Houdini 3D Visuals

Houdini generated all visuals on the six projection screens of IDC. Six copies of Houdini ran on six SGI Octanes sending video to the six screens.

Side Effects Software donated ten copies of Houdini for the IDC event, provided training of animators, management of the 3D graphics development and assisted with content creation. Twelve artists used Houdini to create the content for the 24 realtime animations.

IDC took place simultaneously with the release of Houdini 2.5, including Side Effects' new CHOPs technology, designed for realtime animation control. IDC served to validate Houdini's realtime capabilities for Side Effects' Strategic Technology group.

Houdini ran on each Octane and received realtime MIDI data data which was transmitted via Synesthesia's PiOS (Public Interactive Operating System) from its assigned IDC zone. For example, 10 on-off MIDI signals came from the 10 foot tiles in the Stomp Zone. Houdini also received a MIDI pulse for each bar of the music, and any time the section of the music piece changed, it received a section number.

The MIDI data was delivered to Houdini through CHOPs (Channel Operators), the award-winning new technology in Houdini that, among many other things, controls realtime visuals. Unlike other tools that simply accept MIDI data and connects it to animation parameters, CHOPs opens the door to rich behaviors.


	Houdini generated all visuals on the six projection screens of IDC. Six copies of Houdini ran on six SGI Octanes sending video to the six screens.
Side Effects Software donated ten copies of Houdini for the IDC event, provided training of animators, management of the 3D graphics development and assisted with content creation. Twelve artists used Houdini to create the content for the 24 realtime animations. IDC took place simultaneously with the release of Houdini 2.5, including Side Effects' new CHOPs technology, designed for realtime animation control. IDC served to validate Houdini's realtime capabilities for Side Effects' Strategic Technology group. Houdini ran on each Octane and received realtime MIDI data data which was transmitted via Synesthesia's PiOS (Public Interactive Operating System) from its assigned IDC zone. For example, 10 on-off MIDI signals came from the 10 foot tiles in the Stomp Zone. Houdini also received a MIDI pulse for each bar of the music, and any time the section of the music piece changed, it received a section number.

The MIDI data was delivered to Houdini through CHOPs (Channel Operators), the award-winning new technology in Houdini that, among many other things, controls realtime visuals. Unlike other tools that simply accept MIDI data and connects it to animation parameters, CHOPs opens the door to rich behaviors.