Houdini FX Work

Hey! My name is Alec Burnett and I'm currently studying Computer Science Animation at Brigham Young University. I love anything and everything outdoors, especially climbing, backpacking, and traveling. Though, my greatest passion is animation - especially effects animation in Houdini!

I’ve previously worked on two full short films produced by BYU, Stowaway and Salt. Stowaway was recently awarded first place in the Student Academy Awards!

Currently I’m working on an advanced course with Rebelway and working on my final film with BYU.

My focus on this project was layering multiple large-scale effects together in a composition. I worked with a wide-range of effects including FLIP, particles, smoke, and much more. I also had the opportunity to use VEX to drive the white-water through the boat physics. With the combination of Houdini and Nuke I made this piece.

I was given the opportunity to work on the final explosion in Stowaway. I came up with a RBD workflow that was easily wedgeable so the art-director could get the look he wanted. The constraints and forces are fully customizable for an art-directed look.

This is one of my more recent projects I’m currently working on. For this piece I wanted something that was both procedural and yet fully art-directable. This tool curls hair based on a custom groom with full control on the curl amount, the curl size, and the taper along the curve. I’ve also added controlled randomization with all of the settings above to add a more natural look to the silhouette and texture of the hair.