Creating & Animating A Bird With Houdini's Feather System

Lead Lighting Artist Andreas Kjær-Jensen recently took a deep dive into Houdini 20's new feather system, one of the big headliners for this release. The learning process was fascinating, and the artist shared his insights to help you bring your own birds and creatures to life in a detailed article.

Birds are particularly exciting because they require a blend of Houdini techniques to tackle the complex nature of feather creation and simulation. This exploration covers the entire process of creating feathered creatures, from grooming, rigging (APEX), and character FX to shading using Karma XPU and Solaris.

Please note, that the rigging/APEX section of this breakdown won't be available until Houdini 20.5 comes out. According to Andreas, he had the opportunity to test some of the features of Houdini 20.5 a little early and the additions made to the APEX rigging workflow are significant, especially when it comes to birds.

Around the time Houdini 20.5 releases, the article will be updated with a new section, so you can subscribe to Andreas' newsletter if you'd like to get a notification as soon as this part of the article becomes available.

Stay tuned for more and dive into creating some feathered friends by clicking this link. Also, don't forget to join our 80 Level Talent platform and our Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Reddit, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.