Jun 2, 2020VEX Tips & Tricks: If -statements, Ternaries, and Group SyntaxWell, I’m now a proud holder of a BFA in visual effects. My post graduation plan was to travel a bit and then get a job, but that isn’t happening, which leaves plenty of time for existing in Houdini-land. VEX is a C-based language, so most of these won’t be…Houdini1 min readHoudini1 min read
Feb 1, 2020Exporting Alembic Files from Houdini Using the Path AttributeWhen you export a model from Houdini using the ROP Alembic Output node, it comes into Maya as one mesh — no subfolders or anything. The brute force method of separating the Maya mesh and piecing it back together can be used, but that’s too time-consuming and Houdini has already…Houdini5 min readHoudini5 min read
Published inThe Startup·Oct 30, 2019Fractal Fun: The Cantor SetWhen I was eight, my mom brought home a math book from the library. This wasn’t any old math book; it told of the weird side of math— the side that contained fractals and mobius strips. Mobius strips were easy to make: take a strip of paper, twist it once…Programming7 min readProgramming7 min read
Apr 15, 2019Transferring Color Attributes in RenderMan for Houdini (and a few other quirks)For my first project for VSFX 319: Programming Models and Shaders (aka the RenderMan class), we were assigned to make a pop-up book. Although the class was taught entirely in Maya, I chose to do the assignment in Houdini to stretch my skills (and because it’s currently my favorite package…Programming2 min readProgramming2 min read
Apr 3, 2019Seashell Generator in HoudiniThis is a seashell generator created for Exercise 1 of VSFX 428: Particles and Procedural Effects. The goal of this project is to be comfortable with both VEX and VOPS. It is based off a SIGGRAPH paper, Modeling Seashells. The generator can create the shell using both VEX and VOPs…Design5 min readDesign5 min read
Feb 24, 2019Peach Tree Generator in HoudiniThis is my dailies blog for a peach tree generator I am creating for my final project for VSFX 406: Concept Development for Visual Effects. I intend to use this as a chance to become more familiar with vectors in Houdini. Project Scope End goal: The goal of this final project is…Houdini9 min readHoudini9 min read
Feb 13, 2019Calculating Angles in HoudiniSo I find myself doing things that involves angles and basic trigonometry way too much, so I figured I’d write up a little document that I could copy and paste from every time I needed to calculate some angles. Let’s get started. First, get some points into your scene. If…Mathematics3 min readMathematics3 min read
Jun 28, 2018Packing for SCADWell, here we are. It’s barely four months before the fall quarter starts, but I remember I had friends who had completely finished planning packing by now and had completely packed two months before school started, only to unpack because move-in day was pushed back a week thanks to the…Scad6 min readScad6 min read
Feb 18, 2018Art Supplies You Might Want to Bring to SCADOne question that incoming freshmen ask me again and again is, “What sort of art supplies should I bring?” The short answer: everything you have and can possibly bring. But if you’re flying to SCAD, you probably won’t have space for all of your art supplies. Unless you come to…Art2 min readArt2 min read
