SideFX Revealed Details About Upcoming Houdini 21

If you missed it last week, we got the first look at Houdini 21, the upcoming release of SideFX's 3D procedural software for modeling, rigging, animation, VFX, lighting, and rendering. This major update brings exciting new features, and with the Houdini 21 Keynote from SIGGRAPH 2025 now available, we can take a closer look at some of the latest improvements and workflows in Houdini.

KineFX rigging and animation now feature a new motion mixer, an animation and clip catalog, an Autorig Builder, and more. The muscle system offers simpler setups for both characters and creatures, accompanied by a variety of example rigs for exploration. Also, MetaHumans can be imported into Houdini using an Epic-developed plug-in created in collaboration with SideFX.

Copernicus introduces a sparse GPU Pyro FX solver, interactive handles, and reaction diffusion effects. Both Copernicus and Karma provide texture baking capabilities. Terrain now includes a powerful erosion node, and heightfields can be further enhanced through COPs.

Solaris brings new Shot Builder tools and Live Rendering directly to the gallery, while Karma supports Hydra 2 and Gaussian Splats. Houdini 21 delivers production-ready Vulkan support, featuring Realtime Ambient Occlusion and Geometry Lights, along with MoltenVK compatibility for macOS users.

The VFX toolset has been expanded with a strong collection of preset Pyro FX recipes and improvements to the MPM solver. Houdini 21 also integrates native Machine Learning tools for Style Transfer, Skin and Organic Tissue Deformation, Point Cloud Surfacing, and Pyro upresing, including complete node setups to train with your own datasets.

This is only a glimpse of what's ahead, with Houdini 21 planned for release in late August. Stay tuned and join our 80 Level Talent platform and our new Discord server, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram, TikTok, and Threads, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.