Field of Coins and Magic Wand | Houdini FX

Field of Coins

Final Render Composite

Flipbook Previz

Process from PreViz to Final 

Reference Images

Hi Res Coins

These are the Pirate coins I used for the simulation inside of Houdini. The coin with the statues were 3D scans I took in the past with Polycam and were modified to be on the faces of the coins.

Velocity Breakdown

1) I created the swirl velocity by calculating the cross product of an up vector and the Normals of a conical geometry. I then transferred the attributes to a point cloud that was big enough to encompass my entire simulation.

2) I adjusted the incoming velocity to be slower towards the edges of the point cloud and much faster when in the center. I knew I wanted a close up shot of my skull and adding fast moving coins in front of the camera would really help captivate my audience.

3) The rotational force was pushing all my coins towards the edges of my barrier and flying away. I needed to find a way to bring those coins back in. So, I created a point in the world origin and calculated velocity of my point cloud towards the aforementioned point.

4) By creating a linear interpolation of all my velocities, I was able to create a vortex that spun around the origin and sucked everything towards the center. This setup also gave me control over the overall velocity strength, how far to the edges the influence takes effect and how fast they are pulled towards the center. 

Skull Render

The skull was heavily influenced by the artistic styling of skull seen in the final Pirates of the Carribean title sequence. A mixture of a shiny, golden surface and a rough matte black finish. This helped bring out the skull in the final composite ensure it doesn't blend into the field of coins. 

Magic Wand

Flipbook Previz

Process from PreViz to Final

Reference Images

Environment - Full Node Graph

The entire environment was created inside of Houdini. Thanks to the procedural nature of Houdini, I was able to quickly go through different variations of geometry before I landed on a look that was faithful the actual set of Hogwarts. I did a lot of research onto the interior architecture of castles built in a similar time period. Most, if not all, were old English era castles and bared a similar style to one another. Harry Potter was filmed at Alnwick Castle located in England. Alot of reference was pulled from this castle as well. 

Intersecting Paintings Obstacle and Solution

The Hall of Portraits is a well-known corridor located inside of Hogwarts. It features hundreds of animated portraits interacting with the students. It is referenced heavily in popular media, and I knew that I wanted to have a similar style corridor in my piece. Upon creating the paintings, I quickly ran into the problem seen here. The paintings were intersecting and were not aware of each other. The solution to this was creating a For Each loop where the loop would iterate through all the points running the above referenced nodes to each geometry.  I then created a switch node and ran the following vex code. If this node returns a number of points greater than 0, then instance a null in place of a painting. If it does not return any points, then instance a random piece of geometry.

Full Painting Geometry Library

I created an entire painting library for Houdini to reference and spawn in the hallway. I wanted to minimize repeating geometry, so I created a total 20 different painting variations. Some were animated and others were static. I researched the style of paintings Hogwarts had decorated throughout its halls and saw they mostly consisted of renaissance era style portraits and landscapes. I chose paintings that I felt could live within these walls and would have a story behind them.

Magic - POP Simulation

The particle simulation was done by merging four different pop sims. Each one had their own physics, particle count, and particle life applied. I ran four different pyro simulations, each with their own turbulence applied. I extracted the velocity and applied it to the particle simulation. This made the pop sim look wispy and mystical. The fact that there were four different simulations at work here, only further fed into the magical nature of the piece. 

Custom Wand 3D Model

The magic wand model was procedurally modeled inside of Houdini as well.

Alan Rickman Homage

The final piece I wanted to add was an homage to the late actor, Alan Rickman, who played Snape in the Harry Potter films. He was my favorite character in the entire series, and I felt like I needed to pay respect in one form or another. His character was the most knowledgeable and misunderstood character in the films. Only at the very end, do you see his true intentions and appreciate him for the hero that he is. Mr. Rickman did a tremendous job of bringing this character to life and delivering a stellar performance for years on end. He will always be remembered by millions worldwide as a true hero.