Entertainment Design Studio: Progress!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm using my elective for the semester, Entertainment Design Studio, to learn the basics of Houdini and to start to create my own VFX demo reel. Thus far, I've gotten solid introductions to lighting, rendering, shaders, particles, rigid body dynamics, fluids, and pyro. I've also gotten the chance to create custom tools using nodes (the one I use most frequently is a Light/Shade/Render tool which sets up a basic camera, ground plane, key light, and fill light for rendering purposes). The new topic I've been learning for this week and last week is how to integrate Python scripts and expressions into my simulation. It's proving pretty useful for my current simulation!

Ever since I finished the particles and fluids section, I've been working on a small simulation with which I've tried to combine all of the physical simulation techniques I've learned. It's a work in progress which has gone through several different iterations, but I think it's going well. This "mini-project" started out as a geyser shooting up out of some terrain, but it was pointed out to me that, since I am a beginner at using Houdini, it would be better for me to start out with something on a smaller scale. So, I set out to create a simulation of a bowl of water, into which a rock is dropped. The rock breaks the bowl, and the water spills out. Video of the work in progress is below.

Some challenges I have run into thus far:

• Realistic breaking - I haven't yet experimented with the Voronoi fracture node, and have instead been using the "Make Breakable" shelf tool. While this is physically accurate and easy to use, it doesn't provide a realistic-looking or interesting fracture. It would be cool if the fracture appeared gradually (small cracks at first, then bigger ones), but instead it fractures into large pieces almost immediately.
• Rendering limitations - As I am not using Houdini as part of a project, I don't have access to the ETC's render farm. Because of this, I have to be careful of which materials and shaders I use, and how complex they are. As I found out when I tried to render a bowl made of glass, rendering time can really add up if I'm not careful of how complex the lighting and simulation is in a scene.
• Feedback: Learning curve vs. realism - One of the biggest challenges I've found is the feedback I've gotten on my work so far from my classmates. Not the quality of the feedback, but rather what they are commenting about. I am the only one in my class (and, maybe, the only one in my graduate program) who has any Houdini experience, and, as I am a beginner, there is a bit of a learning curve when I work on projects. When they see my projects, my classmates can at most give me feedback on the realism of my work, but not on the technique, the latter of which I think would be more useful to me. 

I originally intended this project to only last about two weeks, but I think I can learn a lot more from continuing to experiment with different effects and techniques for this simulation. I'll be working on this project for about another week. Check back for the final version!