April 12th 2021 08:00:53am

If you are looking to dive straight into the build and bypass the tutorial, you can purchase the project file with the Gumroad button on the right side of this page.

NOTE: Any lighting HDRI/texture images used in my original builds are not allowed to be redistributed and therefore will not be included with the project file. You will have to download those separately yourself.

Image files used:
– HDRI Haven Cape Hill

Mardini. If you have not heard of it, is a daily art challenge put on by Side Fx, the makers of Houdini. It’s 31 days of chaos and creativity. The main goal is to create a unique animation or still image based on the topics provided. Each week is a new category and each day a new related topic.

Taking on this challenge requires much effort, creativity, and just plain old perseverance. The spirit of the challenge is to design the concept, build it, and render it in a 24 hour period. You can of course just focus on specific days/topics if you like, but you gain a nice little Houdini swag bag if you complete all 31 days on time. Something they call the Iron Heart.

Each day three top entries for animation and still images are chosen by judges, and posted on a leader board throughout the challenge. Many talented artists join and make some amazing pieces. It’s great fun, and the community is very supportive of each other along the way.

This year I was fortunate enough to have five wins during the challenge. I took two 2nd place, and three 3rd place wins.

I decided to make breakdown / tutorials of all of these winning pieces, as well as some of my other entries that I enjoyed making. Even if they didn’t win.

This week I am breaking down my entry for day 20 Hidden.

Some highlight points of the breakdown video:
• 00:00:00 – Entry overview
• 00:01:50 – HDRI Haven
• 00:03:51 – References and concept
• 00:06:57 – Stem build
• 00:19:40 – Stem arms build
• 00:36:33 – Water droplets build
• 00:44:16 – Droplet geo source
• 00:44:44 – Compile node ref requirements
• 00:58:39 – Hero droplets build
• 01:01:36 – Cull geometry out of view
• 01:13:13 – Render outputs
• 01:14:02 – Redshift lighting setup
• 01:15:27 – Redshift materials breakdown
• 01:21:49 – Redshift render output settings

Here is a compilation video of all of my entries. I will be releasing tutorials for all of my winning entries and select non-winning entries. If you see one you’d like to see broken down, let me know.

Want to see more new tutorials? Please donate and/or purchase products to help support Fendra Fx. Spread the word. Tell your friends, and their friends. More ideas are in the works and all financial support is greatly appreciated. Thanks.