For those who don’t know the school: The VFX School was an online training platform focused primarily on Houdini-based FX simulation workflows. Its courses centred on effects such as destruction, fluids and pyro simulations, sometimes rendered with engines such as Redshift and prepared for compositing. The platform targeted artists learning production-style simulation pipelines.
Closing the classroom
The online training platform The VFX School has announced it is shutting down. Rather than removing its material or quietly archiving it, the platform has released its entire course library for free public access. All courses are currently available to stream without registration or payment. The site also provides downloadable project files and associated assets for the training material.
It is a rare exit strategy in the education business. Instead of locking the archive behind expired subscriptions or abandoned logins, the creators chose to hand the library to the community that supported it. The platform itself states that the release is intended as a thank you to artists who followed and supported the school. In practical terms, this means the full catalogue of courses can now be watched and downloaded without cost.
Videos are currently hosted through Vimeo and embedded on the course pages. Project files and scene assets are distributed as downloadable ZIP archives. According to the website, video access is expected to remain online until March 1, 2027. After that date the Vimeo hosting may be removed. For anyone interested in the material, the polite interpretation is simple. Download first, organise later.
Seven courses, mostly explosions
The publicly available course library comprises seven training courses, centred primarily on Houdini-based FX simulation workflows. The topics follow the usual suspects of production FX work. Destruction simulations, fire and pyro effects, fluids and cinematic-scale simulation setups appear throughout the material.
One of the larger training programmes is titled the Houdini Renascence Program. The course is described as a broad introduction to modern Houdini simulation workflows and FX techniques. Other courses focus on more specific simulation scenarios such as rigid body destruction, bridge collapse simulations and fluid-based commercial effects. Each course combines instructional videos with downloadable Houdini scene files. These files allow users to inspect how the simulations were built and configured. File packages are not small. Some course downloads reach approximately 28 GB, reflecting the inclusion of project assets and rendered simulation data.
Render passes included
One detail that may interest compositors more than simulation artists is the inclusion of rendered FX sequences. The downloadable course packages include multi-layer EXR sequences produced from the Houdini simulations. These sequences contain multiple render passes generated during the rendering process.
For compositing artists working in applications such as Nuke, this type of material is often more valuable than a finished render. Multi-layer EXR files can contain lighting passes, depth passes and simulation layers that allow the shot to be reconstructed during compositing.
Training assets with full render passes are relatively uncommon in publicly distributed course material. Many educational resources provide only flattened footage. Here the render layers allow users to rebuild the shot structure themselves. Lighting contributions can be adjusted, depth information can be used for atmospheric effects and elements can be recombined in different ways. In other words, the files behave more like a miniature production shot than a simple demonstration render.
Simulation topics
The simulation subjects covered in the courses reflect typical Houdini FX work used in film and commercial pipelines. Examples include collapsing bridge simulations, fire and explosion setups, liquid simulations and procedural destruction sequences.
These examples are built using Houdini’s node-based procedural system. Instead of keyframing every action manually, artists assemble networks of operators that control the simulation behaviour.
By including the full scene files, the courses allow users to inspect how these networks were constructed. Solver settings, constraint networks and simulation nodes remain visible inside the scenes. For technical artists or FX TDs this can often be the most instructive part of training material. Watching a tutorial is useful. Opening the scene file is usually more revealing.
A rare kind of shutdown
When subscription education platforms close, the usual result is a disappearing library. Content often vanishes along with the service that hosted it. Access expires, servers are switched off and the training material effectively evaporates.
The VFX School’s decision to release its full archive is therefore notable. It preserves the material and places it in the hands of the community rather than removing it from circulation. It is a quiet gesture, but a generous one. In an industry where learning resources can disappear overnight, leaving the lights on for everyone is a respectable way to exit.
Practical value for artists
From a production perspective the most useful part of the release may be the downloadable assets rather than the videos themselves. Large EXR simulation sequences and structured Houdini project files provide practical training material for both FX and compositing artists.
These assets allow experimentation with lighting passes, volumetric renders and compositing workflows using production-style data. Public FX footage often consists of pre-rendered stock clips with little structural information. The course assets, by contrast, contain layered render data and simulation outputs that can be studied and modified.
For artists learning how simulation renders translate into final composite shots, this kind of material can be extremely instructive. The release therefore functions both as a training library and as a small archive of practice assets.
