Courses Architectural Design Houdini for Beginners 101

Houdini for Beginners 101

Name: Houdini for Beginners 101
Price: 30.00 EUR

This course focuses on teaching the fundamentals of Houdini for absolute beginners to create captivating designs

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Overview
Content
Instructors
Reviews

Date:

Mar 19, 2025

Duration:

6 Hours

Difficulty:

Beginner

Language:

English

Certificate:

Yes

Registration:

€30.00

Tutor:

Mümün Keser

Members:

25.50 EUR (57.50%) discount

Recordings:

Available Indefinitely

Gift The Course

Introduction of the workshop:

Houdini is a powerful software that allows users to create highly complex models in a remarkably short time and has recently attracted increasing interest from architects. This course is designed for beginners and design enthusiasts who want to start learning Houdini.

The course serves as an introduction to the intricate and captivating world of Houdini, guiding participants in creating complex workflows and integrating them into an architectural context. The primary goal is to familiarise each student with the user interface, master basic and advanced techniques, and develop efficient working practices within the software.

The focus of the course is to provide students with a basic understanding of procedural modeling and its workflow. Students will learn how to work with algorithms to not only achieve complexity but also to enhance any given geometry. In addition, the course will highlight the key differences between traditional and procedural modeling approaches.

What You’ll Learn?

Learn procedural modeling through node-based workflows in Houdini.

Develop complex geometries with variations using procedural techniques.

Explore core features like DOPS, VELLUM, and solvers for dynamic systems.

Refine models for finalization and visualization.

Methodology:

Through hands-on experience, participants will gain a solid understanding of node-based procedural modeling in Houdini and explore a wide range of geometry and surface-based functionalities. The course will comprehensively introduce most of Houdini's built-in features, such as VOPS, VEX, DOPS, VELLUM, and Loops.

In addition, we will see how to finalize and refine the geometry we create to prepare it for export or rendering in other software.

By the end of the course, students will be able to work comfortably with Houdini, develop their own procedural applications and models that can be adapted for different tasks and purposes.

Through procedural techniques, they will discover methods for creating geometries with countless variations. The goal for them is to experience the importance of careful planning and design, which is required not only for the project but also for the workflow itself.

Program of the course:

Session-00 - Introduction to Houdini and Procedural Modelling - 40 min
Session-01 - Attributes & Groups - 30 min
Session-02 - VOPS & VEX - 45 min
Session-03 - Loops - 40 min
Session-04 - Solvers and DOPS - 60 min
Session-05 - VELLUM - 45 min
Session-06 - FINAL 60 min
001 - Test Project
002 - additional Tips

What You’ll Use?

SideFX Houdini

Highlights:

Knowledge Requirements:

No previous knowledge of the software is required. You will learn everything in the course.

Content

Introduction to Houdini and Procedural Modelling (38:28)

Houdini Interface, Geometry, Procedural Modeling

This session provides an introduction to Houdini, covering the interface, geometry handling, network systems, procedural modeling, animation basics, and customization, setting the foundation for further exploration of the software.

Attributes & Groups (30:41)

Attributes, Groups, Clustering, Geometry Manipulation

This session delves into attributes and groups in Houdini, explaining how they are used to manipulate geometry, create custom attributes, visualize clustering, and distribute geometries based on attribute noise.

VOPS & VEX Part 1 (25:18)

Houdini Scripting, VEX, VOPs, Geometry

This session explores scripting in Houdini, focusing on using VEX and VOPs to create and manipulate geometry with techniques like noise generation, attribute painting, and modularity for better control over outputs.

VOPS & VEX Part 2 (20:01)

Houdini VEX Scripting, Geometry Manipulation

This session demonstrates how to replicate the same procedural geometry creation effect in Houdini using VEX scripting instead of VOPs, explaining concepts like variables, attribute handling, noise generation, parameter channels, and mask integration.

Loops Part 1 (23:57)

Houdini Loops, Geometry Manipulation Techniques

This session explains how to use loops and attribute operations in Houdini, focusing on creating iterative geometry manipulations using nodes like For-Each, Poly Extrude, Connectivity, Split, Attribute Promote, and Fuse.

Loops Part 2 (19:49)

Iterative Process, Deformation, Mesh Creation

This session demonstrates how to use iterative processes in Houdini, employing tools like Resample, Poly Frame, Point VOP, and Skin nodes to create complex, controlled deformations and mesh structures with precise parameter adjustments.

Solvers and DOPS Part 1 (25:52)

Solvers, Simulation, Transformation, Growth Simulation

This session explores creating solver-based simulations in Houdini, focusing on how solvers and simulation logic work, setting conditions for geometry transformations, and building a simple growth simulation using poly extrusions and custom groups.

Solvers and DOPS Part 2 (38:40)

Point Operators, Point Simulation, Velocity

This session introduces Point Operators (POP Networks) in Houdini, focusing on point-based simulations, creating custom velocity fields, setting emission conditions, and visualizing trails to build dynamic systems.

Vellum Part 1 (29:11)

Vellum Cloth, Collisions, Basic Forces

This session introduces Vellum simulations in Houdini, focusing on basic cloth simulations, configuring solvers, applying gravity and wind forces, and setting up collision geometries.

Vellum Part 2 (16:26)

Volumetric Grids, Collisions, Attribute Transfers

This session explores volumetric Vellum simulations in Houdini by creating and manipulating 3D grid structures, configuring collision objects, and experimenting with attribute transfers to generate complex geometries.

Final Project (01:17:25)

Final Project, Geometry Import, Enhancements

This session focuses on creating a final project by combining multiple Houdini workflows, including importing geometries, using volumetric scattering, and enhancing structures with intersections, extrusions, and wall generation.

Additional Tips (06:30)

Houdini Resources & Learning Tips

This session provides final tips for learning Houdini, including using built-in resources and encouraging creativity and motivation to master the software.

Important Notes:

The “Houdini for Beginners 101” course by PAACADEMY has a total of 12 Sessions

Each session and the entire course is recorded, and videos will be available for participants right away.

PAACADEMY will provide a certificate of attendance.

Instructors

Mümün Keser

Biography

As an architect, speculative artist and computational designer from Austria, Mümün Keser places himself in the bridge between real and virtual and tries to intertwine these two opposing areas. He is known for his interests in data-driven design techniques and experimental spatial investigations. His most recent works contain various series of architectural designs that are mainly concerned with bringing media into architectural expression and the search for contradictory processes that lead not only to a design outcome, but also to particular experiences. He received his master’s degree from the University of Innsbruck and is currently under contract as a research assistant and lecturer at the Institute for Experimental Architecture and Building Construction under Prof. Marjan Colletti and Prof. Karolin Schmidbaur. In addition, he works as a freelance designer, educator and artist. He held workshops for numerous people in various fields for many different organisations and universities such as University of Innsbruck, IAAC Barcelona, UCL Bartlett London and Futurly. Furthermore he had the opportunity to exhibit his works in major cities like New York City, Berlin, Miami, Vienna, Istanbul, and Tokyo.