VFX

Houdini, USD and UE4 - part 2

I continue to explore USD, looking at layers, transforms, duplicating objects and variants.

Houdini, USD and UE4 - part 1

I want to see how much data I can move back and forth between Houdini 18.5 and UE4.26 using USD. In this first part, I prep the bar scene that SideFX provides to bring into UE4. Along the way I: Setup the USD kind and purpose. Create a proxy (realtime friendlier) mesh. Show some PDG fun to batch...

Digital Artists of the Future

As a digital artist, working in 3D, there's a lot to be excited about. In the future, there will be a shift in the skills that are valued. Technology is changing the world around us at a rapid pace. Our lives are better for it, and our jobs are easier to do. The acceleration in change can be scary...

Stop Calling Yourself a [Software] Artist

I get it. You're new to the industry. There's so much to learn that it can be overwhelming, from artistic principles to technical skills to a myriad of software packages. And then, when it's your turn to market yourself, you choose to identify as a artist. You're defining yourself on a...

Presenting at GDC 2017: A Postmortem

Once a year thousands of people, from all over the world, gather in San Francisco for the Game Developers Conference. Every aspect of game development is put on display where the community can share and learn from each other. Business, art, community development, writing, leadership and so many of...

Herding Rocks: Procedural Animation in Shape of the World

SideFX invited me to give a quick talk at their booth during GDC 2017. I had already shown most of the work I'd done for Gears of War in a webinar the previous year so I wasn't too sure what I would show. Thankfully game designer extraordinaire and ex-colleague Stu Maxwell asked me to help out on...

Realtime VFX for Games: Houdini ILLUME Webinar

Towards the end of 2016 I was fortunate enough to share a lot of the work we did on Gears of War 4 using Houdini through a webinar organized by SideFX. At just under 2 hours there's a lot of info crammed in. I wanted to cover as much as possible at a higher level because I think the concepts can...

RBD Design - Timing and Weight