[TRAILER] Creating landscapes in Maya and Houdini
Full Content URL: https://bit.ly/2UyLiTO
Author: Sam Biddle
Full Content Description:
Houdini's Heightfields are a really powerful tool for building large
scale environments. In this tutorial we’ll look at how to get
started with the heightfield basics in Houdini, and then we’ll learn
how to export our heightfield to Maya for layout, along with the many
masks we can produce with Houdini's erode node. Then we'll leverage
the power of Quixel Bridge to texture and shade our heightfield, as
well as utilising Maya's MASH tools to scatter clouds and trees
throughout our scene. Following this, we will go on to light and
render with Arnold, exploring what AOVs we can produce for more
control in comp. Finally we'll head over to Blackmagic Fusion to
composite our renders and discover what comp tricks we can use to
enhance our final renders.
This tutorial is written with beginner to intermediate levels in mind;
a very basic understanding of Maya and Houdini is required to follow
along. We will explore how to create our shot step by step, and by the
end of the tutorial the user will have a good understanding of how to
export Heightfields from Houdini and bring them in to Maya, with the
essential masks for shading, equipped with a knowledge of how to use
these masks and shade the heightfield, creating a detailed landscape
for rendering.
Note: the Quixel textures used in the tutorial require a subscription
from Quixel Megascans. A good alternative source of textures is
Texture Haven. Additionally, the tree I use as an example for
scattering is purchased from Evermotion, so to follow this step you
will need a tree; many can be found online free or low cost.
Author Page: https://www.cgcircuit.com/instructor/...
Prerequisites:
About the Author: I began my 3D career in medical animation and now work in Film/TV in London. Nowadays I work primarily in Maya and Houdini, and when I’m not building worlds with these I’m out shooting short films (I’m still obsessed with Blackmagic’s pocket cinema cameras)