Simple play icon Course
Skills Expanded

Introduction to Dynamic Oceans in Houdini

by John Moncrief

This series of Houdini tutorials explores the many different techniques used in Houdini's OceanFX toolset. Software required: Houdini 14.

What you'll learn

This series of Houdini tutorials explores the many different techniques used in Houdini's OceanFX toolset. We'll get started by using the shelf tools, but almost instantly dive deeper into those networks; discussing the details of the nodes at the heart of the OceanFX toolkit, the Ocean Spectrum and the Ocean Evaluate. We'll learn how to set up a quick iterative rendering process for tweaking the look of ocean shaders, then see how to track an object with a fluid tank, which allows us to create large ocean scenes with minimal simulation time. We'll examine the whitewater simulator and see how to effectively integrate elements like spray, foam, and bubbles into our oceans. This series of lessons was developed for an artist with a solid understanding of basic 3d concepts, a familiarity with the Houdini User Interface, and a basic knowledge of Houdini fluids. If you're completely new to Houdini fluids, you can get up to speed quickly by FIRST watching the "Introduction to Fluid Simulations in Houdini" course. Simulating large oceans has always been a challenge for visual effects artist, but Houdini's OceanFX Toolkit makes the process fun and produces great results. Software required: Houdini 14.

About the author

John is the resident Houdini and dynamics author at Pluralsight. In college, he had the opportunity to work at SideFX (the creators of Houdini) and has been able to teach dynamics and visual effects to numerous creative industry professionals over the years. He lives for the rush of seeing his pupils experience "light bulb" moments. John's latest passion has been breathing new life into the Pluralsight Houdini training library and making sure that no software or tools can get in the way of an ar... more

Ready to upskill? Get started