Where it began
In the summer of 2012, I took a trip to New York city with my classmates. We went to a VES job fair and shook hands with some industry professionals. We were all young and green but it felt like we were important "up and coming" artists. I got a lot out of the trip and most... wasn't what I anticipated when I chose to go. The one thing I carried away from the trip was to "Learn Houdini". To me at the time, Houdini was this fancy unapproachable software that required a super computer and advanced rocket science to operate. Only used by the chosen few who chose entertainment over NASA. But to my surprise, many professionals were encouraging us as students to take the time to learn the software. I remember going home and installing the free apprentice version, playing with the software and thinking this is really cool. For another year I would pick it up and put it down periodically but never giving it the attention it deserved. I learned enough to feel confident (false confidence that is) about throwing it on my resume and that would be that. Clawing through my first internship, making very important network connections and falling into a machine room job years later I would find myself with another opportunity. I was able to make some half decent props for an ad and the head of CG saw my passion for 3D. He would take me under his wing and one day drop on my lap tutorials for SideFX Houdini. This time was very different, prospects of work and my future were at stake. I did my best to watch videos , take my "zero" programming knowledge to respectable levels in VEX, and learn what I could. Matt Estela's https://tokeru.com/cgwiki/ was a huge resource for me and tons of other people's tutorials (who I wish I could recall) played a pivotal roll in me being able to keep up with the wild world of advertising and computer graphic's part in it all. For me it was short lived. I survived for few years and was laid off. I have a few credits to my name but most of my work if I admit....was unremarkable.
What happened
Honestly, you take a long look in the mirror. Dust yourself off and find the strength to take a step.....doesn't matter if its where you want to end up, you just got to keep moving. Our industry is volatile, to me I wanted nothing more then to pivot out of advertising and I tried aggressively to apply for jobs in film, tv and games. I couldn't get much traction. I asked my old classmates for assistance, took all the advice I could and took a few licks along the way. I remember a colleague of a friend looking at my reel and telling me I had no chance of getting any VFX work with it. To her credit, she wasn't wrong, I never got VFX work. In the end I was tenacious and I felt like I had nothing to lose. My at the time girlfriend (now wife) encouraged me to not limit myself. So I did something I had never really done....I bet on myself. I looked at what would be the most ideal line of work in my life and applied for something I could only dream of doing. Long story short, I got the job. Right now, I use SideFX Houdini everyday and I get to take a slew of my other interests and work them in. I got my dream job and I want to put out some things for those who use Houdini and/or share in my interests of tech, art and games.
Why I love Houdini
The natural image of the fusion between art and tech is CG graphics. Yet most software is created for artistic minded artists and not technical. Houdini rewards the technical minded. For me, I never had a piece of software that felt so comfortable as SideFX Houdini. Launching Houdini and creating feels like jotting down or sketching on a piece of paper. It flows out and feels very organic. I know there are other people wired like this and having a tool like Houdini makes us very grateful. Lately, as I have closely watched the evolution of the software I have wanted to do this. I hope I can help demystify things with my knowledge and background and bring joy to those looking for inspiration.