Simon Holmedal | Remote workflow, Future of CG Industry, Switching to Houdini

Mentorship & Discord chat: / lebrov
Check out Simon & His teams work:
Website: panoply.co.uk
NFT: makersplace.com/simonholmedal
Timecodes:
00:00 - Intro
01:37 - Remote work
05:32 - The Benefits of being Remote
07:30 - Hardware for Houdini
09:54 - VEX vs VOPs
10:29 - Switching from C4D to Houdini
13:03 - Lockdown consequences
17:14 - Render Engines (bad sound)
18:54 - Artistic Preferences (bad sound)
21:03 - Referencing the real world (bad sound)
22:47 - Inspiration (bad sound)
25:16 - Research and development (bad sound)
28:55 - HDAs (bad sound)
33:50 - Inspirational artists (bad sound)
36:12 - Early Years
39:49 - Competition in the Industry
42:10 - Nuke vs. Fusion
45:40 - AOVs
47:59 - Overcoming Creative Blocks
50:35 - Chaos vs. Organised Hierarchy
53:43 - Panoply in 10 Years
55:53 - Simon in 10 Years
59:51 - Cryptoart
01:03:33 - Production Times
01:05:30 - Prep Stage
01:09:53 - DOF & Motion Blur
01:11:11 - Tips for Houdini Newcomers
01:15:10 - Self-Development
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𝗨𝘀𝗲𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗖𝗚 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗩𝗙𝗫 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘁𝘀: goo.gl/8y5znz
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𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺: / andreylebrov
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𝗠𝘆 𝘄𝗲𝗯𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲: lebrov.com
Business inquiries: [e-mail]

[@BUONCO]

This guy has changed the industry. Awesome to see him on here!

[@joacim.w]

Thank you Andrey! It’s not often I watch a feature-length interview but this one was pure gold. Good questions, nice edit and overall a really interesting conversation between two really talented dudes! Big up!

[@lowmoon9025]

Really enjoyed this, thanks both of you for sharing your insights with us. I find this kind of informal but structured chat a lot more valuable than tutorials, getting inside the heads of artists and understanding why they make technical and artistic choices is just so interesting. Great stuff and really appreciated.

[@rafaellino7168]

Good call on making a podcast Andrey. Amazing stuff and such a great great designer who's been groundbreaking in the industry.

[@officiallyazzam]

Just wanted to say thanks for all the mentions of the software and websites and subtle information on the side. As someone who is starting out and even people who might not be aware of it, great help. Thank you so much and please don't stop,

[@sxrxush]

Simon is an inspirational artist... He is the reason that I've started to learn Houdini It's great that you interviewed him

[@paulpierantozzi]

Andrey, this is an excellent interview. Going into this I didn't know anything about Simon and now I feel like I want to dive head first into houdini! Keep up the incredible work man.

[@damiansendin1339]

I still remember how much I learned from simon holmedal's first c4d tutorials, a long time from that, we're getting old

[@atulmanjhi3560]

Thank for sharing this outstanding interview of Simon with us and very thankful of both Artists 😘

[@cosmovski]

always love hearing Simon speaking. Seen a fair few of his houdini lectures and hes always got something fascinating to say

[@mayankeshranjan]

Totally loved this interview. Big fan of Simon's work for long time. Completely agree with him whatever he shared about Houdini. Thank you Andrey for putting this up.

[@workflowinmind]

I really love the setting of this conversation, with no crew, and trust me I've watched 3 hour-long conferences with shitty sound and cropped slides... Thanks for making this happen!!

[@LetsTalkAboutFeelings]

Such a pleasure to hear you two talk.. very calming and inspiring. thank you :)

[@nickseils8193]

This definitely inspired me! Thanks Andrey! I'm looking forward to all your videos in the future!

[@swezkhan]

I was waiting for this so badly, now let me watch it now

[@alainhanni4874]

Thank you for this very helpful interview, Andrey! You are so talented yet so humble! That is very inspiring!!!

[@kylejennings819]

i loooved this longer format. more, please!

[@jonnylynn2586]

Really enjoyed this. I'm a long time max user currently learning to bring tyflow into my work but very interesting to hear about other perspectives and workflows.

[@rubberdog]

I'm new to 3D after working in 2D graphics industry for years, you guys are a inspiration, thanks for sharing your skills and techniques, you've opened a new creative world to me...cheers!!

[@somerandomguy1373]

Andrey you're my inspiration ❤️... Please post more often... ❤️❤️... I love your content

[@lafamigliadimax]

Two legends of CG in the same video, I really enjoyed it! I love all the stuffs of Simon, great interview, I love this kind of contents! Good Job Andrey

[@bush9686]

you both are so great! thanks very much for this conversation!

[@blackspear217]

Andrey, you've been one of my favorite and most inspiring KZbinrs every since I found you at around 20k subscribers. Back then, I was a novice myself and only used blender and did the most basic stuff. since then I've traveled to Vancouver, Canada and have evolved into a using blender, Maya, houdini, zbrush, nuke and many more tools dependent on the production pipeline and the project requirements. I found myself always coming back here because your videos were never truly "tutorials" but principles which I believe is far more important when trying to build a solid 3D animation and VFX foundation. I truly hope you'll do more of these podcast type videos. You're a natural at it and I appreciate the fact that you made a full breakdown in the description. Cheers man!

[@AndreyLebrov]

So happy to see it is useful. Will do my best to make more content like this. Thank you

[@xurrmusic]

EVERY VIDEO OF ANDREY'S IS LIKE A NEW PRODUCTION EACH! Thanks a lot for always giving us your best!

[@antoniopepe]

I'm also making the switch to Houdini. Despite being 3d for more than 15 years I found I really appreciate some things that I did not know before. it is truly another level of control. You two are always inspirational

[@ahmedshakib3883]

Me too , I think Procedural is the way , plus with a bit of coding and automation the results are limitless.

[@fauramusic]

Very nice format! Pls, more interviews with colleagues! Thanks, Andrey!

[@Alberto-dk3pj]

Single most fascinating neo-3D indusrtry direction insight interview. My only regret is I could not hit the like button more than once. Bravo!

[@glorious_vv]

Great conversation. Looking for the next ones!

[@3rdDim3nsn3D]

So informative! I recently started working in a big studio and especially the "burning out in the first months" part got me! I am working on big projects now and i catch myself every time that i think i need to be better, i need to be better.... that was inspiring man! Love from Germany buddy 🔥

[@luvair6765]

Which section was that?

[@3rdDim3nsn3D]

@@luvair6765 i think it was in "the early years" section, not sure tho i watched it straight through 😉

[@FarshSchafer]

Happy to see you both

[@wesselvanwegen5872]

HUGE fan of both of you. Thanks for sharing this!

[@Tim_2060]

Yeah, in-depth compositing tutorials would be awesome! Just overall a great video with many tips.

[@user-on2rr8gl1v]

Thank you Andrey and Simon

[@25328802]

So nice to see your studio grows bigger and bigger, still remember the Darth Maul figure which was on the shelf :)

[@serjkirchano1931]

thanks for the interview!

[@thehatchery4253]

Great interview, really enjoyed watching

[@jbach]

Best interview ever. Thanks Andrey.

[@th_studio3d]

Brazil here ... ♥ Awesome, really cool. I'm starting my career and get some advices and watch every videos i can of your channel, and when it starts to make sense i enter in another bubble without comfort so i can burst again..

[@nickjamesgordon]

What a really great interview. More please!

[@theCreativeSav]

So inspirational guys! Thank you. You make me wanna reach for a lot more🙏❤

[@kasmedify]

Blender Shout out!! yeaah Way to go!

[@philippwelsing9108]

Great interview, thanks for this!

[@hamidvisuals]

Such a good podcast. Love the style of your channel.

[@Ruan3D]

Great discussion guys! I changed to work-from-home in 2020 and there is NO WAY that I can ever work in an office environment ever again. I'm so much more productive, less stressed out, everything is just way better.

[@NeerajLagwankar]

Thanks a lot for interviewing this legend!

[@pragmaticvfx]

Awesome video, 2 legends!

[@TempyEdits]

Awesome Pod, appreciate this so much!

[@gillesdillenseger6472]

I'm using C4D for 10+ years now and trying to switch to houdini, this was definetly inspirational, thanks guys 😃

[@b-almighty7182]

Absolutely wonderful thank you so much!

[@pelimotion5715]

Amazing content bro, thanks from Brazil

[@iLEZ]

This was amazing, I found this only now, thanks for sharing!

[@darkfx3456]

Very good content Lebrov. Thanks for this opus 👌

[@BartMiko]

Haven't seen Simon from moving out from MvM, good to see you guys. I can not even imagine navigating without 3d connection in C4D now Pozdrawiam😉

[@fazalfazi2141]

wow! excellent Inrerview, Andrey❤️❤️❤️

[@VineetKumar-nx3sk]

Now I feel kind of relieved that even Andrey struggles so much in Houdini.

[@sams_3d_stuff]

Two of my most fav CG people

[@mohanpugaz]

Im a big fan of both these guys 😍 surprising to seem both in one place 🤩

[@AdamKarlsson]

More of this would be great, watched full video!

[@peterxbuilt]

Awesome interview !

[@gusmendez2564]

Been watching simons tutorials for years. His tutorial for animating and mixing vertex weights in c4d were very eye opening.

[@brucewayne243]

Where he uploads his tutorials?

[@HardwellM]

Hey andrew ,we really miss ,amazing contents from you , new tutorials about cg

[@lakshyasharma1]

He seems freaking like a monk acceding to each level of art without bragging and showing off... He is doing wonders in his world....andrey.. you may also learn a lot from him and we from you.

[@coletosh3683]

Great Show, thanks for alll of your help

[@zakirali8721]

thanks for sharing ur thoughts. inspiring and awesome

[@ebindboby6020]

New workspace seems dope 🔥🔥🔥

[@yemdigital]

Good job, Andrey! 🤟

[@AndreaMunegato]

Thanks for this!

[@sergyxyz]

I can't believe that I watched 1 hour and 20 minutes of pure gold content for free

[@KinematicLAB]

Super interesting interview guys !

[@GuilhermePulice]

great one dude!

[@studiobasler3558]

good interview!

[@paularnold2124]

My inspiration after this video is through the roof🙋🏾‍♂️🙋🏾‍♂️

[@nickjito]

That’s 2 very important dudes shooting the shit.

[@TheChillzoneX]

"My name is Barry Allen" - Just happy to see you uploading again .

[@timotionz]

Keep it up, my man!

[@randmcnally.]

01:12:50 - this right here is the reason I am moving away from c4d after a decade - when you constantly choke the software in your work. great video thanks so much Andrey and Simon!

[@matejivi]

wow, thank you!

[@kamaur01]

Thank you for this

[@vahidzarei2111]

Really nice talk!

[@sanjarbeknazarov5108]

Big Thanks bro!

[@carlherner9458]

great talk!

[@FabioPereiraS]

Simon is legendary.

[@medupemokone8503]

Really like your voice Andrey, you sound like a simulated voice 🤣. Thanks for the inteview man this guy is a champ. love him

[@selcouth8269]

My Idol

[@N3.1Kryuk]

Thanks, was cool

[@sleepingonthecouch95]

That part with Steven Knipping course is so relatable. haha.

[@andreybagrichuk5365]

UUUUUUUU INCREDIBLE MATERIAL!!!!!!!!!!!

[@robertYoutub]

I understand the Nuke argument, but I figured out how to do that in Fusion, its a simple preset I did and now I have one read that fills all the outputs. And yeah Fusion Netrender is key!

[@dewbzki]

How did you do that if I may ask? Is it a Macro?

[@robertYoutub]

@@dewbzki No, I load all channels in one node using the additional channels below Z. Then splitting it up with a boolean.

[@dewbzki]

@@robertYoutub Ah. I’ll be trying that this weekend then. Thank you!

[@sleepday777]

Thanks! 🙏

[@DenA-sd3fi]

Спасибо Андрюха! Хороший видос. Давай больше инфы по гудини

[@daveweinstock]

You should do more of these with other artists!

[@harun3Ddigitalartist]

thank you...

[@ocdvfx]

So good, I'd love to hear your thoughts about what tools in blender that have you interested in migrating software

[@BigAl444]

Great interview for sure. I remember watching Simon doing a guest tutorial for Nick Campbell, the Greyscale Gorilla, way back in the day. He looked like a kid. I am sad to lose both of the guys from the Cinema 4D community, at least for the most part. Is that Jon Snow summoning the cold air to cool the GPUs?

[@mareknetzel]

Really nice and inspiring talk! I switch to Houdini in 2010 after 10 years of max/xsi/c4d and it was a bit painful at the beginning as there was not much to learn from plus I had some unpractical attitude towards it. But I never looked back and Houdini never failed me in real production. I must say that Houdini adoption across the industry takes about 10x longer then I initially assumed it will. People seemed to still be afraid or suspicious about it or keep on clinging to what they already know or invested in. I also switched to Fusion and it sucks :D but I still use it mostly for financial reasons :D Cheers!

[@xanzuls]

What about fusion that sucks to you?

[@mareknetzel]

@@xanzuls mostly python binding...

[@djanitatiana]

Hey Andrey, just to reinforce what Simon says, I'm also making the journey from Maya to Houdini, have been doing it for a couple of years and I have the same thing as you expressed - doing tons of Kniping Applied Houdini, Varomix, fxphd etc etc etc and for ages it was do the tutorial then boom! Cant remember how to ray a point down or write a particular VOP. Very frustrating. Then one it all starts to come together in a weird way - like learning a really weird different spoken language. You just suddenly start thinking the right way. Very discouraging but hang in there.

[@sergyxyz]

That's great to know! I also com from Maya and I plan to start with Houdini soon. I really don't know what to expect, but as Maya, it is already a complex (buggy) software itself, I feel kinda optimistic about it. What's the number one thing that you feel a Maya user should keep in mind when moving to Houdini?

[@djanitatiana]

​@@sergyxyz Well there's a few things but if we had to narrow it to just one it would be this: When you start Houdini it feels so different and alien to how you've been doing everything up to now but as you progress in Houdini you eventually realise that they're quite similar, it's just that Maya hides so much of it's workings away from the user. So the main thing is push through those early disheartening sessions and it will feel less weird as you go on. Other important things (to me): I found the viewport, selection and "component" modes in Houdini not very intuitive and quite different to Maya. SO I would suggest putting time into understanding how Houdini differentiates between points, vertices, edges, and primitives (their word for "Faces") and how to select and manipulate them. Try to get an understanding of materials and ROPS and how to output your images to the render view and file early in the process. Maya makes that easy with the viewport 2.0 etc so learning the path early inHoudini will help you keep your bearings. Conceptualizing Houdini's proceduralism versus Maya's step-by-step incremental process is important. One of the best descriptions I read of Houdini is that it is like a set of instructions for building 3D. You create the node network, the nodes process the data and boom! the thing is made. Maya by comparison is more like building a brick wall. You have to lay one course before you lay the next one higher. Good luck.

[@sergyxyz]

@@djanitatiana thank you!

[@kmolnardaniel]

Simon is a very humble guy. I'm constantly inspired by his stuff, and not just visually, but technically he is really artistic in the way he uses seemingly unrelated tools. The stuff that he creates seems "obvious" as a result, but man, just try to recreate some of his setups, and you realise how crazy he is.

[@vodahlava]

yes, Simon is indeed super humble dude. This interview was fantastic to watch, especially knowing how hard it is to do things with people in person these days. Also great to see/listen to normal conversation :) it's a rare thing these days...

[@mikkelmelby]

coolbeans! great stuff

[@fope2010]

my mentors

[@jirivalasek7644]

Steven Kniping? I watched some even 10x :D on a tube, waiting for a bus... plenty of space to watch this guy over and over :) Simon is really like a Hollywood star for every Houdini artist :) thanks for the interview

[@nirubansatchithanandakumar3266]

Andrey and Simon in one room. Wow