How to Create this Procedural Glass Explosion in Houdini

Project file: https://adamhogan.gumroad.com/l/RockC...

In this in-depth Houdini tutorial, you'll learn how to create a stunning procedural glass rock explosion VFX shot from scratch. We'll cover the entire workflow, from initial setup to final rendering and basic compositing, ensuring you understand every step of this complex effect.

We'll begin by importing our rock geometry and converting it into controllable points. You'll then learn how to use MOPS (Motion Operators) to create a dynamic falloff mask that will drive our main animation. With a touch of VEX and noise, we will add organic, complex motion to our points.

We dive into procedural modelling by building our own unique glass shards using a Voronoi Fracture technique. We'll then instance these shards onto our animated points, with full control over their randomisation, scale, and rotation.

Finally, we take everything into Solaris for a complete start-to-finish render with the powerful Karma XPU Renderer. You will learn how to set up your scene, create complex glass materials that react to custom attributes like our "pulse" effect, establish a three-point lighting setup, and apply final post-processing effects like glow and colour correction right inside Houdini.

This tutorial is perfect for Beginner to Intermediate Houdini users looking to level up their procedural VFX, instancing, and rendering skills in Solaris.

If you found this video helpful, please like, comment, and subscribe for more advanced 3D Motion Design and VFX tutorials!

Website: https://www.adamhogan.com.au
Twitter: https://x.com/MotionByAdam
Instagram:   / adam.cinematic.universe  

Timestamps:
0:00 - Houdini Rock Tutorial Overview
0:29 - Importing & Preparing the Rock Geometry
3:28 - Converting the Rock into Points
4:00 - Creating a Custom Resolution Controller
5:15 - Creating Point IDs with VEX
6:04 - Animating a Mask with MOPS Shape Falloff
8:37 - Creating the Outward Explosion with a Peak Node
11:53 - Adding Organic Motion with MOPS Noise Modifier
14:02 - Building a Looping Pulse Effect with VOPs
18:56 - Deleting Unused Points with a Blast Node
19:35 - Procedural Glass Shard Creation (Voronoi Fracture)
23:18 - Copying Shards to Points (Instancing Setup)
24:04 - Randomising Shard Scale & Rotation
26:00 - Randomising Shard Variation with VEX
29:10 - Animating the Rock Cutaway Effect
33:38 - Solaris Scene Setup & Importing Geometry
34:08 - Setting up the Instancer in Solaris
36:44 - Creating a Cyclorama Background
38:13 - Camera and Karma Live Render Setup
39:40 - Creating Materials with Material Library
40:05 - Texturing the Rock
41:26 - Creating the Procedural Glass Shard Material
43:48 - Driving Emission with the Pulse Attribute
44:48 - Scene Lighting (Key, Fill, and Rim Lights)
48:50 - Karma Render Settings (Denoise, Motion Blur, DoF)
51:14 - Final Compositing in COPs (Glow & Colour Correction)