Helge Maus shows how to create a point wave effect in Houdini using VOPs.

One of the things that make a software package more suited for motion graphics work is the ability to work procedurally. Lots of artists use Cinema 4D specifically for the mograph module, but proceduralism in completely in Side FX Houdini’s wheelhouse. Check out this new tutorial from PixelTrain’s Helge Maus that shows how to create a point wave effect that has roots in a motion graphics style.

The tutorial covers how to generate a point wave using a few types of noises inside of VOPs. Maus explains the methodology to understand an effect and build the node setup step-by-step. “You will learn the use of Noises, Bind- & Bind-Export Nodes, Parameter-Ramps, Fit-Nodes, Multipliers for Floats and Vectors — and how to analyze the outputs through the Geometry Spreadsheet,” Maus says.

In the end, you transfer the animated noises to the pScale attribute to render the effect in Mantra or an external render engine.