Class Description:
This recorded course provides an overview of the MOPs workflow and how it integrates with the rest of Houdini, shows concrete examples of how MOPs can be used in both motion graphics and visual effects workflows and dives into some of the fundamental math concepts that drive MOPs (and 3D animation as a whole!).
Learning Outcomes:
Students will understand how to leverage MOPs to create motion graphics and visual effects, and gain some insight into the concepts behind both motion graphics in Houdini and the underlying math behind motion graphics.
Topics Covered:
Week 1
MOPs 101: Generators, Modifiers, and Falloffs
This session will explain the basic concepts of MOPs, the three primary node categories (Generators, Modifiers, and Falloffs), and demonstrate several setups using the most common nodes in MOPs.
- What’s MOPs for?
- Getting Started (installation)
- Attributes, Packed Primitives and Points
- Generators
- Basic Modifiers
- Falloffs
- Mixing up MOPs with SOPs
- Additional Resources
Week 2
MOPs 102: Advanced Setups and the MOPs “API”
In this session, we will explore more complex setups using MOPs and explain the core API nodes that the rest of MOPs depend on.
- Advanced Modifiers
- Messing with Time
- Pivots and Orients
- Driving simulations: RBD
- Driving simulations: Vellum
- MOPs API Nodes
- MOPs Gotchas
Week 3
MOPs 103: The Math Behind MOPs
This session will explain the underlying math concepts that power MOPs and 3D graphics in general!
- Vectors
- Cross and Dot Products
- A Tiny Bit of Trigonometry
- Matrices
- Quaternions
- Local and World Transformations
