Houdini artists now take advantage of the tool’s procedural capabilities in diverse roles including CG generalists, FX TDs, software engineers, animators, modelers, character artists, lighters and pipeline developers. That’s because Houdini is used at nearly every stage in the visual effects and animation pipeline, and it’s why the demand for experienced artists is growing rapidly.

For example, the unforgettable Quicksilver mansion rescue sequence in X-Men: Apocalypse made use of Houdini effects and pyro simulations - in slow-mo - thanks to visual effects from Rising Sun Pictures in Adelaide, Australia, which had also created the effects for the Quicksilver kitchen scene in Days of Future Past.



Both sequences demonstrate the power of Houdini front-and-center, but like many other studios, Rising Sun has also been using the Houdini toolset for much broader visual effects requirements.

“Some forests in a recent production were generated in Houdini,” outlines Rising Sun visual effects artist Thomas Cant, “We also developed some city generation tools which were done for Pan, and we do a lot more modeling and lighting in Houdini than we used to as well.”

Digital Domain used Houdini to craft Magento’s magnetic field and destruction effects in X-Men: Apocalypse. Houdini is at the core of the effects pipeline at Digital Domain, which has offices in both Los Angeles and Vancouver.

At any given time the studio has between 20 and 30 artists in its effects department, all of which touch the software. Given today’s high demand, getting the right artists has now become a critical priority. “Skilled Houdini artists are always hard to come by,” says Digital Domain FX artist Steven Ong.