As you know, Houdini is one of the first options that come to our minds when it comes to 3D animation and the creation of visual effects as it is one of the most powerful tools in the market today. With the help of this powerful software, you can express yourself and your talents without facing any technical difficulties!

However, if you are not familiar with how to get the best out of Houdini, the learning process might be harder than it seems. When it comes to working with software professionally, I always think the best way to start this path is by following in the footsteps of other professionals.

As there are way too many courses and classes for Houdini online, I prepared a list of my top ten suggestions which I hope will guide you through your journey!

If you are an intermediate user rather than a beginner, you can directly check out the last 4 suggestions of this list!

1. Complete Houdini FX 19 Bootcamp 🔗

This course requires no prior knowledge but at the end of the course, it is guaranteed that you will have a solid knowledge about using Houdini! With the help of this easy-to-understand & follow the guide, you will learn to make explosions, realistic oceans, sand, snow and rain effects, and so much more! If you have even the slightest passion for the Houdini, you will fall in love with the software as you complete this course and the only requirement of this course is knowing to use a computer- that’s all!

2. Master Houdini FX: Create Stunning Visual Effects rigs 🔗

Even though it is beneficial to have used some form of 3D software before, it is not required, and anyone with zero experience with the Houdini can easily follow this great course!

If you decide to go along with this course, you will have a chance to learn from an instructor who is an award-winning industry professional with over 20 years of experience! Thanks to his great teaching skills, you will be guided through your journey of becoming a professional Houdini user!

3. Houdini Essential Training 🔗

This essential training starts from the ground up to provide you with a solid foundation in Houdini. Firstly, you will start with the interface and the basics of the software, and once you are done with the course will guide you through core geometry and animation concepts. Lastly, you will learn the essential skills required to create particles and volumes!

The course is easy-to-follow and its main audience is complete beginners, which means that you will easily progress step by step with this course! And once you finish the course, you will earn a certificate of completion as proof of your knowledge!

4. Game Asset Creation with Houdini 🔗

If you are interested in designing game assets, you can improve your Houdini skills while having a lot of fun with this course! This one is a relatively shorter course, however, as you will directly start with a trial and error learning style, you will be able to learn a lot by practice.

Once you completed this course, you will have a better understanding of Houdini’s procedural workflow, and will have much more experience with the software!

5. Houdini Renascence Program 🔗

In this course, you will start with the first module which is designed for complete beginners. Once you learn to take the baby steps using the Houdini, you will be guided through your first projects which are informative and fun at the same time.

When you finish the fourth module and completed the course, you will notice that now you can run even though you have started with the baby steps! If you are a learner who learns the best with experience and practice, you should definitely check this course out!

6. Houdini FX Step to Step - Visual Effects Made Easy 🔗

As the instructor suggests, this course shows you an easy way to learn Houdini properly! As every step is clearly explained by the instructor, you will not have to worry about not having any experience with Houdini before.

This one is a relatively shorter class, around 5 hours of lectures, so if you are willing to learn Houdini in a practical and faster way, you should check this one out! However, if you are planning to take things slow and more detailedly keep in mind that this course might not be the right fit for you.

7. Procedural Race Tracks 🔗

If you are an intermediate user, rather than a beginner, and have a basic understanding of the Houdini user interface, starting this course will be a great opportunity to boost up your skills! With the guidance of the instructor, you will be able to speed up your level creation by using procedural techniques.

As many enrolled students suggest, once you finish the course Houdini will not be seen as scary or as complicated to you anymore!

8. Rigging with Houdini 18.5 - KineFX 🔗

As the upper suggestion, this course is also aimed at intermediate users rather than beginners. If you would like to improve your Houdini skills in areas like creating custom, game-ready animation rigs, you have a lot to learn from this one!

Even though not a single step is skipped, you are not going to feel overwhelmed or bored at all, as a matter of fact, I can guarantee that you will have fun even in the hardest parts of the lectures!

9. Chris Bohm’s Houdini FX Course 🔗

If you have the basic knowledge about rendering and compositing, and if you have used any other 3D package -such as Nuke, Maya, 3DSMax, Blender, etc.- this course might be a great fit for you! However, as it does not contain “everything” you may want to check out the list of covered and uncovered topics on the course’s site.

Even though it is a relatively more expensive one, you have an option to try the course free for checking out 5 hours of content, which I strongly recommend you to do before buying the whole course!

10. Houdini: Core Skills 🔗

No matter what level you are currently at, you can learn a lot from this course! With lectures starting from the beginner level, you can start with learning the fundamentals concepts of Houdini. Then with moving to the lectures of intermediate level, you can sharpen your skills and expand your knowledge with various projects!

And last but not the least, once you complete the advanced level lectures, you will be able to approach any visual effects challenge with confidence!

One more small note, you don’t need to get overwhelmed and stressed because there are too many options. Houdini is a quite fun-to-learn software and if you focus on one of the courses above, you can start producing results in no time!

If you liked the list of courses we gathered and found this article helpful, you can check out more content about Houdini here.