The infinite episode 8 is here and we are joined by a great friend and amazingly talented Matt Siegel AKA  @siegmattelvisuals6160  Matt is a sweetheart, a true creative and unique mind, it was amazing to see inside his workflows with the software  @houdini3d , which is by far the hardest to learn but best VFX tool available. We get into what it was like growing up in Georgia, wanting to get into making visual art, starting out doing live streams during the pandemic, Working for  @adultswim  and big VFX houses on major Hollywood films and the @SilverLakeShorts  film festival, among a lot of other topics! For Matts SET we dive deep into Houdini, we take a deep look at his awesome project for the online  @pwnisher  challenge, Eternal Ascent. And an in depth look at his advanced vellum simulations, windows pipes screensaver and building procedural control rigs for characters. Go check out Matt and see some of his absolutely amazing art: https://www.instagram.com/siegmattel.visuals https://www.facebook.com/siegmattel.visuals https://www.siegmattelvisuals.com/ https://linktr.ee/siegmattel For anyone interested in trying out Houdini, here are some of Matt’s recommended resources: https://www.sidefx.com/products/houdini-apprentice/ – Houdini’s free apprentice version, great for learning and seeing if you like the software https://www.houdininerd.com – great resource for beginners from Chris Rutledge, has a list of a bunch of recommended series and resources https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgYcMX8FouyazK0L7jHzF6r_g8dSnJEX6 – Howdini101, a great free beginner series from Tim van Helsdingen https://tokeru.com/cgwiki/HoudiniGettingStarted.html – CGWiki by Matt Estela, an incredible website filled with tons of tips, project files, explanations, etc. https://mograph.thinkific.com/courses/stop-being-afraid-of-houdini-2 – Stop Being Afraid of Houdini by Mark Fancher, an incredible paid series that walks beginners through all that Houdini has to offer with a focus on using vfx for motion graphics https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdFfFRXT0K_gyA6VVBnYVDgAEGYeaJlKN – Houdini in Five Minutes by Entagma, great beginner overview of Houdini Chapters: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:08:53 - Moving from Georgia to the West Coast 00:17:08 - Transitioning to 3D graphics 00:25:25 - Exploring Shaders 00:33:58 - Creating knowledge through Learning Techniques 00:42:01 - Community Events in Los Angeles - Silver lake Film Festival 00:50:23 - Vulcan vs. DirectX 00:59:14 - Professional Mindset and Motion Graphics Course 01:04:31 - SET - Eternal Accent project overlook in Houdini 01:15:55 - SET - Creating Volumes and Simulations 01:24:04 - SET - Manipulating Heads 01:32:31 - SET - Procedural Animation in Houdini 01:49:38 -SET - Customizing movement 01:57:56 - SET - Character Animation in Houdini 02:15:05 -SET - Procedural Weight Generation and Rigging in Houdini 02:23:42 -SET - Custom Rigging Techniques 02:32:13 - The Importance of Community in Animation and Motion Graphics 02:40:31 - Working with Existing IP and Maintaining Creative Direction The Visual Cast Podcast is a weekly, recorded live visual podcast, were we interview some of the best, most influential and most talented visual artists from around the world! We break up the interview with the "set", a interactive portion of the cast where the guest chooses what they want to share with us!! It can be anything from a live generative visuals set to a show and tell of a past project, or in this case a look at an amazing 3d dcc software. Please like and subscribe & join us next week for another episode! Follow us @thevisualcast to find out who next weeks guest is! If you enjoyed this podcast, please head on over to Apple Podcasts and Spotify and give us a review!! Intro/Outro music by Mantismash https://www.instagram.com/mantismash Follow the Cast https://www.instagram.com/thevisualcast https://www.facebook.com/thevisualcast Follow Alon