Words I Like: More ideas aren't always better.
I want to share something that I've been actively working on a lot lately.
It's not a Houdini technique, or a specific workflow. But it's something more fundamental, and potentially even more important. It's a fix to something that's held me back for a long time (and I think this same thing holds back artists more often than they realize).
So what I'll share with you today is a direct way to fix "scope-creep", and keep your motivation tied directly to the problem right in front of you - not the end result of your project.
(and to be clear, we're talking about scope-creep on projects you're creating yourself. This is when you keep extending your ideas into bigger and bigger projects that somehow never get close to being completed... until today! because we'll be fixing that!).
The Problem: New ideas added to a project, often feel like progress.
As you add new ideas to the scope of your project it's easy to convince yourself that these ideas are improving the project or going to make the end result better.
When in reality it's usually just making it harder to finish.
Each idea you add, is another loose end, another "open loop". And each time you add a new idea, you push the finish line further away.
This is one of the easiest traps to fall into, and it's usually for the right reasons that you get stuck. You want to make the project as good as it could be - so why not just add all the ideas! Right?
The harsh truth, is that more ideas aren't always better. Sometimes more ideas are just a more interesting way to procrastinate.
A Real Example:
I'm currently working on a large project for LEVEL UP: Houdini. The initial goal was simple, create a showcase piece that pulls together all the topics and workflows we've covered so far, and demonstrates what it looks like to put it all together in one cohesive project.
Here's what's actually happening.
It started as a single environment render, one I wanted to make really really nice. Then I thought, this would look better as a cinematic.
So it became an environment cinematic.
Then I started thinking about camera angles, and one shot became multiple shots. Then multiple shots started feeling like a hype trailer.
And somewhere between the hype trailer idea and the end of last week, I found myself planning a mini short film. A full short film with a story line, new animation, and additional assets I'd have to make.
The core idea never changed. Show off some Houdini techniques in a nice put together environment.
But the scope had quietly grown into something that could take three times as long to finish.
The Fix:
There's no backing down now, the full cinematic will be made (eventually). But it will be a project I'll extend into multiple stages (there's many reasons for this).
So I'm going to adjust my plan and that's going to help me work better.
The trick I'll be using to make this happen is to keep my motivation only one step ahead of the task I'm actually working on.
Not ten steps ahead. Not at the final-project finish line. One single step.
So if you're working on a similar environment or building a full cinematic environment, you wouldn't start by imagining the final color grading and the sweeping camera move for the establishing shot of your short-film.
You need to start on whatever stage comes first, the base terrain, the initial block-out, the first look at lighting, and you let that stage of the project be the thing you're excited about completing.
Instead of thinking about how cool the end result will be, think about how cool that next step will be.
Instead of thinking "this cinematic is going to be so cool!"...
You should be thinking "This organization is going to make the layout stage of my project a lot more efficient and enjoyable to art-direct!"
(It's a lot less glamorous, but I promise that future-you will thank you if you start thinking like this :) ).
The Pattern:
When you work this way (focusing only on the next task), three things consistently happen:
- You get a better result. Working on each step with full focus and in the right order means your project is built on a solid foundation. You're not creating future problems that result from cutting corners early on.
- You stay focused longer. Visible progress is motivating. When you finish a stage and see something real come together, you want to keep going. This momentum compounds into excitement, and you trick yourself into making more and more progress. It becomes addicting!
- Your project ends up more robust. Working in the right order means your network stays organized, your decisions stay intentional, and you don't end up with a tangled mess you're afraid to come back to and make changes to later.
Bottom Line:
Big ideas are great. They're what get you started and excited.
But only thinking about the big idea makes it hard to stay focused on the tasks at hand, because the gap between where you are and where you want to be is too large to see reasonable progress.
By narrowing your focus to only the next step in front of you, you keep your motivation strong, your work clean, and your projects on track to actually finish.
I hoped this helped, and let me know if you have any questions :)
