Hi everyone. I’m 23, from Japan, and I’m currently learning Houdini on my own. I’m using Houdini 22, and my long-term goal is to work as an FX artist, particularly in realistic and cinematic VFX.

I’m still a beginner in English, so I usually study English tutorials and documentation with subtitles and the help of AI for translation and clarification.

So far, I’ve gone through several SOP tutorials and practiced some basic VEX through simple particle work. Right now, I’m focusing on learning Pyro.

My current learning approach

Going forward, I’m planning to focus on one FX discipline at a time.

This isn’t simply because I want to study different areas one after another.

Rather than touching several areas at the same time and only learning each one superficially, I want to focus on one area, understand how it works and how to control it, and gradually build up a list of things I can genuinely say, “I can make this myself.”

My goal is to keep building up those capabilities one by one and gradually expand my overall FX skill set.

So for now, I want to make Pyro my main focus and develop a solid understanding of it, and then eventually move on to other FX areas such as RBD and particles.

Of course, this is a learning plan I’ve come up with based on my own reasoning as a beginner, so I’d also really like to know how this approach looks from the perspective of people who actually work in the industry.

How should I approach Pyro in Houdini 22?

My main question right now is about SOP Pyro and COP Pyro.

Based on how Houdini has traditionally been used, I would naturally expect SOP Pyro to be the main place to learn Pyro.

However, with Houdini 22, COP Pyro has become much more substantial. It no longer feels like the old idea of COPs being mainly for 2D/image processing, and it can now handle Pyro simulations in a much more complete way.

I’ve actually tried COP Pyro in H22, and I found it very intuitive. Iterating on parameters and immediately seeing the result also feels extremely fast.

So what I’m wondering is:

“If you were starting to learn Houdini 22 from scratch today, how would you approach SOP Pyro and COP Pyro?”

In previous versions of Houdini, I would naturally expect SOP Pyro to be the obvious starting point. But now that COP Pyro is becoming a much more significant part of Houdini, how would you personally learn Pyro if you were starting today with H22?

For example:

• Focus mainly on SOP Pyro and learn COP Pyro later
• Focus mainly on COP Pyro and learn SOP Pyro when needed
• Learn both from the beginning, but make one of them the primary workflow
• Learn the fundamentals deeply in one environment, while learning the other for different purposes

I’m not really asking which one is simply “better.”

I’m more interested in what learning order and division of roles would make the most sense if you were learning Pyro today, taking the current state of Houdini 22 into account.

I’m especially interested in perspectives based on the current H22 workflow, rather than advice that mainly comes from older versions of Houdini.

One more question about my overall learning strategy

I’d also like to hear your thoughts on my idea of building up my skills one capability at a time.

For example:

• How much should I be able to understand and actually create in one area before moving on to the next?
• While focusing deeply on one discipline, how much should I still explore the other areas?
• If I learn FX disciplines one at a time, how should I learn the connections between them?

I’m still at the stage where I’m figuring out how Houdini and FX actually work, so I’d really appreciate honest advice from people who use Houdini professionally.

In particular, I’d love to hear from anyone currently using Houdini 22 or familiar with the more recent workflows.