The next version of the popular procedural tool from SideFX is available for purchase.
Houdini 16 is finally here. The updates software holds a lot of advantages for seasoned users and newcomers. A new network editor and viewport radial menus will definitely make Houdini 16 more approachable for new artists.
The star of the show is the new terrain-building tool, which we will hopefully show to you in a little while. There are also tools for character rigging, shading and VFX. Houdini 16’s terrain system lets you layer and edit terrain easily with tools such as procedural noise, or paint or mask out areas directly. The operations are very similar to image compositing, so terrain artists will find the Houdini workflow familiar. The terrain can then collide with fluid simulations, crowd agents, particles, RBD/destruction and Pyro FX – without converting the heightfields into geometry.
Houdini 16 is our biggest release ever. Not only do we have features and enhancements for customers creating VFX in film, TV and games, this new release brings significant improvements to modeling, lookdev and character rigging.
Kim Davidson, President and CEO, SideFX
The ability to layer wave spectra using point instanting lets artists create complex, realistic and seamless oceans with elegance and ease. No more tiling artefacts with Houdini 16’s truly infinite oceans. Art directability is paramount, and individually modelled and animated hero waves now mix perfectly with the existing spectra.
There are also tools for material production. Houdini 16 includes a new shader building workflow that allows for layer mixing and quick access to procedural texturing tools. Mantra has been enhanced with improved BSDFs for creating sub-surface scattering, dielectrics, absorption and more. Game artists can leverage an improved texture baking workflow.
You can check out the full list of features here.
Houdini Core and Houdini FX could be purchased for $4,495. Houdini Indie is also available for $199 USD per year. Students can download Houdini Apprentice for free and study the software.