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Create a Procedural Waterwheel Simulation in Houdini

Build Functional Assets With Integrated Fluid Simulations With David Silberbauer

Lessons

Description

Discover how to build a fully functional waterwheel with an integrated fluid simulation in this comprehensive 4-hour Houdini video tutorial. Whether you’re just starting out in Houdini or are an experienced user, this helpful tutorial by VFX artist David Silberbauer is packed with tips and tricks that will be enjoyable for all experience levels.


This detailed Houdini workshop showing how to build a completely procedural waterwheel system covers numerous procedural techniques for manipulating geometry and simulations. He explains how to randomize attributes to create realistic and believable results as well as how to customize velocities for creating robust fluid simulations. The workshop also details how to use vorticity for meshing and white water, and shows how to turn your setups into Houdini Digital Assets (HDAs). David’s complete process is detailed through easy-to-digest chapters, along with his thought process along the way, to help guide you to making more effective and efficient choices when working in Houdini.


By following this workshop, you’ll learn how to be more productive in your Houdini scenes and explore how working in a procedural way will save time and allow you to be more efficient at iterating production shots. You’ll finish this workshop feeling confident in planning and building your own procedural systems going forward.


Provided with this workshop is a Houdini apprentice file with the procedural waterwheel asset.


Duration: 4h 37m

Format: HD 1920x1080

Lessons

David Silberbauer

VFX Artist at Sunrise Animation Studio

David Silberbauer is a Visual Effects and Procedural Artist at Sunrise Animation Studios with over nine years of experience in the industry. He specializes in building flexible Houdini systems that allow for creative experimentation and endless variations, often inspired by natural patterns and textures.


David has contributed to projects such as Escape Room, Deep Blue Sea 3, and Star Wars: Visions, working with studios including Triggerfish Animation and BlackGinger. His work reflects a deep fascination with nature and a passion for creating procedural effects that mimic its complexity.

  • I had the great pleasure of working with David on a short film for the Star Wars: Visions anthology, where he served as the Set Dressing lead. David is a true Houdini wizard. Using elegant procedural setups; themselves a thing of beauty, he has created the most stunningly gorgeous environments at scales that are truly staggering. David has forever changed the way I work.

    - Jan Schoeman
    Environment Set Dressing Lead at Skydance Animation

  • David has a strong eye for detail and a very good understanding of the production process. He's always willing to accommodate other departments with FX and set requirements as well as assist his fellow artists where needed. David is a brilliant and accomplished artist who I would highly recommend for any 3D animated project.

    - Callum Verster
    Production Manager at Triggerfish Animation Studios

  • What a champ! No matter the task, [David] always nailed the work. Across the projects, [he] played an incredible roll and [was] responsible for developing some of the most complicated tasks.

    - Kyle S Maier
    VFX Supervisor at Triggerfish

  • What a champ! No matter the task, David always nailed the work. Across the projects, he played an incredible roll and was responsible for developing some of the most complicated tasks.

    - Kyle Maier
    Lead / Senior Houdini FX Artist at Triggerfish

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