Houdini, an Ecosystem to Nurture Creativity and Knowledge | DNEG | FMX HIVE 2024

When thinking of Houdini the first thing that should come to mind is its framework. It allows any studio to create a pipeline for a lot of different steps of production and interconnect workflows. What’s not always mentioned is how it also allows any artist to build a framework around their show needs in ways that can both fill a need while educating artists that would want to improve their skills. Being able to learn from what is being used at any time is how you can create a strong team working towards artistic perfection instead of technical limitations.

Bertrand Cabrol has been working in VFX for 8 years now jumping around Environment and FX and between studios like Framestore, Hybride and Dneg now, which might seem like a red flag already. The truth is he always thrived to learn new ways of doing the same things and improve workflows which is why he naturally ended up on the technical aspect of production. He has always been interested in how he could make tools that would allow the artists to express themselves with a delicate balance between ease and flexibility. Working though shows like Blade Runner, Welcome to Marwen or Moonfall he has found that there is as much creativity going through a good workflow as there is in the final render, making Houdini and Python his primary tool set.