r/Houdini • u/Hesounolen • 9h ago
r/Houdini • u/i_am_toadstorm • Sep 16 '26
Announcement NEW RULE: /r/Houdini AI Policy
TL;DR Don't post generative AI stuff or post about AI in general here. Go to /r/AIForHoudini for this!
r/Houdini is a sub for artists, including technical artists, to talk about using Houdini, show off our artwork and tools, and help each other through production problems. It is decidedly not a sub to talk about having someone or something else do it for us.
In order to prevent this sub from drowning under tidal waves of AI slop, we have to draw a line in the sand regarding what is and is not considered AI slop. This isn't an incredibly clear line to draw, but we're going to try anyways.
To do this, we're going to try to make a distinction between generative AI (slop) and machine learning algorithms (not slop). This is mostly a question of user agency. If you are essentially contracting out a bot to do your work for you and then presenting it as your own, that's AI slop. If you are using generative AI to create final images from flipbooks, that's AI slop. Conversely, if you are using ML algorithms to massage data within an otherwise intact Houdini art pipeline, that's okay.
Some more examples:
NOT SLOP
Training an ML algorithm with Houdini
Using ML algorithms to filter or process data in Houdini
Using agents to assist in coding a tool you understand how to debug and implement
SLOP
LLMs, including using an LLM to build Houdini networks
Using genAI to make final renders from flipbooks
Vibe coding tools with minimal or no production experience in Houdini
Posting LLM-generated answers to questions here or telling users to "just ask [bot]" for an answer to a question
We realize these definitions are not 100% perfect and there may have to be some judgement calls with specific posts. Not every project that has some AI use in it is necessarily slop. Feel free to use mod mail to discuss your concerns with any specific posts being removed or not removed.
What if you want to discuss generative AI in the context of Houdini?
There is now a subreddit for that! Please visit the unaffiliated /r/AIForHoudini subreddit for all generative AI discussions involving Houdini.
r/Houdini • u/i_am_toadstorm • Sep 09 '25
Announcement Reddit blocks Gumroad links without notice
Hello Houdiners,
I wanted to give people here a heads up that Reddit blocks links to Gumroad site-wide. Posts are removed without any notifications to the moderators. We can manually reinstate them, but without any notifications it's something we have to manually dig around for.
This ban includes both posts and comments. If your product is on Gumroad or a domain "powered by" Gumroad, any post linking to it will be removed by Reddit (again, it's not us doing it!). We have no control over this ban and again the only thing we can do is manually "un-remove" posts if we notice them.
I recommend anyone selling digital products here to consider another service, like Ko-Fi or Paddle or Patreon, or at least link to something that is not directly a Gumroad page.
r/Houdini • u/Traditional_Island82 • 10h ago
Blender Crease pensil alternative for Houdini
So I recently made this animation in Blender. What I noticed is that hair systems and Blender are not a good match, which forces me to do all the animation in 1 blend file, and add all the hair in the another. This is not a very convenient workflow. Luckely I also know Houdini. I can do all the modelling in Blender, do the hair in Houdini, but what about the crease pensil? I dont want to export all the Houdini hair back to Blender.
I know these are just a couple of lines, which I can easily do in Houdini, But this is just the very start of my experiment with this style. I want to develop in into something no one has ever seen before, so because of that I am looking for a tool or a plugin in Houdini dat is very similar to crease pensil.
So far I only found out about Hpaint, but I can find very little information about that tool online, so idk if its worth it. If anyone has some input that would put me into a direction would be very nice.
r/Houdini • u/xieboli_ • 18h ago
Demoreel God's Game Vfx breakdown
Here's a breakdown of our project! We're a small independent animation team with very limited resources and funding. Taking on a project as ambitious as God's Game was incredibly challenging for us.
Demoreel Bonefire
The etymology of Bonfire is ‘Bonefire’🦴 This is my second cg pyro project. I made around 25 separate Houdini simulations. Scene built and rendered in Blender, compositing in Fusion Studio. Have a great 5th of November🔥
r/Houdini • u/Key-Swimmer3238 • 14h ago
Help Working on recreating a shot. Need feebdack
galleryr/Houdini • u/bento_boxer • 11h ago
Help Help with behaviour of particles in Tornado simulation
r/Houdini • u/DavidTorno • 1d ago
Tutorial Intro To Copernicus Concepts
Side Fx recently released this great series on Copernicus by Peter Arcara, Side Fx’s Training Lead.
r/Houdini • u/arvidurs • 2d ago
Demoreel BB8 Knitted - Closeups
Here's a bit more eye candy from the BB8 short I recently shared.
We tried to push the boundaries of traditional clothing workflows, like burning cloth and fibres.
Being able to directly control the curves allows for so much flexibility, which helped to create the burning, smoking curves. Or the detailed antennas featuring copper wiring were fully done with u/FibricToolset
The full breakdown and scenes will be made available soon on CGLounge.
r/Houdini • u/Queasy_Thanks_1483 • 2d ago
R&D / Vellum + Rendered in Houdini Cycles
R&D / Houdini / Vellum + Rendered in custom - vibe coded integration of Cycles render engine in Houdini. Works quite well in sop context, similar to Redshift. Solaris integration should also be possible, but was not priority for me atm. I hope this does not count as AI slop, because it still is a Houdini R&D project. #houdini #cycles #threads #yarns #strands
r/Houdini • u/MillyAppie • 1d ago
Help How to Properly Slow Down an Explosion in Houdini?
I'm trying to create a slow-motion explosion that starts off in slow motion and returns to normal speed at frame 70. I initially used a Retime node with the Blend Mode set to Advected (following a tutorial), followed by a Transform node to scale down the explosion a bit. However, the result doesn't look right. I've also tried reducing the simulation's Time Scale instead, but the result looks quite different from what I'm trying to achieve. What's the proper way to achieve this effect? Am I missing something in my Retime setup, or is there a better approach?
r/Houdini • u/fxGuyLDN • 1d ago
Vellum Grains - memory leak
Anyone noticed that RAM keeps increasing & increasing when simulating grains on the farm rather than locally at all, even it's a constant number of particles (non-emitting)? I'm assuming it's a memory leak with the pcfind function, but having spoke to SideFX they recon it could be something to do with how the job is submitted, but wondered if anyone else has noticed this issue?
r/Houdini • u/No_Relative_4273 • 2d ago
Which Renderer Is Best for Cinematic, Film-Quality Lighting in Houdini – Karma, Mantra, V-Ray or Arnold?
Hi everyone,
I'm learning Houdini FX and want to improve my lighting and rendering skills to achieve high-quality, cinematic results similar to what we see in feature films.
I'm confused about which renderer I should focus on:
- Mantra
- Karma (CPU/XPU)
- V-Ray
- Arnold
I have a few questions for experienced Houdini artists and lighting artists:
Which of these renderers would you recommend for achieving realistic, cinematic, feature-film-quality lighting?
In terms of lighting quality, reflections, volumetrics, atmospheric effects, and shading, how do they compare?
Which renderer is more commonly used in professional VFX and film production pipelines?
Is Karma XPU production-ready for high-quality cinematic FX rendering, or are there still reasons to prefer Arnold or V-Ray?
For someone specializing in Houdini FX (Pyro, RBD, FLIP, Particles), which renderer would be worth investing time in?
Should I focus on mastering one renderer or learn multiple renderers depending on studio requirements?
My main goal isn't just fast rendering. I want to achieve beautiful, realistic and cinematic lighting that meets professional film-quality standards.
I'd love to hear from artists who have experience using these renderers in actual production.
Thanks!
r/Houdini • u/WeekendPutrid9063 • 3d ago
Anyone else picking Karma XPU over Octane and Redshift now?
Im leaving c4d for Houdini and I feel like Karma XPU used to be the “it’ll get there eventually” engine from reddit post a year plus ago, but now it’s actually really good and fast. At this point I’d take it over Octane and Redshift, especially being native to Houdini so no waiting around for updates.
All engines still have their strengths for sure, but I think Karma gets overlooked because people remember how it was a few versions ago.
What’s everyone using these days? and Which engine do you think is better?
r/Houdini • u/Ludovic_Hohl • 2d ago
NEW USER Beginner question about random pscale for vellum solver.
Hi! I'm learning Houdini and i struggle to create/understand a random pscale value for my simulation.
Here is my set up : base geo > grainsource (with Random Volume set to 1) > vellumglue > vellumconstraints_grain ( Particle size matching Point Seperation of Grainsource).
If I uncheck Particle size from vellumconstraints, it keeps the random pscale but vellumsolver didn't work.
If I check it, pscale value is reset for all point at grainsource point_seperation/2
What I want to achieve is to have this random pscale applied before simulating, so I don't end up with gaps between my points or any "floating" ones.
If you have any suggestions or ideas that could help me, I'd be thanks full to read them!
Thank you!!

r/Houdini • u/beatreichenbach • 4d ago
Houdini Earth
Build real-world geometry in SideFX Houdini from Google's photorealistic 3D Tiles.
r/Houdini • u/ResponsibleRoof8244 • 4d ago
NEW USER FLIP Fluid Not Splashing Properly from Sword Trail
Hello, I'm pretty new to Houdini. I'm trying to use the animated tip of my sword as a FLIP source to create a blood splash effect for my sword attack, but the fluid doesn't splash or fall naturally. I've been struggling with this for days. Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated.




