Houdini TD by day. Teaching VFX artists what nobody else will - craft, career, and money. Free weekly newsletter: The Briefing.
California, USA
Joined August 2016
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Houdini users have been asking for native 3D object tracking for over a decade.
And it's finally here.
KeenTools, the team behind GeoTracker for Nuke, Blender, and AE, shipped a Houdini beta this week. And I was able to get my hands on it to test!🧵
Latest daily on the forest shot I am working on. Getting there. First iteration with clouds in.
Rendered in Karma (2 Layers). All assets developed in Houdini.
Tree generator created by me, clouds using a Skybox.
I did a bit more thinking. We like to eyeball Viper as the next to go, but we have to realize that SFMM does have an aging lineup. The 2010s into the early 2020s haven’t really been a good replacement period for the marquee rides that SFMM built and became known for. Pre-2010s we had X/X2, Tatsu, Apoc, Déjà Vu (RIP), and going even further back we had Goliath, Batman, and Riddler’s.
We did get Full Throttle and Twisted Colossus. But outside of those two, the park hasn’t gotten big, record-breaking, or imposing attractions. If you look at the lineup: Viper is end-of-life, Ninja is practically end-of-life, Apoc is really struggling (I don’t think it’s being removed anytime soon), Riddler’s isn’t popular, Scream (lol), Superman (SBNO and not returning), and of course we just lost X2.
So from a corporate standpoint, if you’re just looking at the numbers, one of your cash cows (SFMM) is about to enter a long period of decline if you don’t shore it up. All this to say, CapEx really isn’t going to be a thing for a while if Six Flags manages to stay afloat. And if they sell, welp. It’s tough to realize, but this current SF2.0 company is just too heavy and saddled with debt right now to make big financial moves.
So yeah, it still feels like a panic button, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if it came out that this was SFMM all the way from the purchase date. Keep in mind, after next year we’re likely looking at RailBlazer and maybe (I doubt it) Flight Deck moving. I think RailBlazer fits perfectly in Xcelerator’s footprint—I have to double-check—but it would fit really nicely in a KI or similar park as well.
And before all the Xcelerator fans run me down: I operated Xcel as a Lead/RO for 4 years. I’m incredibly proud of KBF and the crews for keeping that thing alive and running to this day. But eventually you just gotta call it what it is. It’s a money pit.
/rant
I preface this by saying I am against this decision (So Cal native, KBF is my home park, SFMM is my close second).
But this reeks of something larger happening behind the scenes at the corporate level. High debt load, massive PR issues everywhere, Jana urging a sale. SFMM is in a warm climate, and 3mil+ a year. X2 was a big draw of that, I think this is a panic pivot. We don't know the 2026 numbers yet, but I would bet a lot of money that 2026 numbers have dipped from 2025 at this point (and that was 4% from the previous year).
And they are anticipating a drastic drop with the price changes on the passes for 2027.
I honestly believe KI was getting AF1 until X2 had to close.
With all of that said, to reiterate, this is a pretty terrible decision.
Again don't agree with this move. But also, I think there are a few better options for this. I still think it could technically fit in the front of the park, and have a great use as a marquee attraction.
But also there are other options. Maybe Doom's days are numbered 👀
youtu.be/kRQBX_b7kT8?si=eUdT…
I preface this by saying I am against this decision (So Cal native, KBF is my home park, SFMM is my close second).
But this reeks of something larger happening behind the scenes at the corporate level. High debt load, massive PR issues everywhere, Jana urging a sale. SFMM is in a warm climate, and 3mil+ a year. X2 was a big draw of that, I think this is a panic pivot. We don't know the 2026 numbers yet, but I would bet a lot of money that 2026 numbers have dipped from 2025 at this point (and that was 4% from the previous year).
And they are anticipating a drastic drop with the price changes on the passes for 2027.
I honestly believe KI was getting AF1 until X2 had to close.
With all of that said, to reiterate, this is a pretty terrible decision.
A new article is reporting that ArieForce One is coming to Six Flags Magic Mountain. If true, this is very surprising. Not only do they already have Twisted Colossus, but have a new coaster debuting in 2027. Maybe it’s an apology ride cause of X2 closure?
ocregister.com/2026/10/29/ar…
Bryan Holt | Houdini FX retweeted
#BREAKING: Sir Patrick Stewart passed away yesterday at his home in LA, following a brief battle with Alzheimer’s Disease and Lewy Body Dementia.
Uh What. Was no where near my bingo card for 2026. This is just insane. Also, has to be a behind the scenes pivot by corporate. Something is up.
Bryan Holt | Houdini FX retweeted
AOVGrade for Nuke by Aaron Strasbourg. Pull one light AOV out of the beauty, grade it, plus it back on. The node keeps the subtractive math right.
Drop the .nk in .nuke/ToolSets, knobs laid out in workflow order. Free.
cglounge.studio/assets/aov-g…
This.
So there's this thing that I think a lot of artists, myself included, get tripped up on often. The idea that someone with higher visibility or more followers makes them a better artist than you. It doesn't.
Try not to let it diminish how you view your art or your worth. I still have a hard time reconciling with the fact that I do have high visibility, but I'm by far *not* the best artist nor do I think I'm better than other people. I may have loads of experience and know my way around topology, but that's kind of it.
I still consider myself a student and probably will until the day I'm dust. I have loads to learn and pushing myself to be better than I was yesterday is my primary driving force.
It's not always a bad thing to think of your art as not good enough, but try to frame it in other ways: "I have so much more I can learn and that means more room for possibility!". Artistic and personal growth is a never ending endeavor and while it can be daunting, it's also full of hope if you allow it.
In summary: Don't let the accomplishments of others discourage your own journey to get where they are.
Here is a quick motion test. I wanted to see what it would look like if I did a quick motion on the instances.
It's coming along.
Rendered quickly using Karma XPU at low resolution to just do this test, and it still came out great.
If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is around to hear it...
Kind of slammed, but here is the latest iteration of the forest shot.
A few test renders.
Without atmosphere/cloud.
Rendered in Karma.
Likely last update for the night on the next phase of the project. I already have a working tree species from my tree generator.
What is cool is I have it set up to create multiple LODs simultaneously for various shots.
They are also able to be simmed. Right in Houdini, with simple HDAs. Ask me anything on this. Will continue sharing the progress on these assets.
Left is Wind Test. Right is Wind+Shockwave
Early layout test on the next shot. I’ve only gotten one tree variant done.
Just wanted to see if the framing works. So essentially pre-vis.
Coming along!
Modeled and laid out in Houdini/Solaris. Rendered in Karma XPU.
REALLY EARLY tests on new forest assets using a tree generator I am currently working on.
After this project I am going to have so many HDAs I'll need a new hard drive lol.
No really, I need a new hard drive...
Procedurally generated in Houdini, test renders in KARMA XPU.
Just uploaded some breakdown assets for the latest Volcanic Crater shot on the ArtStation. I will do videos on the channel soon breaking down various elements as well. Like how I pulled off the close up vent/fumaroles in the lava dome!
So Stay Tuned.
artstation.com/artwork/G11JN…
