During July of 2020 the creators of Houdini, SideFX Software, hosted the first annual Houly challenge. A list of 31 prompts was posted to their forums, encouraging Houdini users of all skill levels to create an image or animation for each day’s prompt. Awards were given daily for Judge’s Favorite and People’s Choice, as well as at the end of the month to anybody who submitted a piece before midnight each day. I received this award (called the Iron Man) and won a fantastic pack of free Houdini merch!

More important than the swag was, of course, the knowledge that I accumulated by completing the challenge. The prompts forced me to explore areas of Houdini that I had never encountered, even after a few years of experience. Though it was stressful at times, I owe a great deal of my proficiency in the software to these 31 days that I spent with it. I made some work that I am very proud of, and some that fell a bit flat- although the days with the least remarkable results were often the ones when I learned the most. Here are just a few of the daily projects that I am most satisfied with. Enjoy!