We'll learn how to build a procedural SOP Network and simulate its behavior using a SOP Solver in tandem with RBD. We will light and shade this geometry to build an animation system that can be run to create an infinite number of possibillities.

Dynamic fracturing of rigid bodies is a powerful and production ready tool in Houdini. The shelf tools are a great place to start but there's a lot more under the hood that can be leveraged to get high quality and highly tunable results in less time. This tutorial covers dynamic fracturing starting in the context of dynamic simulations, then using dynamic fracturing building blocks to visualize fracturing without the need to simulate anything, and other tip and tricks to attain complex effects and improve robustness of the workflow. The material is based on the assumption that the viewer has a working knowledge of other aspects of Houdini and might have some experience with other DOP simulations. Dynamic fracturing was introduced in Houdini 9.5 but this tutorial was created using Houdini 11.0 so there may be some differences with earlier versions of Houdini.

Designed for people upgrading to Houdini 10, the following lessons will get you up-to-speed with Houdini's new features and enhancements so that you can become more productive. We will first go over the network editor enhancements as well as the new wiring mechanisms. We will then learn about the new Motion FX tools, ODE RB, and other enhancements in modeling, rendering, and dynamics.

Popular highlights include: Particle-based Fluids; Volume-based Fluids; Ripple Solver; Viscosity; Fire, Smoke and Liquid simulations; Smoke Solver; Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics; Microsolvers; Visualizing Simulation Attributes; Rendering Fluids in Mantra; Source, Sink and Pump; Physical Properties; Rigid Body Dynamics; Gas Constant; Fuel and Temperature; Vorticles; Caching; Forces and Expressions; Creating and Painting Attributes.

Popular highlights include: Particle Simulation and Events; Particle Rendering; Rigid Body Dynamics; Paint-based Geometry Shatter; Rigid Body Fractures; Dynamics CHOPs; Particle Based Fluids; Fluid Emission and Interaction; Animated Sprites; Cloth Basics; Cloth Parameters; Fur and Guide Attributes; Wire Dynamics; Wire-driven Geometry; Groups and Partitions; Forces and Expressions.

Popular highlights include: Houdini Interface Overview; View Navigation; Object Transformations; Node-Based Workflow; Using the Network Editor; Building Various Networks; Using Shelf Tools; Parenting; Path Animation; Overview of Operators; Shading and Texturing; Rendering; Direct Lighting; Ambient Occlusion; Duplicating, Copying and Stamping; Particle Effects; Rigid Body Simulations; Modeling with NURBS and Polygons; Creating and Installing Digital Assets; Animating with Bones; Keyframe Animation; Animating with Expressions; Using the Channel Editor.

Topics covered in this tutorial: Using Ripple Object and Ripple Solver; Creating ripples with sculpt tools; Learning how to create ripples with a moving bulge. For a complete overview of Houdini check out Introduction to Houdini 9, an in-depth guide to learning the essentials of Houdini.

Topics covered in this tutorial: Creating a simple particle simulation; Learning particle replacement with Copy to Points; Adding forces. Learn more about Houdini with Fundamentals of Rigid Body Dynamics in Houdini, a complete resource to creating complex rigid body simulations and realistic effects in Houdini.

Topics covered in this tutorial: Learning how to trail our particles; Displaying our particles as lines ; Creating a basic particle simulation; Using the Particle Emitter; Setting up with a polywire. For a complete overview of Houdini check out Introduction to Houdini 9, an in-depth guide to learning the essentials of Houdini.