Words I Like: Close the loop, before you add complexity.
If your network feels harder to change than it was to build…
You probably added complexity too early.
Level Up Lesson: Adding more complexity to a network is always easier than removing it.
Details added to a closed loop are easy to debug and improve.
Your goal should be to get a “minimum complexity needed” (minimum viable network**) for a specific project or shot, and then focus on improving it later.
As you start to build larger projects in Houdini, full environment, FX shots, or big procedural systems, you’ll always have the temptation of adding more. More detail, more variations, more control…
As an artist, it’s rare you will ever say “This shot is perfect, I see no way to improve”. (and if you do, please let me know.. you have thus achieved god-tier status and I would like you to mentor me in your ways)
The challenge you’ll face, isn’t deciding on what to improve - it’s recognizing when you’re adding complexity too early.
The Problem:
When you add complexity (more nodes, settings, and variations) to a project added too early, you multiply the unknowns and “loose ends” you need to keep track of.
More nodes = more moving parts
More variation = harder to iterate
If you haven’t completed “version 1” of the network (making it clean, readable, and stable), then every added detail you add becomes another task you have to manage.
If you add the final details before this foundation is finished, it can be more difficult to “close the loop”.
Each detail added to the open loop is an opportunity for endless tweaking, for hidden bugs, and for distractions that might delay you from completing the project.
Real Example:
I’m currently building a large asteroid / meteor destruction shot for LEVEL UP: Houdini.
It’s like a “final project” where we showcase all the simulation workflows we’ve covered so far, but in the context of a full shot.
There’s lots of layers and moving parts that need to be completed to make this happen.
- The main environment
- Fracturing / sim prep
- RBD sims
- Secondary debris sims (POPS + RBD)
- Pyro sims (dust + smoke)
- Lighting, look dev, rendering, compositing…
And with each of these stages, it’s very tempting to fine-tune the micro details early.
For example, I could spend hours refining the exact fracturing of the asteroid. I could modify initial velocity values to get small variations in the sim, and I could hand place the placement of each individual piece of debris.
But if I haven’t finished v1 of the core loop… meaning that the main setup is completed and working.
- With the main impact of the asteroid
- the timing, scale and placement of it all
- the collision of the environment / ground
- the RBD system for the fractured areas of the ground
Then all the micro detail I had spent time perfecting would be lost work.
If I later change the asteroid size or the impact location, then all those “perfect” micro details would disappear.
Those changes would be iterations wasted on an open loop.
Instead, I need to close the main loop first:
- I need to get the fracture system working correctly
- I need to get the collisions, impacts, and initial constraints working
- I need to get timing and scale believable for v1
ONLY THEN, can I start to add in secondary complexity.
The Pattern:
Too often more details, or more “loose ends” are added to a system that is still in progress.
Get the minimum working setup locked down, and then start to improve.
Only add complexity to systems that are stable.
When a loop is closed (meaning that part of the network is completed, working, and tested), then you can improve it intentionally.
The more incomplete the loop is, the more opportunities for failure (or bugs) there are.
Bottom Line:
Start small, close the loop, and then expand with more detail.
If you do this you’ll…
- stay organized
- work faster
- waste less time
- finish with a better result
This is all great to learn, but it only works if you can actually recognize an open loop in your own network.
If you can’t see the difference between an open loop and a closed one, you’ll keep adding complexity without realizing it.
So before you build anything else in Houdini, watch this video below.
