Post SIGGRAPH 2010 Roundup

We had an amazing time this year at SIGGRAPH 2010 in Los Angeles. Our Education Team had a booth on the show floor and met with loads of people eager to learn or teach Houdini at their schools.

We even held an education mixer at our Santa Monica Training space and had many attendees roll through to meet with various staff from Side Effects both LA and Toronto facilities.

All this was capped off by an amazing event to to launch our latest and greatest version of Houdini.

Lots of thanks again to our lovely presenters:

• Marion Spates and Christopher Leone from Motion Theory presenting on World of Color (Disney commercial)
• Jeremy Hampton from Digital Domain presenting on Percy Jackson
• Spencer Lueders from Framestore NY presenting on Salt.

Thanks to everyone who came out for the Houdini 11 Launch event as well, we loved getting to hang with our talented users and fans. And the performance from Fire Groove made it all a wonderful celebration :).

Spencer Lueders presenting on SALT

mingling around and meeting other Houdini nerds

H11 and SIGGRAPH 2010!

It's been a while, I know. I owe a major blog update.

But for now, let's get excited about the news around Houdini 11! Check out the sneak peak from Kim on our site as well as a list of all the new stuff in there.

We'll be going Gold with Houdini 11 just before SIGGRAPH this year in Los Angeles... which means we'll have to celebration as well :)



Come join us for a great event at the Cooper Design Building in downtown Los Angeles on July 27th (just blocks away from the conference center).

Here's more information on the Launch Event as well as details for our Education Booth and presence at SIGGRAPH this year.

Don't forget to RSVP!!

PS: If you're currently a commercial customer current on AUP, you'll be getting access to Houdini 11 Beta in just a few short days.

Leo Chan and Ziggy at GDX and SCAD

SCAD Atlanta and SCAD and the GDX in Savannah all got a great dose of Houdini from EA's Leo Chan and SESI's Ziggy Ostertag, with Aliza covering both bases. Here's a synopsis:



Ziggy and Clark at SCAD Atlanta studio






SCAD grad students listening to
Ziggy's Intro to Houdini













Leo and Debra Fowler of SCAD field
questions at GDX












Leo introduces a whole new generation
to Brian Eno's
"Music for Airports",
via Houdini.

Colliding implied surfaces is cool!

Learn how with this Thursday's class "Understanding Volume Primitives". Dave Koester will break it down for all DOPs fans.

Call us for class files at 310.319.9876.

Beginners to Experts

Last week's training covered everything from "how to make a movie with special effects" (for Loyola Marymount students) and a "very gentle intro to Python in Houdini" with Igor Boshoer, to "Motion FX & CHOPs" with Gonzo Cababaca and "Python Tricks" with Houdini guru Luke Moore.

Is that snake charming?

Side Effects Welcomes Siegfried Ostertag

Ziggy Ostertag has joined the Side Effects team as Houdini Trainer, and is shown here on his first day at work, right in the thick of it.

Ziggy began his VFX career in Germany at Computer Projects Unlimited, and at C.O.R.E. & Effectory as both trainer and VFX TD. He has worked at Rhythm & Hues, Imageworks, and Digital Domain in LA.

Come learn from the master!

Houdini Training at Graffiti School, Mumbai

Andrew Lowell at Mumbai workshop with VFX trainers from Big Animation, Frameboxx, Foskia Graffiti and others.

Look for great Houdini effects coming out of Bollywood soon!