How I Learned Houdini

In this video I'm sharing on how I started learning Houdini and things along the way that helped me with learning Houdini.
This goes back to when I was studying at Digital Arts & Entertainment, this all started with my end assignment.
Starting simple is also very important here, learn the basics and the features/nodes Houdini offers. With a basic understanding of Houdini you can start building you first smaller tools.
Houdini has been something that I used almost everyday for 3 years and using it so often helped me grow slowly over time. From very basic stuff to slowly more advanced tools.
As a beginner I tried using simple nodes and stayed away from complex nodes, like VEX,VOP,...
After more then a year I took it more serious and looked more into complex nodes and systems of Houdini.
Houdini has a lot of different ways of working and the more you experiment the more you learn.
This is also a 10K special, thanks everyone for Subscribing!!!
-Resources
DAE: www.digitalartsandentertainme...
GDC 2017: vimeo.com/210679269
My first Tools: www.artstation.com/artwork/1P8J3
eXiin: exiin.com/
Polycount: polycount.com/
Artstation blog: www.artstation.com/siver/blog
Cg wiki: www.tokeru.com/cgwiki/index.p...
Blender Guru: • The #1 habit beginner ...
Lego Beginner tutorial: • Procedural Lego Bricks...
First House tool: • Houdini house generati...
-TimeStamps
00:00 Intro
00:27 How It Started
02:24 Start Simple
06:52 Internship/First Job
08:48 Sharing Work
10:53 Daily work

[@AnecProductions]

As someone who wants to learn houdini but is super intimidated by it i am thankful for this video

[@TB-cq3tl]

I have been learning and I'll say that don't let houdini intimidate you. Just because it has 5000000 nodes doesn't mean you need to use them all. You can do so much with like 10 basic nodes. Also, because it's procedural, its impossible to make mistakes, you can always just delete the node or undo. Very freeing

[@yatishjain7799]

@@TB-cq3tl heyy actually I needed some help as even I'm entering the world of vfx so is there any chance I can text you ?

[@TB-cq3tl]

@@yatishjain7799 message me on ig, aforestsociety. And I'll see what i can do to help out

[@BrandonLeeSmith]

Curious how many people watching this accidentally thinking this was a Simon Holmedal video. Even the voice sounds similar. Listened to the whole story just utterly confused as it was completely different than what I knew previously. Then I realized its simon HOUDINI.

[@SLPCaires]

More correct to say, `how I learn Houdini` in the present tense, because you never stop learning Houdini, and that's what is cool about it :)

[@awesomedata8973]

That is also what is _terrifying_ about Houdini too.

[@jonosvlog9913]

Being consistent is one of the if not the hardest thing to archieve tbh. Thanks for the video!

[@cybermad64]

Great job man and thanks for all the sharing! You are an inspiration for everybody trying to get into learning houdini :)

[@nodesofnature603]

That house tool really helped when I first started learning Houdini. Nice to hear about your journey!

[@hglankshear]

Great video, I love hearing about people's personal journey and what it took for them to learn Houdini. Thanks for sharing!

[@MaceWindoo77]

Hi Simon and thank you for this video ! And yes, a separate video tutorial will be very awesome !

[@cerealnpixels]

I'm in the process of learning Houdini, originally coming from 3ds max and maya, and I found this video very inspirational and informative thanks for sharing

[@OneFoxArcade]

How fascinating, I'm currently following the same path you did. I'm at DAE and fell in love with houdini when they taught it there. You are right they started teaching it to first years as well in the context of math courses to help visualize difficult concepts, and learn houdini as well. It's a small world ^^

[@SzymonWarunek]

I am very impressed,that: you are one of the persons - who has been able to learn such dificult software from scratch to the highest level!

[@michael_mc_donald]

Thanks Simon! Nice to hear about your journey.

[@sebastianbielecki5056]

Great video man! Love to see that scifi set in action haha! Amazing work!

[@josy6436]

You're a true hero!

[@showmedesign]

Great video Simon, thanks for sharing.

[@deano4906]

Great inspiration! I also like to use Houdini because it has totally different ways of structure than any other 3D softwares.

[@awesom4ik]

Thank you for this insight !

[@ThiagoLaranjeiraZerooneBit]

i love u man seriously

[@yobooboy5591]

Thanks for the insight!

[@JacobZaguri]

Thank you Simon, it is inspiring

[@magneticanimalism7419]

Simon, I am surprised you even have to ask, yes please we would love to see a longer explanation on the Sci-Fi panels.

[@bwvanlith]

Houdini is kind of a rabbit hole....I think it would be way more useful (for beginners at least) if you get to learn some high level concepts before walking the narrower path of a full project. PixelFondue is doing something great with 25 second videos on one tool/node. Love your videos, Simon!

[@davidblissett5315]

Great video Simon. Good stuff!!! Where is your rope tool? I've not seen that before :)

[@Mysonb4me]

Je Engels is echt top. Nice work.

[@vinderesual]

im watching this while im downloading houdini :)

[@benlemoine75]

Thanks for the video simon ! i was wondering what is the texturing software your using for the scifi panel ? i don't recognize any of the one i know...

[@ColdSurfer]

Marmoset

[@benlemoine75]

@@ColdSurfer thanks !

[@carlinhosjm88]

is houdini apprentice any diferent from the paid version ? in terms of resolts and ui etc. i know it comes out with a water mark our something.

[@simonhoudini5074]

Apprentice version has render limitations, export limitations, no Houdini engine,.. and some other things. Almost all nodes will work in apprentice so it is great for getting started

[@jinxxpwnage]

Simon I'm really interested in houdini however my school here in my hometown doesn't really teach it and i can't seem to find a course catered to my interests. Do you think i could hire you as an occasional mentor? Or is that not something you do?

[@simonhoudini5074]

Currently I don’t do any mentorships. How I mainly learned Houdini was from KZbin and follow the videos that I found interesting (and of course a lot of google stuff)

[@PLOFstudio]

Sorry if this question its too dumb, but, whats the software you used to create the textures ??

[@simonhoudini5074]

Here I tried something different, which is called Marmoset Toolbag. Usually I use the Substance painter or designer

[@marcsole1810]

Thanks Simon! I'm considering open a KZbin channel to share my work.

[@mohamelsadig]

That's a great way to learn, through teaching. I might just do that myself!

[@RunTheTape]

Subbed. Starting learning Houdini now. Any courses you can recommend?

[@BBSsongs]

just type this exact comment in google and you will find hundreds of resources and forums discussing this topic

[@RunTheTape]

@@BBSsongs that’s exactly my problem. There are too many. And from learning blender I can tell you that you can learn things the wrong way if you just google around. I was refering to a payed/curated professional course meant to teach you the right way from the get go. Also, don’t be a smartass to people who never harmed you.

[@milandelaet6380]

@@RunTheTape There's a bunch of learning content from Sidefx themselves. Simon also makes tutorials for them on specific tools. But there's also intro courses on there, so just search on there for things that interest you and it will be good :D

[@simonhoudini5074]

It depends on what you want to do. If you are very new then follow videos around the basics, like the “Houdini isn’t scary” serie (just don’t watch too old videos) After that I would focus around something, like what do you want to learn: proc modelling, tools, simulations,….

[@zalebi6745]

I am 17 and from Nepal. I love VFX CGI stuffs and started with blender, but should i choose it as career ? If yes, then how should I start ? And blender is not a industry standard software. I want to learn Houdini, I hadn't used Houdini before. And is it compulsory to choose science, because I'm management (Computer Science) student .

[@simonhoudini5074]

Software is not the most important part, I recommend choosing one to start and stick to it. What is more important is knowing how to make something look good for movie or game (so you can build a portfolio) . Both Blender and Houdini are great, both have their own strengths.

[@branpatrobinson]

Are you available for hire? Is it ok to post a link here to help me find houdini artists?

[@itx_war]

Sir how many hours give Houdini in per day

[@carlosrivadulla8903]

video request: may u try to recreate with houdini and mixer the double uv workflow seen on this video? kzbin.info/www/bejne/i5WsmKqch7-lj9E

[@jamesmather7896]

Great tutorial but cutting away to random screens of other things thereby missing crucial steps is pretty annoying. Maybe pause the tutorial next time.

[@simonhoudini5074]

On the channel you can find a video that fully focussed on the creation of these panels

[@jamesmather7896]

@@simonhoudini5074 fantastic. Thank you. I learned a lot.

[@othoapproto9603]

It's not the learning, it's the paying for it that worries me.

[@villain42]

that's why they have the free learning and the cheap indie license! check the details you may be fine with an indie license.

[@hglankshear]

luckily its not really that expensive