For this project, I recreated a desert sinkhole effect using SideFX Houdini. The exercise introduced me to multiple solvers and workflows within Houdini, including the MPM (Material Point Method) solver, FLIP fluids, and HeightField terrain generation. I explored attribute manipulation (with ramps, wrangles, and noises), VDB workflows for meshing and sources, and HeightField scattering to populate the desert environment.

Once the procedural setup was complete, I moved into Solaris (USD) to assemble the scene for rendering. Here, I applied materials, lighting, and camera setup, and finalized the render in Karma XPU, incorporating Megascans assets to ground the look in realism.

This project was part of my structured learning path aimed at mastering Houdini beyond tutorials. While the sinkhole effect followed David Silberbauer’s guidance, I also experimented with attribute-driven variation, tested different render settings and passes in comp to push the result further toward production quality.