Dynamic Cloth Simulation for Production

Professional Houdini Workflow with Salah Hussein

Learn how to create complex material simulations using a tried-and-tested production workflow. This step-by-step character FX workshop is taught by Salah Hussein, a senior FX and CFX artist with over 8 years of production experience. Salah’s 4-hour workshop guides artists through his professional workflow using the Houdini Vellum Solver to simulate 3D materials. 

Using Salah’s unique and innovative techniques, he breaks down the entire process to show how to take character assets and animations – including multiple layers of cloth and different types of objects – and convert them into proxy geometry that works efficiently for a simulation. He also details how to build a constraints network to help artists fine-tune and debug simulations quickly while also advising how to address fixes with professional tips and tricks. To conclude the workflow, Salah demonstrates how to keep all the essential point deforms and the original geometry with a clean export without changing or damaging any attributes or topology. 

By completing this workshop, artists will be confident in creating clothing assets for characters and understand how to make them dynamic using realistic cloth simulation in Houdini. Salah’s helpful Alembic and Houdini (Indie) files are provided as a downloadable resource for subscribers.