Certifications


CG Forge offers various certifications (Beginner - Intermediate - Advanced) that highlight your accomplishments.

How to Earn Certifications:

1. Watch Courses

To gain access to courses, you can either subscribe or purchase at a flat price.  Video progress is linked to your account and can be used to verify what you've watched.

2.  Schedule Video Calls

Each certification requires a certain amount of hours spent with one-on-one training with your teacher.  To book these sessions, visit the link below:

3.  Submit Your Work

In addition to watching the courses and spending time with your teacher, you need to complete the projects described in the certifications below.  These projects need to also be approved by your teacher for a passing grade.

Houdini Fundamentals Certification

This certification is for beginners looking for an ideal path to getting started in Houdini.

Course Requirements

Houdini For The New Artist
Houdini For The New Artist II
Vex Foundations I
+ One additional beginner level course of your choosing

Video Call Requirement

⦁ You must schedule at least 90 minutes through CG Forge Academy.  The free on-boarding call or mentorship inquiry do not count.

Work Requirements

⦁ Course exercises must be completed and submitted for review.
⦁ At least one project needs to be fully rendered.
⦁ The rendered project must include something that was not part of the original course. For example, you can choose different lights, shaders, models, or fx elements to make it different from the original course.

Houdini Specialist Certification

This certification is ideal for intermediate artists interested in taking things beyond the basics.

Course Requirements

All the courses mentioned in the Fundamentals Certification plus..

Shading Theory
⦁ At least four other intermediate level courses of your choosing.

Video Call Requirement

⦁ You must schedule at least 270 minutes (4 1/2 hours) of time with your instructor through CG Forge Academy.  The free on-boarding call or mentorship inquiry do not count.

Work Requirements

⦁ You must have at least four projects completed and rendered.
⦁ One of those projects must include a personal project.  A personal project is something that you made without copying a specific course.  You are welcome to borrow techniques from other courses, but it needs to be something that you originally came up with.  Whether or not something is a "copy" of another tutorial or "original" is up to the teacher's discretion.
⦁ The other three projects can be from tutorials, but you need to add something that wasn't part of the original course to make it slightly different.

Houdini Mastery Certification

This certification is ideal for artists who are ready to create professional-grade work

Course Requirements

All the courses listed in the Houdini Fundamentals + Specialist certifications plus...

Vex Foundations II
Color Management
⦁ At least one advanced course
⦁ Any courses which lead up to an advanced course.  For example, you would need to take Pyro I and Pyro II if you'd like to do Pyro III.

Video Call Requirement

⦁ You must schedule at least 540 minutes (9 Hours) to meet with your instructor.  The free on-boarding call or mentorship inquiry do not count.

Work Requirements

⦁ You must submit a demo reel containing at least two personal projects, one advanced CG Forge course, and one other project of your choice. 
⦁  The non-personal projects must change up the original course in some kind of way.

  Commonly Asked Questions