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cmiVFX Releases The Great Old Fashioned Recipe To A Modern Houdini Cook Off

High Definition Training Videos for the Visual Effects Industry

Princeton, NJ (December 28th, 2011) – cmiVFX changes it up this time for those of you following the vast amount of video releases coming to you. This time around, cmiVFX partners up with the Houdini Cook Off Contest winner Adrian Lazar to help break down what it takes to win a content for Visual Effects.

Artist's Short Description

This training course is based on my winning entry for the Cook-Off Contest held by Side FX. Compressing two months of work in a few hours is no easy task since I also tried to cover every aspect of the production. (Technical and the artistic sides are discussed.)

We are going to start with modeling of a few objects with traditional tools that you can find in any package, showing that Houdini has all that's needed to be a very strong modeling solution.

SideFX was the inspiration of this video in its entirety. Everything about this video was made for them as special thanks for all their support through the years. THANKS AGAIN!

Then we will jump to Procedural Modeling, something Houdini if famous for. Easy, introductory procedural modeling of a raspberry and a blackberry. Following is the lighting pass and after that we are going to setup shaders for a few of the assets. We are going to add some functionality to the standard mantra surface shader and build a user interface for the new options. We are going to end the training course by rendering the final image.

NOTICE TO VIEWERS:

You are expected to have a basic knowledge of the Houdini user interface and workflow in order to easily follow this video.

Here at cmiVFX we maintain a current training library for the latest versions of popular software titles. When it comes to high end CG and VFX training, there is only once choice... cmiVFX! Don’t forget about the cmiSubscription plan! Get one today. cmiVFX launched the most affordable subscription plan in Visual FX Training History for only $299 USD, and if you were a subscriber, this New Training Release would already be in your account. This video is also available a-la-cart in our brand new HTML5 player system.

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http://cmivfx.com/tutorials/view/389/Houdini+Cookoff+Recipe

Chapter Descriptions

Chapter 1: Introduction

What's my background and what's this training course about.

Chapter 2: Traditional Modeling

We are going to build two simple objects using standard modeling tools showing that Houdini has everything necessary to be a very solid modeler. We are also gonna talk about how to achieve a certain look for the assets.

Chapter 3: Procedural Modeling

This part is of the strongholds of Houdini. Easy, introductory procedural modeling of a raspberry and a blackberry.

Chapter 4: Lighting

We are going to talk about how best to light our scene. Also we are going to discuss a few render parameters.

Chapter 5: Shading & Rendering

Setting up shaders for a few of the assets. We are also going to add some functionality to the standard mantra surface shader and add the new option to the interface. At the same time we are rendering the assets we're working on to make sure they look the best.

Chapter 6: Rendering the final image

We conclude our training by rendering the final image and talk what can be done next in post production.

Adrian Lazar

3d generalist and compositing artist working in the industry for over 10 years. His strongest points are in modeling, shading and compositing. Softimage + MentalRay / Houdini + Mantra for 3d and Fusion / Nuke for compositing are his primary tools. He also has a few years of experience working with 3DSMax, Vray and Combustion. Although he considers myself an excellent team player, Adrian also enjoys working autonomous therefore liking several areas of the cg production. When possible he likes to get involved in the artistic side of the projects, from the main concept to look development.

SPECIAL THANKS

To the entire team at SideFX Software, Robert Magee,  Bill Self,  Martin Crawford, Monika Janek, Chris McSpurren, Aliza Sorotzkin, and way to many more to list. We made this for you guys, we hope you like it!

Project Contents

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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. © 2012 cmiVFX | cmiStudios. All rights reserved.