Introduction

Before we start I would like to thank 80 Level for the interview and a fantastic chance to share my knowledge with the readers as well as my friend Abdel Halim Garess for valuable advice.

Hi, my name Muhammad Kamal Ahmed, I am a Houdini FX artist based in Palestine. Most people know me under the nickname Standing Man. I like creating fast and efficient FX tools for Houdini to push the boundaries of what’s possible or help solve production problems easier and/or faster. I have a strong background in CG effects production and graphics programming which allows me to create highly generic, robust and performant production-oriented tools.

Exploring Procedural Art

I explored procedural art by learning to program and work in Houdini, a procedural design tool that merges art and math. Due to its node-based workflow, the creative process and the results are always visible alongside each other which is a key factor in designing to get continuous visual feedback. I learned most of the basics through great Side FX masterclasses, cgwiki, and my own experiments.