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Hello, I understand that these tutorials were made for an ancient version of Houdini, but I suspect the L-System node hasn't changed too much in the meanwhile. I became a paid user of cmiVFX, but it seems the site became inoperative before I really had the chance to get too far into that course. All the courses on the site became unviewable, and any attempts to contact anyone responsible for keeping it working, failed for quite a few weeks, and so did the ones that Paypal made on my behalf, so I got a refund. The wish to see these tutorials still remains, though. Does anyone here have an idea about how to contact someone to get access to these videos, or the DVDs. As I understand, they have been released on DVDs. Perhaps someone could sell these to me if collecting dust somewhere not being used? Would really appreciate the advice. Any other suggestions for tutorials dealing with L-Systems, would be greatly appreciated as well. I have gone through the Pluralsight course, the Tyler Bay course, Ari Danesh First Steps video, have the digital version of the Algorithmic Beauty of Plants and am playing with the example files with L-systems (and wire solver) from the SideFX docs, and scanning this very site on this subject, but still, if there is a valuable compiled resource for learning the different methods of using this node (like the cmiVFX course seems to be), I'd be interested.

New tutorial at CMIVFX about creating fire and flames, check it out

New quick tutorial explaining basics of Houidni clusterin for Pyro and creating flare effects. https://cmivfx.com/houdini-pyro-and-cluster-simulations

First post here! I just want to share a tiny triumph. I love cmivfx and the tutorials there, except the fact that videos can't be sped up. I found that you can manipulate html5 players through the browser console with some simple code. I used firefox->inspector->console a = document.getElementById("bitdash-video-cmi-player"); a.playbackRate = 1.5; YAY!

Brand New Houdini to Arnold OpenVDB Workflow by cmiVFX High Definition Training Videos for the Visual Effects Industry Princeton, NJ (December 9th, 2015) Fresh of the edit pipeline, just in time for the holiday season is another hit single training video by cmiVFX. As the Visual Effects industry has matured over the last few years, new formats to accommodate the rendering of large dynamic simulations such as dust, smoke, fire, or even explosions, have been developed to increase the potential for productivity in workflow. Our resident Houdini research scientist, Varomix, committed to bringing a hands on guide for this newly created software pipeline between a host app and a final render. OpenVDB is a standard in the film industry, proven, tested and built by the very same guys that are in the very same film industry. This technique has the potential to be applied to multiple workflows, and over time will be adopted by more artists, exponentially. When it comes to the latest research information in the computer graphics and visual effects industry, only one worldwide network of artists help maintain the lead in the VFX training revolution. That network is cmiVFX.com! Short Description Learn how to use OpenVDB, an open source file transfer format, to bring your dynamic simulations to final render. Vimeo Teaser Trailer https://vimeo.com/148132405 |||||| Houdini to Arnold VDB Workflow ||||| https://cmivfx.com/store/659-Houdini+Arnold+VDB+Workflow Chapter Descriptions Introduction This course was designed around customers requesting the most amount of information in shorter time periods. Our efforts allowed us to reach the best balance for the VFX artist on the go! Simple Workflow Example First, we will break down the process we need to export VDBs from Houdini to Arnold so they can be rendered. In the beginning, all processes will be manual, however as we get further into the process, we learn how to automated the process for rapid reuse. Arnold Volume Node We will dice all the parts of the Arnold Volume Node to become completely aware of all its possibilities. Automating The Workflow Now that we know the steps we need to export our volumes to VDB and into Arnold, we’ll automate the exporting part so we have faster iterations while tweaking the effect in Houdini. Explosion Workflow One of the more popular end user questions: “How to I render my dynamic CG explosion using Arnold?” Our answer back will be the remainder of this chapter. Clouds Workflow In this chapter, we take a full shot approach by making realistic clouds over a standard environment plate. All compositing and tuning will be shown in detail. Bonus Chapter: Rendering Volumes As a bonus chapter, we’ll talk about how to get rid of noise in your volume renders. Conclusion Houdini + Arnold is an example of unparalleled proceduralism amongst applications. This pipeline would work even if you have your own VDB capable render engine. Many compositing apps are looking at adding this technology to their toolset. About The Instructor Varomix is a VFX Artist, Generalist TD, Game Developer, Musician and Founder of MIXStudio. Shortly after Side Effects launched the Houdini Apprentice Program in 2002, Varomix became an ardent Houdini user. Since then it has become his main tool for creation. Varomix is also a father and husband that enjoy doing lots of crazy stuff with his family. Project Contents All cmiVFX videos come with all the training materials you can need right from our website. No matter what time of day, your location, or how you're feeling, cmiVFX will be there waiting for you! This video is available today at the cmiVFX Store: www.cmivfx.com About cmiVFX cmiVFX is the leader in High Definition Video Training for the Visual Effects Community. Register for free and receive hours of free content at the cmiVFX Video-on-Demand Player. Copyright 2016 cmiVFX | cmiStudios. All rights reserved

Hi everyone, This email went out to the users, and we were asked to post it here. Feel free to email any questions, you might have a few if your new to Houdini or Training. READ BELOW: Upgrade to cmiVFX videos from other training companies products! Already purchased training from another training company, and feeling sad? Don't panic just yet, we might have the solution for you! If you purchased training from Digital Tutors, Lynda, Gnomon or another training company in the last YEAR before November 11th, 20015.. You can upgrade to our product for a huge discount! (Even earn FREE VIDEOS!) Email us at sales@cmivfx.com with a phone photo, or direct email of your receipt, and tell us what you were interested in at cmiVFX.com to get a offer you cant resist sent back to you by email! THIS IS YOUR CHANCE TO HAVE YOUR CAKE AND EAT IT TOO! We all understand making a decision based on marketing hype. Everyone has done it, not just you. The only difference here is that cmiVFX is going to help you fix it. Instructions: 1) Email us a copy of your receipt from another school or training company 2) In the subject line put “CMIVFX CROSS-GRADE” 3) Send to this email: sales@cmivfx.com 4) In the body, tell us about your purchase and what products at cmIVFX are you interested in. 5) Wait for our reply (Should be fairly quick) NOTE: Please feel free to ask for career advise, however make sure you tell us about yourself in your email. Thats all you need to do! Never bought from any other company? That’s ok, we didnt forget about you! Get 30% OFF - INSTRUCTIONS Step 1) Visit http://www.cmivfx.com Step 2) Select as many videos as possible (Here are some links below) Step 3) Enter in this code: November30 (case sensitive text) in the store cart and hit apply Step 4) Complete Check out Process Cheers, cmiTEAM TECHNICAL SUPPORT If anyone is having slow playback by default: Simply right click on the video player and choose the opposite server selection in the menu. Your choices are cmIVFX or Amazon Cloud. One is always going to work for you no matter where you are in the world. Your preferences are saved on your account, but dont be afraid to try the other server for fun. It wont hurt anything. ---------------------------------- LATEST VIDEOS! Houdini Shading Systems (SUPER NEW) https://cmivfx.com/store/655-Houdini+Shading+Systems Cinema 4D Projection Man FX (Brand New!) https://cmivfx.com/store/654-Cinema+4D+Projection+Man+FX Houdini Facial Hair Grooming (AWESOME) https://cmivfx.com/store/653-Houdini+Facial+Hair+Grooming Cinema 4D Character Development Volume 1 ( 6 Videos in 1! New) https://cmivfx.com/store/651-Cinema+4D+Character+Development+Volume+1 Fusion Advanced Lighting (POPULAR) https://cmivfx.com/store/650-Fusion+Advanced+Lighting Cinema 4D Facial Hair Grooming + Bonus Features (New) https://cmivfx.com/store/649-Cinema+4D+Facial+Hair+Grooming Autodesk 3DS MAX Visualization (New) https://cmivfx.com/store/648-Autodesk+3DS+Max+Visualization Houdini Transformium (NEW) https://cmivfx.com/store/647-Houdini+Transformium Autodesk Smoke And Flame Look Development (Because You Asked!) https://cmivfx.com/store/646-autodesk-smoke-look-development Mistika Character Look Development With Compositing (New Fav!) https://cmivfx.com/store/644-mistika-look-development Fusion Basics NEXT (Buy this and ask for previous video for free!) https://cmivfx.com/store/643-fusion-basics-next Houdini Sand Solver (Alternative Workflows) https://cmivfx.com/store/642-houdini+sand+solver Color Theory For VFX Artists (BEST SELLER) https://cmivfx.com/store/641-color-theory-for-vfx-artists Digital Matte Painting Scenarios Volume 1 https://cmivfx.com/store/640-digital-matte-painting-scenarios-volume-1 Mistika Advanced Channel Keying (Unique High End) https://cmivfx.com/store/639-mistika-advanced-channel-keying Blender Particle FX https://cmivfx.com/store/638-blender-particle-animation Arnold For Cinema 4D (Get Started Using Arnold) https://cmivfx.com/store/637-arnold+for+cinema+4d Arnold For Houdini 101 (Get Started Using Arnold) https://cmivfx.com/store/634-arnold-for-houdini Fusion Microbe https://cmivfx.com/store/633-fusion-microbe Houdini Compositing (Great Customer Feedback) https://cmivfx.com/store/632-houdini-compositing Fusion HUD Design (Heads Up Displays For Film and Broadcast) https://cmivfx.com/store/631-fusion-hud-design Krakatoa In Production https://cmivfx.com/store/630-krakatoa-in-production-vol-1 Modo Automotive https://cmivfx.com/store/629-modo-automotive Fusion Teleportation https://cmivfx.com/store/628-fusion-teleportation Speedtree Collections With 3D-Coat and Houdini (Unique) https://cmivfx.com/store/627-speedtree-collections-with-3d-coat-and-houdini Fusion 3D Integration https://cmivfx.com/store/626-fusion-3d-integration Fusion Commercial Product Placement https://cmivfx.com/store/624-fusion-commercial-product-placement Fusion Earth https://cmivfx.com/store/622-Fusion+Earth Advanced Digital Environment Creation (Tons of resources!) https://cmivfx.com/store/621-advanced-digital-environment-creation Mari Introduction (Popular) https://cmivfx.com/store/620-Mari+Introduction Let's have some fun! 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cmiVFX Releases Awesome Houdini Facial Hair Grooming Video High Definition Training Videos for the Visual Effects Industry Princeton, NJ (October 28, 2015) Several months in the making, cmiVFX Research releases an epic video on how to groom human facial hair using SideFX Houdini Animation Software. Artist, cmi’s Chris Maynard, researched hair sculpting in conjunction with hair styling students of an international beauty school as well as popular NYC salons to come up with his ground breaking technique of “Render Softening” using digital hair to dither CG renders for a more realistic look. In conjunction with all of these resources, we added the compatibility with Solid Angle’s Arnold Rendering system to leverage the power of inoperability between several major animation packages. Using Alembic support allowed for us to get true congruency across multiple platforms. To add even more excitement to this already amazing video content, we recorded dual monitor high resolution screens to be displayed in our new higher resolution playback formats! No matter what kind of device you are on, or whatever location you are in, we have a solution for you! The cmiVFX website is designed to work 100% of the time using our redundant cloud servers and multiple device support, which is why many global developers are now using our site to test their own networks for problems! At cmiVFX, we are not only the teachers, but life long students. We take our customers feedback seriously, so our website will keep getting better after each new video release. Houdini Facial Hair Grooming is a major video milestone for us, allowing our extremely popular, “outside of the box” methodology to help guide you as the viewer in a way that is both fun and intriguing. For the cost of a family dinner, you can increase your chance for consistent work exponentially. To assist you even further, we will even help you get a job doing what you love. Simply watch a video, then tell us if you want to do this for a living, and we will help you get started on a path to happiness and success. You can rely on cmiVFX.com to help you be the very best you can be! Purchase this video now, and start making all your characters more detailed today. Vimeo Teaser Trailer Short Description Chris Maynard shows one of his legendary VFX tricks of hair blending and “Render Softening” using Houdini. SideFX Houdini Facial Hair Grooming https://cmivfx.com/store/653-Houdini+Facial+Hair+Grooming Chapter Descriptions Introduction Get a quick preview of the content of this video before getting started. Did you know more than 70% of the women in Chris’s family worked in the Beauty Industry? He had attended dissertations on the latest research in hair growth and maintenance as a teenager when his mother was an instructor for Hair Styling and Chemical Treatments in New Jersey. One of his many side jobs was helping maintain a family salon geared towards the Music Industry where he was soon introduced to his initial career in music. Setting Up As an ongoing software UI designer, Chris tends to arrange his workspace for the most efficient level of effort. By reducing the amount of UI clicks, we can spend more time on visualizing changes. It is very important to keep your eyes tuned to the desired object in edit. Base Hair During the years of research in CG, VFX and Design, it often becomes very clear to work from large to small. In this chapter we start off with the largest body of hair which we use a central jumping point to all the secondary and tertiary hair systems. We also cover the seeding of multiple duplicates to create various hair colors for added realism. Most people have hair color variations, as well as fine white hairs which help deflect light in various directions. Hair Blending Often ignored by low level animations, hair can create hard edges that lack reality. Especially, with shorter hair styles, the technique of blending is required to taper between hair types and lengths. This chapter is a key link between the base hair and the rest of the hair systems. Hair Line Sometimes, some variation is required to help pull the eye in a different direction. In our first “Render Softener” we use a bridge of fine hairs to blend the forehead into the head hair. This technique will be used in every digital hair style for the rest of your career and is probably worth the price of the video all on its own. Beard Shadowing How many times have you seen beard shadow added into the texture maps of a character? That might look ok from far away, but on close ups, it just will not do. This chapter we use not one, not two, but THREE different hair systems to make up the 5 O-Clock Shadow of the face. Another ground breaking technique of “Render Softening” is to use it evenly around the object of desire. Eye Brows This is one of the more tricky systems of hair styling. In this part of the video, we will use nearly all the grooming tools on the Houdini Toolbar. The eyebrows fall into our 80%/20% technique, so we allow for the ability to tweak at the end. Eye Lashes Because the eye lashes are going to be moved by animated morph objects, we must make sure they follow the proper direction and help keep them from colliding when the eyes close. The ability to tweak the lashes during this scenario is available, so we are able to design the base look which will be adequate for the animation departments later on. Auxiliary Hairs There are hairs all over the head, face and neck. Find out how to create hairs that cover every single polygon over your entire model and how to shade them appropriately. Ranging from nostril hair, to forehead hair, you will learn more about yourself here than ever before! Final Touches The trick to working in CG is to nail down 80% quality of all your objects until they are all together, then finish the last 20% with all your parts in one place so you know they will work as one. Working in any other way will take much longer and could yield a lesser result in the long run. Wrapping Up Find out how to set up Arnold Hair Shaders and Lights so that you can go back and forth between Mantra if needed. This video was meant to work with other cmiVFX Hair system videos so that no matter what application you are in, the end result renders the same. About The Instructor Chris Maynard is an international software GUI designer and the owner, Chief Public Partner, as well as Head Researcher of the profit-sharing organization known as cmiVFX.com. Project Contents All cmiVFX videos come with all the training materials you need right from our website. No matter what time of day, your location, or how your feeling, cmiVFX will be there waiting for you! This video is available today at the cmiVFX Store: www.cmivfx.com About cmiVFX cmiVFX is the leader in High Definition Video Training for the Visual Effects Community. Register for free and receive hours of free content at the cmiVFX Video-on-Demand Player. Copyright 2015 cmiVFX | cmiStudios. All rights reserved.

Hey Guys Have you guys checked out the Interior Rendering Masterclass and Snow Simulation cmiVFX have done?? I have a discount code that expires end of this month. Contact me if you're interested and also for subscription to cmiVFX https://cmivfx.com/store/612-houdini-snow-simulations https://cmivfx.com/store/610-houdini-interior-rendering-masterclass

Hi Guys, cmivfx.com just released my latest training, I know this would be very useful, the content is amazing, I'm very proud of what I did, hope you guys like it. Thank you https://vimeo.com/97522457 cmivfx.com/store/597-Houdini+Python+Character+Picker cmiVFX brings you a brand new and improved Houdini Python Character Picker using PySide, this series will bring to you the tools to tackle everything you need to know to take advantage of the amazing Qt Framework + Houdini Combo, by using the Qt Python binding PySide, you can do everything your artist can imagine. Every studio in the work requires to develop custom tools to serve project, which makes repetitive, complex tasks easier and more productive, also helps you extend the standard tools and having a great interface for it that can be made really quick and looks just like any other tool in Houdini thanks to the great python integration. So this is not just a simple tutorial, this is career building information. Short Description Get ready to polish your custom tool chops, here you’ll learn everything you need to know to take advantage of the amazing Qt Framework, that will interface throw the incredible and open source PySide Python bindings. You’ll learn how to work as you’re used to work in python and take full advantage without any restriction to both Houdini and the Qt Framework, there’s is no limit of what you can achieve and the most important part is, your animators are going to be so happy and they will work more, so let’s dive in and start creating amazing tools and making artist happy.

Hey Guys! My brand new Houdini Fur Tools Tutorial video just got released on CMIVFX! Here is the Vimeo trailer: And if interested you can check it out over here: https://cmivfx.com/store/578-houdini+fur+tools If you have any questions, concerns or suggestions, feel free to contact me! Hope you'll like it, and thank you for your attention!

cmiVFX Releases New Houdini Destructive Cracking Techniques High Definition Training Videos for the Visual Effects Industry Princeton, NJ (May 1st, 2013) cmiVFX has released their newest lesson Creating Cracks Digital-Asset in Houdini. Voronoi fracture is powerful but also has some limitations. How we can have full control over the shape of the pieces? How we can make animation for crack propagation? How we can break only certain parts of an object while other areas remain intact? In this lesson Mehdi Salehi reveals a new VFX technique in Houdini. In this lesson we will create a new digital asset to answer these questions. This new tool can use patterns for creating cracks. You will learn that almost anything can be used as the pattern. For example, You can use lines, L-system or image files as the pattern. You will learn our new digital asset has even more power. It can be used to create precise tear patterns for cloth simulation even for low poly objects. This lesson offers new exclusive effect technique which is recommended to all Houdini users. VIMEO TEASER HERE: https://vimeo.com/65339465 Short Description The aim is to create a tool to use a predefined crack pattern such as image files, wires or L-systems for cracking an object. No previous knowledge or experience is required to easily follow along. Mehdi Salehi tackles several examples to cover Rigid body and cloth simulations using this new tool. NOTICE TO VIEWERS: (No previous Houdini knowledge is required to follow this lesson. Crack Digital asset is included.) |||||||||||||||||||||| New Houdini Destructive Cracking Techniques |||||||||||||||||||||| ---> http://cmivfx.com/tu...king Techniques Chapter Descriptions Introduction A quick view on all chapters. It Shows where we start and where we go; A map for our great adventure!!! Basic Knowledge This chapter gives important clues about images and Houdini. It shows you how Houdini can give life to still images. It is our starting position. Creating The Asset In this chapter we evoke the power of COPs (channel operators)! This chapter shows you the main idea for creating the crack digital asset. It teaches you how to use the crack pattern for creating precise cracks on an object. Anything such as L-systems or curves can be used as a crack pattern. The power is that precise cuts are possible even for low poly objects. Crack Asset And Rigid Body Objects This chapter talks about simulating the pieces created by the crack asset. It shows the problems of using fracture rigid body dynamic and how we can deal with them. Also, you can see how cracks can be animated to create a crack propagation effect. There are two examples here. In the first example, the chapter discusses about how to use the crack asset for breaking a car window. You will learn how to create crack propagation and also how to simulate the pieces. In the second example the chapter talks about using the crack asset to break a bottle. The cool thing is that only specific area of the objects affected by crack asset and the other areas remain intact. A powerful feature for rendering broken glass!!! Crack Asset And Cloth Objects The other possible use of the crack asset. A journey to cloth simulation! This chapter shows you how this new crack asset can be used for cloth simulation. Now it is possible to create precise tear patterns and then simulate them. You can even animate tearing of a cloth object. The cool thing is that the cloth object can be a fairly low poly object. Also this chapter shows you some important notes and tricks about simulating cloth objects. About the Instructor My name is Mehdi Salehi. I started my journey to the mysterious world of 3D and VFX about 10 years ago and have worked as CG artist and VFX supervisor for many companies. Now, it is my honor to be a member of the cmiVFX family. My hobbies are music and football, of course playing, not hearing or watching! My Email is msalehi.164@gmail.com. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me. Project Contents All cmiVFX videos come with all the training materials you can need right from our website. No matter what time of day, your location, or how your feeling, cmiVFX will be there waiting for you! This video is available today at the cmiVFX Store: http://store.cmivfx.com/ About cmiVFX cmiVFX is the leader in High Definition Video Training for the Visual Effects Community. Register for FREE and receive hours of FREE content at the cmiVFX Video-on-Demand Player. ( http://store.cmivfx.com/login ) For additional information about cmiVFX, visit http://www.cmivfx.com or email eric@cmivfx.com © 2012 cmiVFX | cmiStudios. All rights reserved.