Create a Walking Tentacle Ball in Houdini

Cody Lindquist Shows How to Create a Walking Tentacle Ball With Side FX Houdini

Those squishy, colorful, rubberized tentacle balls have delightfully unique properties. Handled and thrown around, the tentacles flail in a discord of motion. When they roll, they present an exciting challenge to tackle in Side FX Houdini. Tutorial author Cody Lindquist walks through how to create a walking tentacle ball, using Houdini’s procedural tools.

Lindquist runs through his set up that uses a mix of points, noise, and some VEX to create a great animation of a tentacle ball walking across a surface. The tentacles even appear stick to the surface that it traverses, which brings an added subtle detail.

Lindquist also covers how to give the ball rainbow colors and emit light for extra render trippy-appeal.