Intro to Houdini Pyro Effects from Adam Swaab

During 5+ hours of content and three project based tutorials, Intro to Houdini Pyro Effects by Adam Swaab shows how to wrangle and control pyro simulations in Houdini.

With dozens of parameters to play with and tweak in pyro, it can be a daunting endeavour. However, Adam shows how to get the most out of pyro, by looking at the key settings that shape a simulation and how to get some level of control to the sims by looking at three big simulations in Houdini, all the way from initial set-up to lighting, rendering, and compositing.

The tutorial starts by looking at the different kinds of volumes in Houdini, showing how to see their values, as well as explaining the differences between the many different kinds of volumes. Next is the first simulation, a thick, billowy smoke simulation. The next project focuses on creating a fireball explosion, using a particle source as a base. Learn how to use this particle simulation to shape and art direct the simulation, giving some level of predictability to pyro. Following this, go over the pyro combustion model, showing how the various parameters influence the simulation before ending the tutorial, by taking a look at a dirt explosion simulation, showing how to set it off from a particle simulation, finally rendering it and compositing it over a background plate.

Intro to Houdini Pyro Effects is a comprehensive must-own tutorial for all Houdini enthusiasts.

Intro to Houdini Pyro Effects : Course Breakdown

Chapter 01: Introduction

Chapter 02: Overview of volumes. We look at the different types of volumes in Houdini. We have a brief discussion about standard Houdini volumes and VDB volumes. We also look at the “volume slice” SOP to examine cross sections of a volume.

Chapter 03: Starting from scratch, we build a billowy smoke simulation, without using the shelf tools. We look at all the properties that influence and shape a smoke simulation. We add external forces and micro solvers to extend the capabilities of the base pyro setup. We also look at how to get rid of the typical mushroom shapes that show up in simulations.

Chapter 04: We set up our smoke simulation for rendering. We place lights in our scene, apply and tweak the pyro shader, and optimise our render settings for best quality/efficiency.

Chapter 05: We look at how to rebuild the smoke beauty in Nuke using the separate lighting layers from the .exr file, as well as grading and tweaking the render in comp.

Chapter 06: We set up a POP simulation to create fuel, temperature, and initial velocities for our explosion simulation. This POP sim setup will serve as a basis to create a wide variety of explosions, from a simple direct able setup.

Chapter 07: We turn our POP simulation into a pyro explosion. We show how fuel, temperature, and the pyro combustion model work to create flames and smoke. We continue to refine our simulations, both in POPS and DOPS, until we are happy with the result.

Chapter 08: We setup our explosion for rendering, looking at what image planes are needed for compositing. We explore more of the pyro shader, looking at the blackbody radiation model for shading.

Chapter 09: In Nuke, we look at rebuilding the beauty pass and discuss how to use the individual render image planes to tweak and enhance the final explosion comp.

Chapter 10: We discuss how to use rest fields to add procedural noise to the pyro shader.

Chapter 11: We create a base particle simulation to use for our “dirt hit” pyro sim.

Chapter 12: We shape and refine our simulation in DOPS.

Chapter 13: Matching to a background plate, we look at how to render the smoke and interactive shadow pass to be used in compositing.

Chapter 14: We dissect the Nuke comp, showing how to use the rendered passes to integrate our smoke with a background plate.

PLEASE NOTE: This course has been created for Houdini 15+

Houdini Training : learn. Jumpstart Vol. 6 – Intro to Houdini Pyro Effects

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Additional Titles in the learn. Jumpstart Series

Vol.1 | Get started with the fundamentals of procedural modelling in Houdini from Adam Swaab.	Vol.2 | Look further into the copy sop & how to use it correctly to add variation & randomness to copied objects.	Vol.3 | Create a simple bowling alley simulation using dynamics in Houdini & learn about DOPS & SOPS.
Vol.4 | Explore a variety of particle setups, starting from a simple system, building to more intricate setups.	Vol.5 | In this tutorial, get your CG feet wet with Adam Swaab’s ‘Jumpstart’ foray into fluid simulations.	Vol.6 | Learn how to wrangle & control Houdini Pyro Effects during 5+ hours of content, over 3 project based tutorials.
Vol.7 | Learn the ins & outs of VOPS & get ready to harness it’s full power, plus an intro to pure coding in VEX.	Vol.8 | Get up & running with Houdini’s Mantra render engine in this intro to Houdini Lighting & Rendering.