The Boy & The Octopus - CFX workflows | Untold Studios | FMX HIVE 2025

An overview of the challenges of simulating octopus tentacles, skin and hair for Disney's 2024 holiday season short film. We will explore how we used Houdini to solve the many CFX challenges on this exciting project! Andrea Lacedelli is a VES nominated CFX Supervisor at Untold Studios has more than 7 years experience in the VFX industry, and has worked on a variety of creatures projects that involve skin and muscle, hair, feather etc. simulations. From bears to birds to octopuses, Andrea has a wealth of experience in finding the right solutions to challenging creature projects. Amaan Akram is the Head of VFX at Untold Studios and has worked in VFX for over 25 years, spanning film, episodic and advertising. He has worked as an artist, a software developer and as a team leader across his career in the UK. 00:00 - Welcome to Untold Studios 03:36 - Culture and Creative Vision 07:12 - Houdini’s Role in Projects 10:48 - Simulation Strategies 14:24 - Pipeline and Tech Stack 18:00 - Collaboration and Tools 21:36 - Major Project Highlights 25:12 - Lookdev and Rendering Focus 28:48 - Client Interaction Tips 32:24 - Final Notes and Vision Ahead