Saturday, November 6th, 2021 Posted by Jim Thacker

Get started with Houdini’s Pyro FX toolset


The Gnomon Workshop has released Introduction to Pyro FX in Houdini: Volume 1 and Volume 2: a two-part introduction to Houdini’s gaseous fluid simulation toolset, recoreded by FX TD Alasgar Hasanov.

The workshops, which comprise over 10 hours of video training, reveal how to simulate real-world smoke and fire, beginning with small flames and smoke clouds and working up to massive explosions.

Volume 1: discover key Pyro nodes and solver settings
A mainstay of visual effects and feature animation workflows, and also increasingly used in game development, the Pyro FX toolset in Houdini enables artists to simulate realistic smoke and fire.

In Volume 1, Hasanov explores how to use it to create smaller-scale simulations, including wispy smoke, dry ice, small fires and larger fires with a lot of smoke.

The training includes an overview of the key nodes and Pyro solver settings, along with efficient methods for matching real-world references.



Volume 2: workflows for creating, shading and rendering larger-scale simulations
Volume 2 explores larger-scale fire and explosion simulations.

The training covers the new Pyro Burst Source and Pyro Trail Source nodes introduced in Houdini 18.5.

In addition, Hasanov discusses how to use the Pyro Shader, and efficient workflows for lighting and rendering Pyro simulations.

As well as the training videos themselves, viewers can download the Houdini project files for the tutorials.

About the artist
Alasgar Hasanov has over seven years of experience in the CG and VFX industry, beginning as a 3D generalist before specialising in complex dynamics simulations.

His movie credits include X-Men: Dark Phoenix and It Chapter Two. He has also worked on TV series including Game of Thrones, American Gods and The Boys, and commercials for Nike and Dolby Digital.

Pricing and availability
Introduction to Pyro FX in Houdini is available via an online subscription to The Gnomon Workshop. Subscriptions cost $49/month or $490/year. You can try the training for free.


Read more about Introduction to Pyro FX in Houdini: Volume 1 on The Gnomon Workshop’s website

Read more about Introduction to Pyro FX in Houdini: Volume 2 on The Gnomon Workshop’s website


Full disclosure: CG Channel is owned by Gnomon.