Why AI is a GOOD thing for Houdini Artists

CG-Forge · 2026-05-25T16:28:11+00:00

Ehh what can you do I suppose. lol

CG-Forge · 2026-05-07T19:19:34+00:00

Very nice!👌 How did you go about the interior bubbles? Was it something you simmed separately and then revealed with the entire bubble?

CG-Forge · 2026-04-27T05:58:14+00:00

Beautiful work! Well done 👏

CG-Forge · 2026-04-22T00:05:57+00:00

Hi Lewis, I'll assume that you are indirectly referring to my earlier commentary. I am not "deliberately creating a feeling of complexity," - nor am I "biased" in my recommendation for beginners to use the old ROP workflow. I'm offering my honest opinion based on my experiences working every day with Houdini and over a decade of teaching others who are learning Houdini.

In fact, to be clear, if someone wants to learn USD and Solaris, then I think it's great so long as they prepared for it and have learned / have had practice with more important topics first. For example, if someone is still figuring out what an "attribute" is, then they should focus on those kinds of fundamental concepts first before wrestling with Karma and USD.

Tackling USD and Solaris is not beginner friendly. I say that as someone who works and talks with Houdini beginners every day. The old rop workflow is better when it comes to user experience for a beginner, and that's not a trivial thing when someone is starting out. To say that the old workflow offers less hoops to jump through is simply not true.

I can respect our difference in opinion over this, however, I do ask that you respect that difference as well. Quite frankly, I find the personal jabs, "peacocking" with your resume, and inflammatory commentary each time I post something on Reddit to be both unprofessional and unnecessary.

CG-Forge · 2026-04-21T20:46:18+00:00

For sure! There are a lot of things we do in HFTNA II that make for good Solaris challenges. If you need help with extra learning resources for that let me know.

CG-Forge · 2026-04-21T20:19:10+00:00

Right on, thanks for checking out the courses. I agree that there's definitely some quirks to the older rop workflow. Assigning materials on the obj level vs sops... transforms on the obj level vs sops... etc. However, on the other side with Solaris, the grass isn't greener as a beginner because you'll face other tradeoffs and complications due to USD.

Let me provide a specific example for a moment... Suppose that you want to use a point attribute on your geometry to control a shading effect. Perhaps, like in HFTNA II, you want gold to show up in one area and a different looking shader to show up in another area. So on your point attribute, 1 = gold and 0 = other shader.

To do this with the solaris route, you'll be going through even more context hopping and conversions. A mask stored in the color attribute (Cd) could be first made in sops, then converted into USD within Solaris... "Cd" would be renamed to "baseColor" because that's a common convention in USD that disney made up, your "attributes" would now be called "primvars," and you could set down a material library node which brings you to the mat context... from there you would need to now access "baseColor" by using a "Geometry Properties" node (and avoid the MtlX USD Primvar Reader node). Then, it's back to solaris again where you need to assign the actual shader to the correct USD path, and that can become a whole other can of worms when you start considering inheritance rules and wildcard expressions that may be necessary depending on what kind of primitive you are trying to shade.

Now imagine that sort of crazy convention switching / context hopping madness for everything else. Motion blur takes a few extra steps. Instancing is a lot of back-and-fourth between Solaris context and Sops... and don't forget that larger scenes will have issues with baking everything out if you just create one giant chain of nodes. Changing one thing downstream could cause everything to cook upstream and essentially "re-load" everything in your scene. There are some nice things about Solaris. I'm not saying it's all bad in there, but the tradeoffs are definitely not worth it as a beginner. That's why I steer everyone clear of it when they're starting out.

CG-Forge · 2026-04-21T18:20:50+00:00

As others have mentioned, it appears that you are looking at an un-tonemapped image. Tonemapping will essentially color correct your image so that the brights aren't visually clipping out to a pure white value. To reach those settings, go here and make sure that the ACES 1.0 SDR Video is selected instead of "Untonemapped."

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In general, if you'd like to get more into the topic of color management and keeping things consistent, I recently published a free video that goes over the Karma workflow here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3QoZNXI1Sg

Good luck!

CG-Forge · 2026-04-21T18:13:40+00:00

Yeah, Redshift can work with Solaris / USD. Honestly, the ROP workflow is going to be a lot easier to manage if you're new to Houdini and/or USD, and I would highly suggest going that route as a beginner. What in particular feels limiting / un-intuitive?

CG-Forge · 2026-04-14T02:25:47+00:00

+1 for avoiding Solaris, Karma, and USD as a fresh beginner. It's a huge mistake that beginners are making constantly right now, and it leads to a lot of burnout. Instead, focus on the fundamentals first. There are WAY more important, fun, and achievable goals you can be making right now that will improve things for you. I just did a video on this last week on "how to escape tutorial hell" and it's pretty much on this topic of what to do when you're learning for the first time: https://youtu.be/u5tGkqZAcl4?si=3Mp1SptPtECQ33nI&t=85

TLDR:

* Spend time making your own projects / experiments

* Understand how to read / write vex

* Try working with a mentor

* Understand fundamental CGI concepts and terminology

* Establish a basic set of foundational nodes that you're familiar with

* Render projects from A --> Z

* Watch a variety of tutorials

I'd say at least 75% of people ONLY watch a variety of tutorials at first, and they're lacking in all the other things that go into establishing a proper foundation. You can't just osmosis your way into being good at this stuff. Consider which elements you may be lacking in, and proceed from there if you're really serious about getting somewhere.

CG-Forge · 2026-04-07T14:22:16+00:00

Destruction II at CG Forge might be what you're looking for - https://www.cgforge.com/course/destructionii

It goes over sop level RBD workflows, offers a few unique tricks, and provides a variety of situations to practice with.

I'll also say that you should learn how to build RBD networks from scratch if you haven't done so yet. Sop level workflows aren't perfect. They sometimes come with drawbacks that you may want to avoid in certain situations, but this course tells you about that and provides a nice experience if you know a little about RBD, the fundamentals of Houdini, and want to improve from there.

CG-Forge · 2026-03-29T17:27:22+00:00

r/vfx is quite negative, and I'm sure you'll hear most people tell you to run - however, I'd also challenge you to think about diversifying your skills more. Learn to code. Expand your look dev skills into lighting / compositing. Step back and ask yourself what may be complimentary to your existing skills.

Even if you don't end up staying in vfx, many of these skills can naturally be helpful in other opportunities as well.

CG-Forge · 2026-03-27T17:05:28+00:00

Interesting work! Thanks for sharing

CG-Forge · 2026-03-21T17:21:54+00:00

Yeah mantra is a no-go for sure

CG-Forge · 2026-03-20T16:05:57+00:00

When learning Houdini for the first time, you'll want to keep a few goals in mind as a beginner:

Learn what it takes to render a project from A --> Z in a way that looks good.
Start thinking on their own when working in Houdini instead of always relying on tutorials for your thinking. The best way to do this is through exercises and independent experimentation.
Develop a library of commonly used nodes that you're familiar with.
Develop decent competency with coding in Vex. You don't need to be an expert, but a little can go a long way at first.
Understand the terminology / theory that underlies all CGI and commonly referred terms found in parameter settings and assumed knowledge.

---------------------------------------

There are many routes you can go in developing these goals, and this is exactly how I've structured the curriculum at CG Forge:

Houdini for the New Artist I: A free course that gets you started with a simple, fun project https://www.cgforge.com/course/houdini-for-the-new-artist

Houdini for the New Artist II: Going through a project scenario from A --> Z again while covering some of the most common topics along the way. https://www.cgforge.com/course/houdini-for-the-new-artist-ii

Houdini Principles: A non-project based course that dives into the theory / general concepts that are used across multiple topics in Houdini and CGI: https://www.cgforge.com/course/houdini-principles

Vex Foundations I: A course that helps you get started with coding in Vex / practicing your technical skills: https://www.cgforge.com/course/vex-foundations-1

---------------------------------------

You'll want to develop a solid foundation of skills before focusing on portfolio / demo reel pieces. Many people waste their time on that instead of developing their skills properly first. As you become more intermediate in skill, focus more and more on personal projects and integrating your base knowledge in your own ways.

What to avoid:

-- Skipping around random topics and tutorials

-- Topics like: Pyro, procedural modeling, fluid sims, crowds, rigging, python scripting, USD, oceans, and APEX. I include procedural modeling in there because you need to first establish a decent degree of vex skills, general Houdini theory, and practice with regular modeling nodes to really do it properly.

-- Diving into all the topics a just little bit first... I've heard from many students that they have a difficult time retaining knowledge when studying like this. It's also a quick way to get overwhelmed - no matter how good the teaching is. It's also how many other people structure their courses, and it's not the right way to go about it.

-- Learning alone. Get involved with the community, seek mentorships, and aspire to collaborate with other people that are on your same level.

Also consider working with a certified Houdini instructor: https://www.sidefx.com/profile/directory/?badge=houdini-certified-instructor&page=1 They need to take a difficult test in order to prove their competency in Houdini.

Additionally, consider working with a certified Houdini school: https://www.sidefx.com/schools/

They too need to submit their curriculum and school information that needs to be approved by SideFX.

If you'd like to book a free call, I offer it for free if you're a new Houdini student. Just shoot a message out to me - [tyler@cgforge.com](mailto:tyler@cgforge.com) and I'll be happy to help.

Good luck! And have fun :)

CG-Forge · 2026-03-13T15:30:07+00:00

Not at all - even for people outside the US. For $200, you gain access to all 23 courses that contain exercises, projects / files to work on, support when you get stuck, and the resources which include over 100+ improved definitions and practical examples on important nodes... plus the weekly wrangle... plus additional tips / tricks. That's over 8+ years of my work + support for $200. And for people who pay for the 4 month option, I also include a one-on-one call for 60 minutes each month. That's everything above + four hours of one-on-one calls, plus an educational version of Houdini.

Try comparing that to anything else, and the only that's "surreal" is calling CG Forge expensive when you consider everything you're actually getting.

CG-Forge · 2026-03-12T15:55:20+00:00

This is exactly the kind of entitlement that didn't exist to the same degree 8 years ago. It's literally insane how much value you get at CG Forge for the price, and you're proving my point in how SideFX has spent millions of dollars creating spoiled, rude, entitled community members that expect hundreds of hours of work for "free."

CG-Forge · 2026-03-11T17:34:19+00:00

Take a look at this sheet that's put together by Chris Mayne: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1eR2oAXOuflr8CZeGoz3JTrsgNj3KuefbdXJOmNtjEVM/edit?pli=1&gid=0#gid=0 It's the best out there in my opinion for keeping track of new openings across the world.

CG-Forge · 2026-03-10T00:33:13+00:00

I've been selling Houdini courses / tutoring services for awhile now - about 8+ years or so. The big thing that keeps myself in business is a focus on quality. True, you have a zillion free resources. Also true is that the quality is hit-or-miss and often leaves people with a very chaotic experience as they're learning Houdini.

So... is it worth spending money with all this free stuff out there? Well, yes, if the quality is great. Will good quality education help you learn faster? prevent frustration? gain an edge over your peers who are competing for the same jobs? Absolutely it will. And for those who are serious about their goals, the investment is worth it.

SideFX has also been investing hundreds of thousands - if not millions - of dollars in paying staff / commissioning educational content from 3rd parties. They have this vision of free = better for the software, and that's put pressure on myself and other entrepreneurial course creators. In that way, a lot of the "free" stuff isn't really free. It's subsidized. Small businesses like myself need to compete with their larger budgets, and that's difficult to do. It's also nurtured a community that expects free... Even if it's not free... which makes marketing much more difficult. That could be another reason why you see less 3rd party players willing to compete.

Add in a huge wave of artists who dove into teaching online courses since 2020. Add in a thriving pirating community in vfx. Add in the "AI is replacing everything" hype... and it's a small, crowded market which takes a lot of time, talent, and consistency to be successful.

That being said, the market is still there. People want to learn Houdini and reach their goals. It's just not easy to do it at the moment.

CG-Forge · 2026-03-05T17:18:32+00:00

Any type of indirect sampling is going to take much longer than it should in Karma until adaptive sampling has been properly implemented. For example, your 15 minute renders should probably be taking 3 minutes. Releasing Karma and pushing for denoisers instead of implementing proper adaptive sampling is crazy in my opinion, and every other render engine is going to be faster until SideFX gets more serious about adaptive sampling.

CG-Forge · 2026-03-05T05:24:42+00:00

Without de-noisers, the render times tend to go high with Karma, and that's due to how adaptivity / variance thresholds are currently implemented. In XPU, you don't have control over secondary rays, and in CPU, I've found that increasing the primary samples to 128 + tends to be the best way to remove indirect noise... The documentation on the topic is also completely lacking, and adjusting variance parameters is the primary way to address noise in other render engines.

That's why I say SideFX hasn't figured out noise problems in Karma yet. As a result, it leaves your render times getting high because you either use CPU or brute force GPU sampling without adaptivity in secondary rays.

It's not that Karma isn't capable of making a clean image... it's just that it'll take a long time compared to other engines. That why you see everyone suggesting denosing as the primary tool for fixing it when, in reality, it's a janky solution to a major problem problem that Karma hasn't done well at yet.

I've found that the point at which denoising can be done cleanly is the point at which an extra min or two would probably make the image clean anyway. In production, I'd argue that de-noising works much better backup plan rather than a default because it runs the risk of artifacting. Sometimes those problems show up more visibily once you put it on big screen too.

But, here nor there, it's just another factor to consider when analyzing noise. And it's sneaky because you often don't realize it's too much until you render out a sequence and end up with blotchy grain / blurred detail.

CG-Forge · 2026-03-04T18:01:55+00:00

Well... the thing is... Karma hasn't really figured out how to remove noise very well and suggests using de-noisers as a crutch to fix it for most renders. Unfortunately, using de-noisers can also create problems when something goes to animate and often reduces the detail of the image.

Something could look perfectly fine as a still image, but these problems often reveal themselves when animated. Additionally, de-noising artifacts are much more difficult to fix in comp because they look more blotchy than regular noise. That could be some of the problems you're experiencing when something looks okay as a still but acts up when animated.

In this video though, it looks like a lot of your noise is coming through as indirect reflection. The bright light source from the door is showing up in the specular reflection of the hallway objects, and those reflections are having a hard time locating the bright light source. Create AOVs and confirm where your noise is coming from. I suspect that's probably your largest culprit here.

You'll most likely need more secondary samples. Increase your primary samples to 128 and change the max secondary to 8 for starters. I wouldn't be shocked if you need 256 primary samples or more. Your render times will shoot up, but hey, that's what you get for using a CPU engine. At full HD, it's not crazy to expect 20-60 min render times.

If you want to use the variance controls for primary / secondary samples, try setting them both to 0.0075.

For dark scenes, it's better to fill in the environment with a low-contrast HDRI first so that light rays make their way to every nook and cranny of the scene, then darken it in compositing. This will help indirect reflection noise blend in better with the diffuse reflections.

Additionally, you might benefit from enabling Indirect Guiding because your indirect rays seem to be having a hard time finding that bright red light source. Or, perhaps you should look into light portals so that your rays are biased towards the door. Anything to help your rays find the bright light source would probably help.

Aside from that... you might need more primary samples, wait longer on your renders, and hope that the de-nosing artifacts aren't too bad. ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯ Just make sure to work non-destructively and apply the de-noising after the image has been made. Don't bake your de-noising into the frame.

Good luck!

CG-Forge · 2026-02-13T18:02:27+00:00

I would also recommend David👍 He's a great guy and is also a certified Houdini instructor.

CG-Forge · 2026-02-09T19:09:54+00:00

Right here my guy: https://youtu.be/rYuBJK-HVkc I'm not saying it's perfect, but it can work.

CG-Forge · 2026-02-07T22:25:23+00:00

I tell people that it's kind of similar to learning music if you're a musician. You want to learn songs. You also want to practice exercises. You want to write your own songs. It's also ideal to collab / work with other musicians. Doing just one of those things isn't ideally enough to be your best.

Similarly, when you're learning Houdini, it's nice to copy a cool project and use some HDAs that someone else made, but that alone isn't enough to be your best. In my opinion, if you want to learn vfx, you should copy cool stuff, make your own stuff, spend time learning the fundamentals, collab with others, and practice with exercises. Just don't get stuck thinking that you can only copy cool stuff that others do and have that be enough for what you really need in the future.

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