FX Simulations Deep Under The Mountains And Above | The Yard VFX | FMX HIVE 2025

Explore the different types of effect simulations achieved to bring to life the gigantic dwarves's caves of Khazam-dûm, deep under the mountains. Art-directed destructions, waterfalls & rivers, dust & debris, flames, atmospherics, crowd and cloth, lead to many different types of Houdini setups - from fairly procedural to completely bespoke. Fabian Novak is the Head of FX and FX Supervisor at The Yard VFX. After spending about a decade in London as an FX Technical Director and FX Lead, working at some of the biggest VFX Studios - MPC and ILM - on some of the biggest blockbusters and franchises, he moved back to France and started his journey at The Yard in Paris. There, Fabian was free to bring his passion, motivation, and dedication, to build the FX Department from the ground up. He is having a lot of fun working along with amazing people, and making state-of-the-art effect simulations of all kinds! 00:00 Introduction and Background 03:36 Key Workflows at The Yard 07:12 Environment Creation Techniques 10:48 Pipeline Tools in Use 14:24 Houdini in Action 18:00 Asset Optimization Tips 21:36 Rendering and Lookdev 25:12 Shot Breakdown Examples 28:48 Collaboration and Delivery 32:24 Final Words