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Thanks a lot, I really appreciate the feedback. You are right, there is a lot of things happening now around AI, ComfyUI, GitHub tools and free stuff too. My main goal with Houdini AI Assistant is not just make another AI tool, but to build something that feels native in Houdini and helps more direct in procedural workflow. AI texturing / projection in COPs is definitely a interesting direction, and yes I agree it can make the product stronger. Right now I focus more on making the base solid first, then add more practical Houdini specific features step by step. Thanks again for your thoughts.

What if you could turn a simple prompt into a working Houdini HDA? In this demo, I use Houdini AI Assistant to generate a procedural Asteroid Generator in minutes. Houdini AI Assistant: https://rart.gumroad.com/l/HoudiniAIAssistant Instead of spending hours building node networks from scratch, the assistant helps speed up the process by generating the structure, parameters, and procedural logic from a prompt. In this video, I show: Prompt to HDA workflow AI-generated procedural asteroid setup Node-by-node inspection of the generated network Parameter tweaks and improvements Final result after just a few minutes This is not just a generic chatbot. Houdini AI Assistant works inside Houdini and helps with analyzing, debugging, generating, and automating procedural workflows. If you are learning Houdini, building tools, or trying to move faster in production, this is exactly the kind of workflow that can save a huge amount of time. Try Houdini AI Assistant here: https://rart.gumroad.com/l/HoudiniAIAssistant Thank you for all the support and feedback it really helps me improve the tool. More updates and demos are coming soon.

More or less procedural way. tennis_ball_spinning_v01.hipnc tennis_ball_spinning_v01.hipnc

Sony Pictures Imageworks is located on the unceded traditional territory of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. We are committed to respecting traditional lands, and working with communities towards reconciliation. Sony Pictures Imageworks Canada Inc. 658 Homer St Vancouver, BC V6B 0T5 Sony Pictures Imageworks is an Academy Award®-winning visual effects and animation studio known for photoreal live-action visual effects, dynamic creature and character animation, and full-CG features. Role Review: We are looking to expand our development team dedicated to enhancing our Creature Effect, Crowds, Environment, and FX tools and workflow. We are looking for a highly proficient Technical Engineer to focus on the development and implementation of robust, high-performance, and domain-specific procedural toolsets using SideFX Houdini. This role requires strong technical leadership and the ability to work effectively with minimal supervision alongside a Lead Software Engineer or Architect. The ideal candidate thrives in a fast-paced production environment where priorities can shift quickly. What You’ll Be Doing: Design, develop, and implement scalable procedural systems and workflows within Houdini for various departments (FX, Creature, Crowds, Environments). Create, maintain, and optimize robust Houdini Digital Assets (OTLs), ensuring stability, ease of use, and adherence to production standards. Extend the core pipeline by developing, integrating, and supporting tools that manage data flow, asset publishing, and version control. Collaborate closely with artists (Creature, FX, Lighting) to gather requirements and troubleshoot technical issues, providing support for both in-house and commercial tools. Partner with engineers across other teams (Shading, Lighting, Rendering) to ensure seamless integration of procedural assets into the overall rendering and compositing pipeline. Document tools and workflows thoroughly for use by the wider artistic and engineering teams. Required Technical Experience & Skills: 3-5+ Years of professional experience in developing procedural workflows and tools in a VFX, Animation, or Game production environment. Demonstrated knowledge of the Houdini environment, including tool creation, optimization, and workflow techniques. Strong proficiency in Python and VEX for writing efficient, custom nodes, and tool wrappers. Proven experience developing and supporting production pipeline tools and asset delivery. Experience leveraging the Houdini API and other DCCs like Katana. Strong grasp of 3D math, linear algebra, and data structures as applied to geometry processing and simulation. Strong verbal and written communication skills, with a collaborative approach to problem-solving. Capable of delivering on multiple competing priorities with little supervision. Preferred skills: Applies curiosity and judgment to identify broader or systemic issues and recommends creative approaches that address wider issues. Documented experience with desktop application development using PyQt/PySide to create custom user interfaces. Experience with C++ for high-performance plugin development. Experience with data science, machine learning, or complex simulation techniques (e.g., fluid dynamics, cloth) in a production context. Bachelor’s or Master's Degree in Computer Science, Digital Media, or a related technical field. The anticipated base salary for this position is within the range of $100,000.00/yr - $120,000.00/yr CAD (up to $150K for Senior candidates). The final compensation package will be commensurate with the candidate's professional experience, technical interview performance, and specific alignment with our team's requirements . Benefits are per company policy: which include healthcare, tuition reimbursement, RRSP's, Sick and Vacation leave, standard increases as applicable. The actual base salary offered will depend on a variety of factors, including without limitation, the qualifications of the individual applicant for the position, years of relevant experience, level of education attained, certifications or other professional licenses held, and if applicable, the location of the position. We value unique perspectives, and want diverse, unique talent to work with us. We encourage candidates from all identities to apply. *Sony Pictures Entertainment is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, colour, religion, sex, national origin, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, or other protected characteristics. Job Posting Link: https://www.imageworks.com/job-postings/4376

ATLANTIS ANIMATION is an animation studio based in the heavenly Canary Island of Tenerife. A combination of creative talent and technology definitely distinguishes us as a different studio to produce high quality animated series and feature films. We produced the sensational series Tara Duncan and Miraculous Ladybug season 5, both broadcasted on Disney Channel and Disney +. We are now getting ready for an absolutely new captivating project, the series 'Messi and the Giants', produced by Sony Music Vision, Sony Pictures Television Kids and Leo Messi Management, and broadcasted by Disney. An epic saga where a young boy named Leo is transported from his home in Argentina into a fantastical alternate universe. If you love animation challenges and unexpected adventures, and if you feel you have that special inner magic spark, we want to hear from you! Job Description: We're seeking a skilled and passionate Mid+ to Senior level Lighting TD to join our growing team for the upcoming series Messi and the Giants. The Lighting TD works closely with Lighting Artists within the team to deliver high-quality, optimized lighting renders for animated projects. You will be responsible for optimizing lighting and render settings using Arnold, ensuring both visual quality and performance. This role includes developing tools for the lighting department using Python within a USD-based pipeline. All tools created should support production workflows and contribute to a smooth and efficient production process. Therefore, it is essential that you are able to design and develop tools that are robust, efficient, well-documented, and easy to use for other team members. - Type of contract: Fixed-term Employee contract. - Location: 100% On-site in Tenerife. Remote work won't be possible for this specific position. Main Responsibilities: Technical Problem Solving & Tool Development: Diagnose and resolve complex technical issues related to lighting and rendering. Develop, maintain, and optimize tools, scripts, and workflows to automate tasks and improve efficiency within the lighting department. Troubleshoot technical issues such as render noise, long render times, and memory usage in a modern path-tracing renderer Workflow & Pipeline Integration: Collaborate with the Pipeline team and other departments (Look Development, Compositing, FX) to ensure seamless integration of lighting tools and processes within the broader production pipeline. Look Development Support: Work closely with Look Development and Surfacing artists to ensure shaders and assets behave correctly within lighting and color pipeline requirements. Complete assigned tasks within established deadlines, following direction from Supervisors and Leads. Maintain organized, clean, and well-documented files and scripts, ready for downstream use and internal documentation (e.g. Wiki pages). Requirements: Proven experience working as a Lighting TD in the TV animation industry. Ability to deliver high-quality lighting renders under tight deadlines. Strong understanding of USD-based pipelines and experience collaborating with multiple departments. Solid knowledge of lighting fundamentals and industry-standard tools. Strong understanding of color spaces, bit depth, and lighting data representation, including ACES. Ability to script using Python. Strong understanding of physically based rendering. Good knowledge of rendering efficiency and optimization techniques. Proven experience with Arnold Experience using production tracking tools such as ShotGrid (Flow). Excellent communication skills and ability to work effectively in a collaborative team environment. High attention to detail. Fluent in English (spoken and written). Ability to work on-site at our studio in Tenerife. A valid EU/Spanish work permit is required. Nice to have: Experience with Qt Experience working with Nuke Experience in shading.

just wondering how people here in the forum thinking about this topic. As a fx artist at my company i hear clients often asking for ai effects and cheaper timeframes. Currently we can use it in more and more but still rare cases. What are your experiences ?

Hey Hannes, my experience with it as been a mix, some people usually the one with less experience, want to copy basically the concept, idea, design one to one to with the generated image and people who really understand or have more knowledge in the whole process usually get ideas of the image but they do not want to copy it, if that make sense. Lately though more and more people is using, and with the ones that have less experience is tough to make them understand that is not as easy as they think, I have been in meetings with clients and trying to explain the whole thing is tiring. With that said these type of clients are few though, most of the people that I work with, clients and co worker get the picture. Now where all this is going, I do not think anybody cant really answer that yet. We can def see some benefits but also negatives about this whole AI thingy.

Or maybe the existing Volume Arrival Time SOP? You do need to go to volumes and back which is a bit of an inconvenience. ee_shortest_path_arrivaltime.hip

Just connect Ng instead of N whenever applicable in Vops. Sometimes it's easier to overwrite N in displacement shader (pluging Ng into N output), so that the whole surface shader sees facetednormals without manual rewiring. hth, skk. btw. The way of faceting polygons in SOPs is to use VertexSOP->Cusp Normals. It just creates a vertex normal attribute without unwelding your geometry.