The GanekImmersive Studio

News / November 2022

· Workshop

Students build procedural worlds in two days

Over two days in November 2022, the Ganek Immersive Studio taught students to build worlds procedurally with SideFX Houdini and Unreal Engine.

The workshop room, with a demo on the big screen

The story

Why it matters: Procedural tools let a small team build large, detailed worlds, and change them late without remodeling by hand.

How it worked:

  • Professor and lab director Jordan Halsey and then assistant director Shaoyu Su led the sessions.
  • Students generated terrain and organic forms in Houdini, then built landscapes, materials and lighting in Unreal Engine.
  • The aim was simple pipelines that leave room for artistic choices while proceduralism does the heavy lifting.

November 2022

Photos

Students follow along in Houdini during the workshop
A student builds a procedural form in Houdini
A Houdini form projected for the room
Procedural terrain on a student's laptop
An Unreal Engine landscape at sunset built in the workshop
An Unreal Engine landscape with clouds and green hills