An even more in-depth look here on the LA Times Blog!
No green screen or motion capture was used when shooting actress Isabel Lucas. But it took seven months for a team of 20 to create countless layers of effects, devised with complex equations and meticulous rendering with the software Houdini to create the six-second shot.
“I think we did 30,000 CG ball bearings,” Palop say. “We had to develop a crowd system in [Side Effects Software] Houdini to be able to control their behaviors. Houdini can assign a charge to a particle and you can set up rules that define how that charge changes over time depending on what’s happening around it. We could define, based on the reference from Michael’s photography, what these guys needed to do to make it to seem like they had some level of intellect. The approach we took was to simulate particles, give them a behavior, and stamp prebaked animation cycles from our library onto those particles. Our system chooses—depending on the action required—which animation cycles we would stamp on the particles.”
John Courte, Jeff Lait, Jenny Blacklock, Silvinna Rocca, and Martin Sawtell at the Side Effects headquarters office in Toronto.
Then Jeff showed the crowd the newest things in Houdini 10.
(Andy Boyd and Jeff Wagner)
(Spencer Lueders and David Mellor from Framestore, me from Side Effects)
Thursday, June 18, 2009
6:30pm-10:00pm
With the recent announcement of Houdini 10, Side Effects is pleased to announce a special presentation at NYU's Cantor Film Center on Thursday, June 18th. Houdini 10 is designed to make artists more productive while equipping studios with the most powerful tools in the industry.
The evening begins with two presentations by Houdini artists Spencer Lueders, Technical Director from Framestore NYC and Andy Boyd, Head of 3D from Method Studios in LA. They both have some amazing work to show you along with a look behind the scenes.
Next is an overview of Houdini 10 which will take you through new features such as Pyro FX, distributed simulations, crumpling and tearing, Progressive IPR, Motion FX and Stereoscopic 3D. This is a feature-rich release and there will be a lot of info packed into the presentation.
There will be a draw for a license of Houdini Apprentice HD followed by a cocktail reception at a soon-to-be revealed location.
Come on down and learn what Houdini can do for you!
Agenda:
6:30 - 7:00 p.m. Registration
7:00 - 8:00 p.m. Framestore/Method Presentations
8:00 - 8:45 p.m. Houdini 10 Overview
8:45 - 9:00 p.m. Houdini Apprentice HD Drawings
9:00 - 10:00 p.m. Cocktail Reception (location TBD)
Cantor Film Center
Theater 101
36 East 8th Street
NY, NY 10003
This event is by RSVP only, so please register on the event page here.
And while we're mentioning Framestore ... please check out the Fireflies Ride benefiting Leuka and their Leukaemia work. Don't forget to support our Framestore friends Dave and Kevin and donate to a great effort.
Crumpling and Tearing in Houdini 10
Thursday, June 4th, 2009
7:00pm - 9:00pm
This technical evening will cover the new crumpling and tearing features that are available in Houdini 10's physically-based cloth solver. These include support for plastic deformation, dynamic tearing and changing topologies. The presentation will include direction on basic workflows, and fundamental physical properties of cloth objects. Many of these concepts will be supported by working example videos including smashing cars, cutting fabric and collapsing buildings! Presenters for this event will be Side Effects Developer Michiel Hagedoorn, and Side Effects intern Martin Sawtell.
Come along for an informal and interactive evening to see what Houdini 10's cloth simulations tools have to offer.
The evening will conclude with refreshments.
Please register on the event page here.
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