Will Hendrickson

3D Houdini Artist + Educator. I've worked with @PUMA @PGATOUR @ESPN + others
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[Will Hendrickson @whendrickson3d]

Level Up Lesson Vol #003: Memorization Vs Mastery

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Words I Like: Houdini skills learned well are instantly transferable.

If you learn something correctly, you can apply it to a completely different situation without any hesitation.

But if you learn a skill by copying someone else execute it step-by-step or node-by-node, it’s like learning Kung Fu by memorizing the choreograph of a single fight scene.

You might be fine if your next match is against the exact same opponent, but the moment you face something new, you’re left hopeless.

Because what you learned by memorization, will never transfer.

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Level Up Lesson:

Focus on learning, and THEN focus on executing what you have learned.

When you approach learning a new skill in Houdini, you have two options:

1. You can learn the underlying rules of how it works, and then design steps based off your own understanding.
2. Or you can execute a sequence of steps someone else designed to get a specific result.

Although in both cases you might end up with a finished project, these approaches are not the same thing.

Trying to learn a topic by copying someone else's approach often creates confusion. You follow instructions, get a result, but never fully understand the cause and effect relationship behind what you just did.

If you want to truly understand a tool or workflow in Houdini you should be able to apply it to a completely new environment or use case without needing a tutorial to follow.

That’s real understanding.

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The Problem:

Many artists learn skills only in the context of a finished example (a step-by-step tutorial they follow)

They learn “how to get this result.”

But they never learn the underlying behaviors, rules, or logic that made the result possible.

So when the situation changes, with new art direction, new ideas, or a new composition… they’re left stranded without the ability to correctly adapt.

They don’t have a mental model that lets them apply their knowledge in a new situation.

They have a memorized sequence of “cookie-cutter” steps that no longer fit.

(remember the Kung Fu example? if you memorize a single fight scene, and your opponent throws a new punch you didn't see before, you'll get hit right in the face... ouch!)

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Real Example:

Over the last two weeks, I’ve added upwards of six hours of heightfield and environment content to Level Up: Houdini.

While doing research, refreshing on the topics, and practicing some ideas, I reviewed a lot of existing heightfield tutorials I could find online.

Unfortunately, most of them taught heightfields like this...

“Do this….Adjust this…. Add this noise…. Now it looks like mountains… and we’re done!” ...even some by SideFX themselves :(

But they didn’t explain:

What a heightfield fundamentally represents.

How heightfield masks and layers actually interact.

Or even what the nodes they were using actually did.

If your goal is to recreate the EXACT tutorial thumbnail, this process of learning by copying node-by-node works just fine.

But if you try to build your own original environment, you’re left trying to take the poorly organized series of steps, and then somehow break down meaning, cause + effect, and a conceptual understanding of what is happening and why.

That’s not understanding or mastery.

That’s just memorization of bad choreography.

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The Pattern:

Learning a skill for the first time through a demonstrated solution (an exact tutorial) creates a half-built understanding.

You know what buttons were pressed.

But you don’t know why.

The better approach is to first understand the core rules and behaviors of a topic or workflow, and then apply it to a new problem.

This change in learning order is what allows you to generalize skills from project to project.

It’s what makes a heightfield workflow usable in any environment (not just the tutorial video you found on YouTube).

And it’s what makes all Houdini skills transferable (assuming you learn them well)

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Bottom Line:

Learning skills and topics by copying someone else demonstrate them in a tutorial is the equivalent to memorizing a single fight scene in a Kung Fu movie. You memorize every kick.. punch.. and block.. and then decide to call yourself a "black belt".

This seems ridiculous because it is. And yet this is the way most Houdini educational content works.

If you want to actually understand what’s happening, and want your Houdini knowledge be transferable so you can apply it to ANY idea without guessing or memorizing steps, you need a structured way to learn the fundamentals first, and THEN learn the execution second.

Lucky for you, that's the exact order LEVEL UP: Houdini teaches it all.

If you’re ready to stop memorizing and start mastery then click here https://t.co/osVJlr097A

[Will Hendrickson @whendrickson3d]

Words I Like: Most Houdini artists aren't slow.

They are rushing.

And it's killing their progress.

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Level Up Lesson:
-> Working slower, ends up being faster in the end.

Trying to work quickly in Houdini can be the biggest thing slowing you down.

Many artists (myself included), get hooked on the idea of creating projects fast. They think that in a "perfect world" the quicker you get parts of a project done, the more time you have for improving it, or for future projects.

But when you rush to "get something working", you end up creating a messy version 1.

And in Houdini, version 1 of your network never matters.

Iteration ON that version, is what does matter (meaning, version 2...3...4...5... and on)

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The Problem:

Houdini can brutally punish rushed thinking.

When you make decisions you haven't thought all the way through,

When you hard set values and parameters,

and when you ignore edge-cases,

you leave your network in a fragile condition that can break with any changes you make in version 2.

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Simple Math:

Let's see an example.

Option A: You rush and take 1 hour to build version 1 of your network. But future changes to the network take another hour, because you have to redesign parts that break.

= 1 hour for version 1 + 1 hour for version 2 + 1 hour for version 3 = 3 hours total.

Option B: You take more time, and spend 3 hours building a well planned version 1. And since you planned correctly, it now takes 5 minutes to create version 2, and 5 minutes to modify again for version 3.

= 3 hour for version 1 + 5 min for version 2 + 5 min for version 3 = 3 Hours 10 mins total.

The rookie artist, would say that Option A is faster. But the experienced artist, would rather be working with Option B ;)

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Bottom Line:

Speed in Houdini isn't about how fast you can reach the first result, it's about how fast you can make changes to the 10th, 20th and 50th+ version.

If you optimize for a fast version 1, you'll be constantly fixing bugs.

If you optimize for an easy change to version 2, your work will compound.

Remember this next time you open Houdini.

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This "Level Up Lesson" is a new post format I'm starting. I'll be sharing insights, lessons, and tips from my career in 3D.

And if you want the clear path to learning Houdini that I wish I had then visit this link here https://t.co/osVJlr097A

[Will Hendrickson @whendrickson3d]

Both of my apps are games.

Both build on Unreal 5.

100% Blueprints.

0 Code written.

If you've been hesitating to drop the 99$, this is your sign.

My latest game that just went live -> https://t.co/OuXr1nFhLW

[Will Hendrickson @whendrickson3d]

Yesterday I released my 2nd app on the Apple App Store.

2 Years ago I almost didn’t pay the $99 because I thought shipping with Apple would be impossible.

Spoiler: It wasn’t.

Here’s the stuff no one told me, but I wish I knew earlier.

[Will Hendrickson @whendrickson3d]

Launch strategy that worked for me.

Launch free -> monetize later.

Your first apps are skill investments.

The compounding payoff will show up in your next one.

[Will Hendrickson @whendrickson3d]

Producers don’t gamble, so don’t make them feel like they are.

Every decision to hire, and every new budget comes with the opportunity to win.

Hiring you shouldn’t feel like a lottery ticket.

[Will Hendrickson @whendrickson3d]

Producers need to think in terms of risk, not renders.

Each decision made is weighed against goals, budget, and timeline risk.

Rookie artists think the conversation starts with the quality of the visuals.

[Will Hendrickson @whendrickson3d]

Following boring steps is often better than skipping to the final deliverables.

Producers work to manage expectations from leadership.

And a clear part of these expectations are built on clear milestones, structured project stages and well articulated review timelines.

Skipping these stages and going straight to the final render is almost never the shortcut it looks like (and often makes you look like you never understood their problem in the first place).

[Will Hendrickson @whendrickson3d]

Being a good freelancer is like being a goalie.

Routine saves sometimes go unnoticed.

But clutch saves during extra time under pressure?

That’s what clients remember.

[Will Hendrickson @whendrickson3d]

A pipeline that can handle revisions with a single mouse click, is worth infinitely more than one that makes perfect renders.

Producers know that revisions are inevitable, especially late in a project.

Most artists assume that producing pixel perfect renders will bullet-proof any request for revisions, but they don’t realize that the causes for revisions sometimes have nothing to do with the renders themselves.

A flexible, well designed pipeline and workflow makes changes effortless. This reduces campaign risks, and makes you the go-to vendor that producers trust under pressure.

[Will Hendrickson @whendrickson3d]

Producers need predictability at scale and at speed.

And modular assets deliver that.

Campaigns expand and change scope midstream, and if you spend your time building individual assets one by one, then any request for increased scope becomes a bottleneck.

Modular assets, intentionally designed to be reused can create consistency and speed across these scope changes and scale with output demands.

[Will Hendrickson @whendrickson3d]

For product launches, consistency across channels is more valuable than perfection across one.

A product drop needs assets across social, print, retail, and web. All designed to be top-quality and maintain brand consistency.

Designing a 3D pipeline from the start to handle all these assets, can ensure a seamless delivery and launch.

[Will Hendrickson @whendrickson3d]

A photo shoot can’t create infinite content - but a well designed 3D pipeline can.

A well produced and curated asset library built from this pipeline, can compound in value with each new campaign.

Vendors who are able to build reusable asset libraries lower costs per campaign year after year.

[Will Hendrickson @whendrickson3d]

Producers defend your budget, help them by defending scope too.

Rookie artists believe that adding extra ideas or pivoting without approval shows initiative and creativity.

In reality, it shows poor organization, ineffective time management and a general misunderstanding of the real goals. The extra efforts might bloat the project complexity, add extra work, and cause the project to miss its goals or deadlines.

Pretty pixels might look good to you, but if they don’t solve the problem the client came to you for in the first place - then they don’t serve a purpose.