Houdini job outlook now and in the future

[Tyfx567]

Hey guys.

So I have a couple questions about the industry and what the status is on Houdini being used in the industry right now, this question is geared towards Houdini FX artists \ Technical director professionals in the industry. 

I would like your insight please. 

I currently live in LA working a couple gigs with Maya mainly as my tool. However I really want to work in Houdini. I have an extreme passion for everything regarding Houdini and don't want to leave it.  I hear things like "all the jobs are drying up in LA and moving to vancouver" "Most houdini jobs are in Vancouver because this is where all the film jobs are (and big studios)" 

 

Can someone clarify these things for me? I am in a confusing spot.

Should I study Maya over Houdini for fx in my spare time? I don't want to be wasting my time learning Houdini if all the jobs that are in la are Maya jobs or I can't get a job in Vancouver. 

Basically how hard is it to get a Houdini job in la as a junior?

 

On a side note: do you guys think jobs will come back to la eventually?

 

Thanks for your input as usual! 

 

 

[Atom]

I think jobs can come back to the US because tax incentives were recently passed in California and existing tax incentives were not renewed in Canada. This levels the playing field a bit as far as budgeting is concerned. Facilities and talent are another thing, however.

 

If you know Maya, keep with it. There is no reason not to pick up more Houdini knowledge. I don't consider working with Houdini a waste of time.

 

Your reel is what is going to sell you. If your shots were done in Maya or Houdini, no one is going to care that much. Just make it look stunning and beautiful.

[Tyfx567]

Thank you very much for your insight. I know that is a very broad and hard question to answer. 

[alksndr]

Hey, i've been working as a houdini fx guy for a few weeks in LA so here's what I can tell you-

It seems like a lot of jobs have ALREADY moved, but finding work to choose from was pretty simple for me. The decision of which studio /career plan to commit to was and is harder than finding available houdini work thus far.

That said, theres probably like 10 studios I looked into. Maybe 15? Not all of them are hiring and some of them are the giant ones that have thousands of applicants. I couldn't tell you if theres more out there, I can't imagine theres much more than 15ish studios here with houdini fx positions and like a third aren't hiring so its pretty wild. If I had to find one now, it would be tough because now every one of those studios had either offered a job or declined me, so I would be stuck in limbo till they are ramping up again.

Edited November 25, 2015 by alksndr

[outtacontex]

I'm in LA as well. I haven't seen a junior Houdini fx artist/td position available in quite some time. The brunt of work seems to be elsewhere (I'm guessing most feature work is done in other locations), but there's plenty of Houdini centric work available here. Learning/studying Houdini or any new tool for that matter is never a waste, but don't do it solely for (I want to find an fx job quickly). Do it for the pure enjoyment as well, otherwise you'll put unrealistic expectation on yourself and become frustrated when you don't land that Houdini job. Find out what studios have done in the past, what the majority of shots were geared towards and nail that....show that you're capable of doing what's required well. <------ even if you don't know what they're currently working/bidding on.

[sebkaine]

That's extremely surprising / sad to learn that finding a Houdini Job in LA is now near to mission impossible ... especially when as an avid cinefex reader nearly all the best 

Houdini guys / shop where in LA no so long ago !

 

Maybe you will have better chance to target specifically the commercial market , the mill / psyop / method / mpc has active dpt in commercial in LA ...

 

if i was able to move easily like most junior artist do, i would definitly not waste too much time on Maya. Focus 100% on Houdini even if i have to move to Canada / Australia to get some good XP.

Houdini will give you a far better journey in the FX world. Trust me i have 8 years of Maya struggling in my back ...

 

Even if you have to work for MPC a little , that would still be a great way to get a first Houdini Job on big VFX.

Edited November 9, 2015 by sebkaine

[outtacontex]

There's a lot of big fx heavy projects coming down the pipe soon, from what I hear, so Houdini for the win. You should see a lot more work popping up.

[Juraj]

Hi guys,

do you have any experience with working in EU ?

Currently I am studying VFX and learning Houdini in my spare time but soon I will have to find something and it would be great if I found a junior Houdini position here

[Tyfx567]

Thanks guys for all your input! Really appreciated! 

[acey195]

Hi guys,

do you have any experience with working in EU ?

Currently I am studying VFX and learning Houdini in my spare time but soon I will have to find something and it would be great if I found a junior Houdini position here

 

sorry for the late reply I guess...

Anyway, I think most of the larger movie-producing VFX studios are in the UK, London Area, but there are small-medium studios all over Europe.

[sebkaine]

Hi guys,

do you have any experience with working in EU ?

Currently I am studying VFX and learning Houdini in my spare time but soon I will have to find something and it would be great if I found a junior Houdini position here

 

In Paris most of the best Houdini guys i know are at Illumination Mac Guff. They always seek juniors so you can send them you application here:

http://www.illuminationmacguff.com/joinform.php

you must be good in english ... well at least not as bad as french can be in english :

 

Cheers

 

E

Edited November 26, 2015 by sebkaine

[acey195]

In Paris most of the best Houdini guys i know are at Illumination Mac Guff. They always seek juniors so you can send them you application here:

http://www.illuminationmacguff.com/joinform.php

you must be good in english ... well at least not as bad as french can be in english :

 

Cheers

 

E

I went to your team's presentation at the H15 launch event

 

I can also add that the interest in Houdini, from the video-game side is also steadily increasing

Edited November 27, 2015 by acey195

[sebkaine]

I went to your team's presentation at the H15 launch event

 

I can also add that the interest in Houdini, from the video-game side is also steadily increasing

 

Yeahh i heard about the show , couldn't get there !

By the way i'm not @guff anymore and i do have a higher and higher interest for RT like you ... and i agree that houdini has a lot to offer in this area !

But it also has a lot to do in term of viewport , GLSL workflow etc ... 

 

Maya is pushing hard on the viewport and the RT shaders that's a good direction to follow.

 

Cheers 

 

E

[acey195]

Yeahh i heard about the show , couldn't get there !

By the way i'm not @guff anymore and i do have a higher and higher interest for RT like you ... and i agree that houdini has a lot to offer in this area !

But it also has a lot to do in term of viewport , GLSL workflow etc ... 

 

Maya is pushing hard on the viewport and the RT shaders that's a good direction to follow.

 

Cheers 

 

E

That would certainly help of course,

 

but there is still a lot of stuff you could pre-cook to the use as data in a RT environment.

(And I am not necessarily talking about pre-baked destruction set-pieces here )

[pclaes]

From the perspective of hiring new houdini artists in LA, it definitely goes with the demand of production.
That said, finding senior houdini artists is still not easy. A lot of seniors have gone to Vancouver or other places and have not come back to LA.
So we can either try and get senior artist from different parts of the world - which requires a workvisa, which tends to take a significant amount of time or we can train them in-house.

In regards to juniors, I've taught a bit at Gnomon - specifically some of the classes/workflows that are relevant to data management and production workflows. Then some of those artists are doing the Sidefx internship and at Method we have set up a mentorship program together with Sidefx, so the interns get focussed advice from mid/senior houdini artist. On the flip side Method tries to get some of the interns in as junior effects artists when they near the end of the internship. By that time they will have had some experience at Gnomon, some of my classes, then 4-6 months at Sidefx with guidance from Method artists.

We can not hire all, but if we can hire 1 person out of the internship every 6 months, that is a quite good. Most of those interns have found work at the different facilities, so if you are junior and in LA, do consider the Sidefx internship.
People also leave the industry, pursue games or VR, so creating/maintaining a younger houdini talent pool is crucial. There is also a financial motivation as a team of only senior houdini artists is costly, so a well balanced mix tends to work best.

All in all, it is well worth learning houdini as it provides a deep understanding of computer graphics, which is applicable to many fields beyond vfx. We don't do any fx in Maya at Method. Bifrost and Fabric Engine might also be worth looking into or learning as they would help you to manipulate the data and implement your own tools and algorithms (just like vops).