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Designing VEX Driven Digital Assets in Houdini

by Jonathan Granskog

Understanding of VEX and mathematics can really bring your Houdini skills to the next level. In this course, you will learn how to build an asset that depends on both. Software required: Houdini.

What you'll learn

One of the skills that separate a great Houdini artist from a good one is thorough knowledge of VEX. It opens up a whole new world of possibilities in terms of asset building. When you notice that Houdini doesn't provide you the nodes you need, you can craft them yourself. In this course, Designing VEX Driven Digital Assets in Houdini, you will combine mathematics and VEX in order to build a tree generation asset that is useful for both personal projects and production work. First, you will build a proof of concept setup that shows that the idea works, but it is missing many features at this point. Next, you'll take the proof of concept further and create a working asset with a proper user interface. Finally, you will add some more features to make the tree look more realistic. When you're finished with the course you will understand VEX a lot better and also know how to use various mathematics concepts to your advantage. Software required: Houdini.

About the author

Jonathan is a Houdini TD with several years of Houdini experience who also enjoys programming. He is especially interested in simulation, rendering, shading, generative art and virtual reality. His main passion is solving the hardest technical challenges and recently his Houdini work has revolved around building complex digital assets. In his free time, he creates generative art and experiments using VEX and Houdini's more advanced simulation tools.

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