proximity Connections Part 1 12m
- Proximity Connections Part 2 10m
- Proximity Connections Part 3 6m
- Constraint Breaking Part 1 11m
- Constraint Breaking Part 2 5m
- Generating Connection Geometry Part 1 11m
- Generating Connection Geometry Part 2 8m
- Generating Connection Geometry Part 3 12m
- Preparing the Geometry for DOP's Part 1 10m
- Preparing the Geometry for DOP's Part 2 8m
- Creating the DOP Network 5m
- Accessing the Sticky Constraint Geometry within DOPs 12m
- Setting up Breakable Constraints Part 1 10m
- Setting up Breakable Constraints Part 2 9m
- Dynamically Updating the Rest Length 8m
- Introducing Collision Objects 11m
About the author
Beau Garcia is a Senior FX Technical Director at Double Negative, London. Originally from Australia, Beau began his career in television and commercials, where he primarily operated in Maya as a Character TD before making his way to animated feature films. Beau has worked in the Visual Effects industry for over 8 years and has spent the last 5 years specializing in effects, primarily using Houdini. Some of his most recent experiences include creating a massive “Aether” tornado, constructing real... more