Phinnaeus O'Connor: Houdini FX - 3D Simulation & Rendering on Killer Whale | GridMarkets Interview

For this interview, we caught up with Phinnaeus O'Connor, a Lead FX/CFX & 3D Generalist based in Sydney, Australia, to talk about his journey through the world of 3D, his transition from Maya to Houdini, and his latest work, featured in this Houdini FX Killer Whale interview.

Over the decades, Phin has worked across the PR, music packaging, print advertising, and post production industries. From early rave flyers created with acetate, Rotring pens and letraset, early print graphics and illustrations on the first DTP Mac’s, through to today working in 3D Animation and FX for TVC’s, Feature Films and Episodic on the latest cutting edge PC workstations. 

His latest project, Killer Whale, brought together many of those skills. Working with Serve Chilled, Phin was the solo artist responsible for the creature-interaction water simulations and underwater blood FX. Working primarily in Houdini, using FLIP and Pyro and rendering in Solaris with Karma XPU, he created 25 shots during six months of production, using GridMarkets for the simulation capacity needed to bring the work together. 

Over the years, Phin has worked across advertising, music videos and feature films, including Guardians of the Galaxy 2. He has also collaborated with some of the industry's leading artists and studios, while continuing to develop his own skills and workflow as a 3D generalist.

His latest project, Killer Whale, brought together many of those skills. Working with Serve Chilled, Phin was responsible for the water creature interactions and underwater blood sequences. Working primarily in Houdini, he tackled demanding VFX work while using GridMarkets to provide the simulation capacity needed to bring the shots together.

In the conversation below, Phin takes us through his journey from early Maya experiments to Houdini, shares some of the projects and people that have influenced him, and talks openly about the realities of working in FX - from tight deadlines and ambitious projects to learning new techniques on the job. He also shares his experience using GridMarkets and why having access to additional simulation & rendering power can be a game-changer for a solo artist.

So, let's get into it.

Phinnaeus O'Connor - At a Glance

• Role: Lead FX/CFX & 3D Generalist

• Based: North Bondi, Sydney, Australia

• Company: Serve Chilled - Wooloowin, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

• Project: Killer Whale

• Role on the film: Lead FX: Creature-interaction water simulation and underwater blood FX

• FX: Creature-interaction water simulation and underwater blood FX

• Primary software: Houdini

• Simulation: FLIP and Pyro

• Rendering: Solaris / Karma XPU

• Shots: 25

• Time on project: 6 months

• Cloud simulation: GridMarkets

• Netflix: Premiered June 20, 2026

Background and Inspiration

Background and Inspiration to Become an Artist

How were you influenced by your parents and your early childhood?

Both parents are artists, my mother was a set designer for the BBC and teacher and painter and my father a classical figurative painter and lecturer of art. But it was my early memories of him taking me to movie sets at Pinewood when he was working as a storyboard artist, and also going to see Bladerunner, Star Wars, The Wizard of Oz and Jaws at an early age (no age restrictions really back then). I was also encouraged to draw and paint and I loved making things, like Airfix models or carving stuff out of balsa wood.

Did a specific movie, game, or event inspire you?

The movie Bladerunner and the game “Marathon” by Bungie, who would later go on to create the epic Halo, and of course Tomb Raider.

How did you first get into computers and digital design?

Back in the late 70s & early 80s there were no desktop computers. It was only after I attended the Chelsea College of Art and had been working for various club and rave promoters in London illustrating flyers, I was DJ-ing at a party one eve and I met someone who asked me to bring in my portfolio of drawings & paintings to meet his boss, Mathew Freud, at his PR company - Freud’s Communications. 

Here are some of my early non-digital art from the 80’s

I created this flyer in 1988. The character was hand-drawn, with the CMYK plates separated by hand for the printer using a Rotring pen. All the text was Letraset, and everything was done by hand. NO COMPUTER, completely analogue.

Just then the first DTP Apple Macs were coming out, I was introduced to the head of design who was a crazy mad Scot from Glasgow called Gordon who swore all the time, but was a genius with a computer.  It was through his mentorship and also with the help of printed manuals that I was able to learn the first versions of Photoshop, Illustrator 88 and Quark Express. With Illustrator you would work in Keyline, hit “render” and then wait for the 16bit colours to appear on screen! Quark Express had 1 undo which you would get around by saving multiple versions of a page layout over the course of the day.

Do you have any interesting stories from your non-digital artwork?

I painted this 20 years ago using acrylic, a brush and some airbrushing for my lovely mate Sam Hanbali. I was broke in my 20s, and this was my way of repaying his generosity. He was a successful club DJ and took me on holiday to Cyprus. He asked me to paint a portrait that captured our experience as friends. It’s a long story!

What led you from print graphics into 3D?

Later while working in the music industry at a company called Telstar, creating packaging for compilation albums (which Telstar basically invented) for CDs, vinyl & cassettes, I was asked to assist on a music video and went to Molinare Post in SoHo in London.

I went into the 3D room and saw the artist in this big suite animating a spinning logo for “Now That’s What I Call Music 15!”  I caught the 3D bug and the rest is history.

Did you get the chance to meet some interesting people during your career?

Indeed! While working on a Freud Communications PR stunt for the launch of Planet Hollywood on The Michael Aspel Show on ITV UK, I had the chance to meet Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis when they appeared on the show to promote the themed restaurant in 1992.

How did you develop your 3D skills?

I continued working in print graphics, but in my spare time I started exploring 3D packages such as Bryce, Infini-D, and Lightwave , which is where I finally started to get to grips with the concepts of proper modeling, animating, texturing and lighting/rendering. Then the bottom fell out of the music industry, and I lost my job, and so I signed up with an agency.

Early Career in 3D

Who was your first manager?

David Sayeed at Animated Peoples was my first manager/agent. Amazing guy who got me my first 3D gigs.

Where did you start working in 3D, and who did you meet there?

Working for the band Gorillaz in Shepherd’s Bush where I met David Albarn from Blur and the comic book artist Jamie Hewlitt who illustrated Tank Girl for 2000AD. He was a big inspiration!

Also Rushes in SoHo, where I worked with and first met my colleague and close friend, Lars Magnus Holmgren. We have collaborated on many projects over the years and still try to get each other work to this day. He’s an amazing creature and character animator, amongst many other skills!

Which DCC software have you used in your career, and how did your workflow evolve?

DCC wise, I used Maya for 2 decades, and still do today if I’m doing any animation rigging for most projects as it’s still in demand, but I started making the transition over to Houdini around 12 years ago.

Headshots created in Houdini

How did you start learning Maya?

It was then while on a long-term rolling contract in-house in the graphics studio at Publicis UK in Baker Street that I struck up a deal with my studio manager, Karl, to let me teach myself an early version of Maya which I had purchased as well as the first Windows Silicon Graphics PC (after much geeky research and remortgaging my flat in Fulham!) The deal with Karl was when we had downtime not working on big campaigns, he would be able to bring big clients like Renault and they could watch me tumbling models of their latest cars in the 3D viewport in real time (LOL)!

What made you transition from Maya to Houdini?

I was brought on to rig around 45 asymmetrical toy characters in 50 days in Maya. But all the textures, and fur grooming lighting & rendering was done in Houdini. My tiny linear Maya mind was blown and I was sold to the world of proceduralism.

How did working in advertising help shape your skills and career as a 3D artist?

Lots of honing my skills working in the trenches of advertising TVCs. Short project turnarounds, having to think on my feet and problem solve to hit the tight deadlines.

Was there a pivotal moment that helped define your career?

Working on commercials for MPC Shanghai, then going over to Sydney for a week’s break to visit my brother who had emigrated there. Then a year later getting sponsored to work on my first feature at Animal Logic in Sydney Australia on Guardians of the Galaxy 2!

A year later I got asked to work remotely for Senate VFX & Marve Films back in the UK on the lasso and whip bar sequence in Kingsman, The Golden Circle. I got a lot more feature work on the back of those two big projects,

What are some of the projects or experiences that you’re most proud of?

Working at The Mill with legendary Flame artist Barnsley who created the famous Guinness white surf horses commercial.

Was there a project that was particularly important in your development as an artist?

Electric Theatre Collective - The Left Behinds where I had to rig 45 asymmetrical Maya characters over 2 months and when I had my first experience with Houdini

What was a memorable experience?

Guardians of the Galaxy 2 when I first moved to Australia under the mentorship of the legend Matt Ebb.

Was there a project that didn’t go as planned but taught you something valuable?

My last job at CSPost for a drinks commercial. Talking animal heads with human bodies mo-capped. It was one of those jobs where I was trying to run a team, when there simply wasn’t enough time and the client was very over ambitious and kept asking for more stuff. It taught me to not promise work that you simply don’t have time to achieve. 

What software and tools have you used throughout your career, and which ones are most important to your current workflow?

Houdini for the last 10 years professionally.  Maya for 20 + years. Unreal, Zbrush, Substance Painter, Marvelous Designer, Nuke, Photoshop. Illustrator, Indesign. Blender is interesting with its geometry nodes. But I already have that in Houdini. Plus the procedural rigging and animation with Apex is way more powerful.

Phinnaeus O'Connor and GridMarkets : A Long-Standing Collaboration

When did you first start using GridMarkets?

About five years ago, while I was working at Sandbox Productions on a large-scale fluid FX simulation for a water tank used as an LCD Infinity Wall for Crown Casinos. The project was created using Houdini for the fluid FX and Nuke for compositing.

How did you first find GridMarkets?

After some research on the Internet, I think I just googled “Houdini-centric render farms”.  There were also a few fellow Houdini artists that I respect and admire like Fabian Nowak that have been showcased on your site.

How did GridMarkets help streamline your workflow?

The biggest benefit for me was being able to book multiple simulation machines for each shot - something that as a solo artist is an absolute game changer. On my last big water simulation job, I had 27 water FX shots with creature interactions to create in 6 months, with the director making 11th hour creature animation changes. Also the GridMarkets machines are super hi-spec.   Most of the companies I work for would not have access to that kind of power.

How would you rate GridMarkets’ rendering and simulation services based on your experience?

10/10. Nothing I can fault. Par excellence service and no matter what time zone, someone in support will always get to you within the hour.

What are the biggest advantages GridMarkets brings to your workflow as a solo artist?

To have access to an unparalleled world-class render & simulation farm, with great localised software integration and the ability to tell clients I can create and complete their vision on time and within budget.

Killer Whale: Houdini FX, Water Simulation and Rendering

About Killer Whale: Story and Production

Can you briefly introduce Killer Whale? What is the film about, and what was your role in the project? 

The 2026 survival thriller Killer Whale, directed by Jo-Anne Brechin, follows grieving cellist Maddie and her friend Trish on a Thailand vacation. After breaking into a marine park, a captive, vengeful orca is released into the ocean. The orca then strands the women in a remote lagoon, terrorizing them.

How did the team come together? Was this a studio project, an independent collaboration, or a combination of both? 

It was a studio project and an independent production for a company called Serve Chilled which is the recently formed VFX arm of Jaggi Entertainment.

Did you work remotely, as a freelancer, or on-site? 

I was employed full time on a 6 month contract; hybrid.

How long did the simulation process take?

It took around two months. There were a lot of changes to the simulations, so I’d say I spent roughly eight full weeks on simulation work on GridMarkets.

What FX work did you personally handle on Killer Whale? 

All the water creature interaction and underwater blood sequences. I was the solo artist on all the creature interaction water simulation and underwater blood FX, created entirely in Houdini using FLIP and Pyro, and rendered in Solaris with Karma XPU. I helped create 25 shots in just 6 months for Killer Whale at Serve Chilled.

Cloud Rendering and Simulation Challenges

What made rendering such a significant challenge on this project?

It wasn’t really a significant challenge because GridMarkets is simple to use and everything worked smoothly. Once the jobs were set up, the rendering process was very straightforward. 

If rendering itself wasn't the main challenge, where did GridMarkets make the biggest difference on Killer Whale? 

The biggest difference was the simulation capacity.

As a solo artist, being able to access that kind of simulation power when I needed it was a game changer. 

What was your local rendering setup like, and how did it compare with the simulation requirements? 

Rendering was not such an issue. I was able to render full-frame CG shots in 4K on two Lenovo P8 workstations with NVIDIA A4000 GPUs using Karma XPU and progressive rendering, averaging around 15 minutes per frame. 

Looking back, what is the strongest argument for using a cloud render farm instead of purchasing machines? 

Non-sustainability. Buying and maintaining high-spec machines that may sit idle between projects doesn’t make sense to me. With a cloud render farm, you can access the processing power when you actually need it, without having to invest in and maintain all that hardware yourself. 

Killer Whale on Netflix: Release and Reception  

How did you feel when you found out that Killer Whale would be available on Netflix?

Very happy!!! It’s always a great feeling to see a project you’ve put so much time and effort into reach such a huge audience, and having Killer Whale released on Netflix was a really exciting moment for everyone involved.  

Was Killer Whale commissioned by Netflix, or was it acquired after the film had already been completed? 

The latter. Netflix acquired the film after it had already been completed, which made the eventual release especially rewarding after the time and work that went into getting the production finished and out into the world.

What does a Netflix release mean for the visibility of a film like Killer Whale? 

Yes for sure it increases visibility. But this production took a while to get out of the blocks and before Netflix bought it. On my side, I had to wait a long time to get clearance on the shots, so seeing the film eventually reach such a large audience was really rewarding. 

How did the Netflix release affect the success of Killer Whale? 

It reached No 3 in the charts on Netflix in Australia and New Zealand, which was fantastic to see and a great result for the film and everyone involved. 

Was Killer Whale your first time contributing to a film that reached such a prominent position on Netflix? 

No - the previous year I had worked on Beast of War at Formation Effects, which reached number 1 in the Netflix movie charts in Australia. I helped create the CG shark, which involved some texture and shader look dev in Houdini (Karma XPU) and rigging the beast in Maya for my friend Lars to animate

I then lit and rendered all the underwater CG shots of the shark, again in Houdini. I also comp’d a few of the hero finale shots in Nuke. We had a small team of Nuke artists helping out remotely who all did an amazing job. 

Final Thoughts: Future Projects and Opportunities

Looking ahead, what are you hoping to achieve in your career, and what kind of projects or opportunities would you like to work on next? 

I’m always looking for new opportunities and interesting projects where I can keep developing my Houdini skills in areas such as FX, CFX, APEX, COPs and ML. It’s an ever evolving industry and both Side FX and GridMarkets seem to always be exploring and adopting these exciting new technologies.

I’m open to new jobs and collaborations and would love to work with talented teams on challenging projects. If you are interested, you can reach me at phinnaeuso@gmail.com  

What advice would you give to young artists who are starting out in 3D and trying to build a career in the industry? 

Keep learning, stay curious and don't be afraid to experiment. A lot of my career has come from teaching myself new tools and following things that interested me. The industry is always changing, so keep developing your skills, be open to new opportunities and don't be afraid to take on challenging projects. 

By GridMarkets Marketing