Crowds in Houdini 15
Course info
Course info
Description
In this course we, will learn how to setup a complex crowd simulation in Houdini with ragdoll effects. We will begin with setting up our agents and begin to use custom animations. Along the way we will create several behaviors for our crowd and setup states, triggers, and transitions. By the end of this course, you will have a fully working crowd scene with hundreds of agents, ragdoll effects, and customizations at render time using stylesheets. Software required: Houdini 15.
About the author
Today, Andreas works as a FX Supervisor at RISE | Visual Effects Studios in Berlin and is managing FX teams on shows like Captain America: Civil War. Andreas also works as a visual effects instructor at different film schools in Berlin.
More from the author
Section Introduction Transcripts
Introduction and Project Overview
(instrumental music) Hello, my name is Andreas Glesen and I'm working as a FX Technical Director at RISE Visual Effects Studios. My latest projects include Captain America Two, Iron Man Three, and other feature films. In this course, we are taking a look at the Houdini Crowd Tools, which were introduced with Houdini 14, and enhanced with interesting features like Ragdolls and other improvements in Houdini 15. In their current state, they provide huge possibilities to set up large scale crowd simulations with thousands of agents. We will learn how to prepare our characters for being used in crowd simulations, populate our scenario, and define routes for our agents, like avoiding obstacles or search for cover under heavy fire. Also, we will take a look at the newly introduced (mumbles) effects to add some more interesting dynamics. In the end, we will have a working crowd simulation with hundreds of agents, and we will use Stylesheets to add even more variety at render time. I'm excited to work with you on this fresh and interesting topic, so let's get started with the first lesson. (instrumental music)