Featuring updates across the entire toolkit, a brand-new Copernicus feature, and more.

During the 2024 Annecy International Animation Film Festival, SideFX shared a long-awaited preview of Houdini 20.5, a sizeable update to the studio's flagship procedural 3D software, set to launch sometime in mid-July.

As showcased in the team's new sneak peek demo, the release is set to introduce upgrades and new features across the entire toolkit, greatly enhancing Houdini's LookDev, Karma rendering, character rigging, VFX, gamedev, and other workflows. Additionally, the preview offered a look at the upcoming Copernicus feature, a GPU-accelerated image processing framework introducing redesigned and re-envisioned COP context with over 150 nodes, which will be released in beta with Houdini 20.5.

The list of novelties one can expect in version 20.5 also includes a new Material Point Method solver, a multi-solver with presets for common material types, a robust procedural crowds generator, a comprehensive car rig, Karma XPU updates, new tools for rigging feathers and wings, non-destructive animation layers, a new node for cushy geometry, Vulkan geometry rasterization, and much more.

As mentioned above, users can expect Houdini 20.5's arrival sometime in July, with no specific date provided by SideFX. Prior to that, however, the team will host the Houdini 20.5 Launch event on June 18-19 in Paris, including a full day of 30-60 minute technical presentations exploring the latest features in the upcoming Houdini 20.5. You can learn more about the upcoming event by visiting SideFX's official website.

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