Creating a CG Planet, Rendering Flow Maps in Houdini - Mantra
Channel: 3DGO
Date: 04/05/2022

Creating a CG planet in 3D with Houdini and rendering it in Mantra. 
First half is for new users second half for more experienced users. 

Houdini can be used to create complex flow maps for creating rivers, lava and other fluid like movements by distorting UVs. While this can be a bit of a hack it is much cheaper than rendering fluids. 

I am answering a comment made on the previous video on flow maps which is a first look at flow maps with the idea of taking these to Unity or Unreal. 
https://youtu.be/OOy0sFLQkfk

If you don't know what flow maps are take a look at this very nice explanation from Understanding Maps without code.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBEiTGHLkEo&feature=emb_logo

You can find a link to Alex Vlachos' Siggraph talk on implementing flow maps for water direction on Left for Dead and Portal 2  
https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/apps/valve/2010/siggraph2010_vlachos_waterflow.pdf

More info on SideFx Labs (formerly the Game Dev tools) 
https://www.sidefx.com/products/sidefx-labs/

If you want to see how far you can develop these simple concepts check out this overview of how Ben Schrijvers used Houdini at Guerrilla Games to create a river system for Horizon Zero Dawn.
https://vimeo.com/216727778


Project Intro 0:12
FlowMap Setup 0:50
Viewport Flowmap Setup 05:23
Rendering our Flowmap Texture 9:00
Part II Intermediate Overview 21:09
Flowmap Clouds 25:02
Atmospheric Scattering 27:34

Houdini, CG, CG Planets, 3D Planets, May the 4th, Star Wars CG, Flowmaps, Game Engines, Sidefx, 3D, Art, Design, Film, VFX, Visual Effects, CG Animation, Atmospheric scattering