Houdini (software)
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Software, Visual effects |
| Headquarters | Toronto , Canada |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | Houdini, Houdini Apprentice |
| Website | www |
Houdini is a 3D animation application created by SideFX, a company based in Toronto, evolving from the procedural generation toolkit known as PRISMS. Its procedural architecture facilitates the creation of sophisticated effects such as reflections, animations, and particle simulations, with some functionalities tracing back to 1987.
Widely utilized within the visual effects industry for film and television production, Houdini is favored by top-tier VFX companies including Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, DreamWorks Animation, Double Negative, ILM, MPC, Framestore, Sony Pictures Imageworks, and The Mill.
Houdini has played a significant role in the production of notable animated movies like Disney’s Fantasia 2000, Frozen, Zootopia, and Raya and the Last Dragon; Blue Sky Studios’ Rio; and DNA Productions’ Ant Bully.
SideFX also provides Houdini Apprentice, a free version with limited features intended for non-commercial purposes.
Release history
12.0 2012-MAR-01 Windows NT, Linux, macOS 12.1 2012-AUG-07 Windows NT, Linux, macOS 12.5 2013-MAR-14 Windows NT, Linux, macOS 13.0 2013-OCT-31 Windows NT, Linux, macOS 14.0 2015-JAN-15 Windows NT, Linux, macOS 15.0 2015-OCT-15 Windows NT, Linux, macOS 15.5 2016-MAY-19 Windows NT, Linux, macOS 16.0 2017-FEB-21 Windows NT, Linux, macOS $6,995 Introduced New Network Editor and Node Shapes 16.5 2017-NOV-07 Windows 7 SP1+, Linux, macOS 10.10.2+ $6,995 17.0 2018-OCT-10 Windows 7 SP1+, Linux, macOS 10.11+ 17.5 2019-MAR-13 Windows 7 SP1+, Linux, macOS 10.11+ 18.0 2019-NOV-27 Windows 8+, Linux, macOS 10.13+ 18.5 2020-OCT-17 Windows 8+, Linux, macOS 10.13+ 19.0 2021-OCT-27 Windows 8+, Linux, macOS 10.13+ $6,995 Introduced Karma and CFX | 19.5 2022-JUL-21 Windows 8+, Linux, macOS 10.15+ $6,995 20.0 2023-NOV-8 Windows 8.1+, Linux, macOS 11+ $6,995 Added KarmaXPU and APEX features | 20.5 2024-JUL-10 Windows 10+, Linux, macOS 11+| Version | Release Date | Supported OSs | Price of Full License (USD) | Observations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | 1996-OCT-02 | IRIX | $9,500 | Presented at SIGGRAPH 1996 |
| 2.0 | 1997-AUG-05 | IRIX | ||
| 2.5 | 1998-MAR-28 | IRIX, Windows NT | Introduced Windows NT compatibility | |
| 3.0 | 1999-OCT-02 | IRIX, Windows NT | ||
| 4.0 | 2000-JUL-24 | IRIX, Windows NT, Linux | $17,000 | Added Linux support |
| 5.0 | 2002-MAR-12 | IRIX, Windows NT, Linux, SunOS | $16,000 | First release supporting SunOS |
| 5.5 | 2002-MAY-14 | IRIX, Windows NT, Linux, SunOS | $16,000 | |
| 6.0 | 2003-MAY-08 | IRIX, Windows NT, Linux, SunOS | ||
| 6.5 | 2004-APR-16 | IRIX, Windows NT, Linux, SunOS | (exact release date not confirmed) | |
| 7.0 | 2004-SEP-20 | Windows NT, Linux | Discontinued IRIX and SunOS support | |
| 8.0 | 2005-OCT-06 | Windows NT, Linux | $17,000 | |
| 9.0 | 2007-SEP-20 | Windows NT, Linux | Introduced revamped user interface | |
| 9.1 | 2008-JAN-30 | Windows NT, Linux | ||
| 9.5 | 2008-JUL-17 | Windows NT, Linux, macOS | Added support for macOS | |
| 10.0 | 2009-APR-16 | Windows NT, Linux, macOS | Launched Pyro FX | |
| 11.0 | 2010-JUL-27 | Windows NT, Linux, macOS | $6,695 | (Flip Fluids feature introduced) |
| Integrated Bullet RBDs | ||||
| Introduced OpenVDB support and Wrangle Nodes | ||||
| Added FEM Solver and Packed Primitives | ||||
| Included PBD Grain Solver and Crowd Tools | ||||
Houdini supports all critical facets of 3D content creation including:
- Modeling – encompassing standard geometry types such as Polygons; hierarchical NURBS, Bézier Curves/Patches & Trims; and Metaballs
- Animation – featuring keyframe animation capabilities alongside direct channel editing (CHOPs) and integration with motion capture technology
- Rigging – utilizing proprietary KineFX and APEX rigging frameworks
- Particle Systems – comprehensive particle effect tools
- Dynamics – covering rigid body dynamics, fluid dynamics, wire dynamics simulations; cloth modeling; and Crowd simulation
- Lighting – node-based shader creation with interactive lighting adjustments via an IPR viewer
- Rendering – includes SideFX’s own Mantra and Karma renderers; Houdini Indie additionally supports external render engines such as RenderMan, Octane, Arnold, Redshift, V-Ray, and upcoming Maxwell integration
- Volumetrics – built-in CloudFx and PyroFx toolsets for simulating clouds along with smoke and fire effects
- Compositing – a fully featured compositor capable of handling floating-point deep layered images
- Plugin Development – offers development libraries enabling user customization
Houdini provides an open platform that accommodates multiple scripting interfaces. While originally employing a C Shell-like scripting language called HScript, Python has become the preferred scripting option over time. Additionally, any major programming language able to communicate via sockets can be integrated with Houdini’s system.
Operators
At the core of Houdini’s procedural workflow are its operators (OPs), which link together in chains to form digital assets. This procedural system facilitates intricate object creation with fewer steps, promotes non-linear workflows, and allows the construction of new operators from pre-existing ones—providing a versatile alternative to conventional scripting methods. Procedural generation extends to textures, shaders, particles, animation channels, rendering, and compositing processes.
Houdini categorizes its operators into several groups:
- OBJs – nodes that transmit transformation data (commonly containing SOPs)
- SOPs – Surface Operators dedicated to procedural modeling
- POPs – Particle Operators controlling particle systems
- CHOPs – Channel Operators for procedural animation and audio manipulation
- COPs – Composite Operators used in footage compositing
- DOPs – Dynamic Operators simulating fluids, cloth, and rigid bodies
- SHOPs – Shading Operators representing various material shading types across multiple renderers
- ROPs – Render Operators overseeing render passes and dependencies
- VOPs – VEX Operators constructing nodes via an optimized SIMD framework
- TOPs – Task Operators managing workflows
- LOPs – Lighting Operators producing USD descriptions for characters, props, lighting setups, and rendering
Operators are arranged within networks where data such as 3D geometry, bitmaps, particles, dynamics, shaders, animation curves, and audio is processed in sequence. This node-based architecture is similar to that found in compositing applications like Shake or Nuke.
Complex operator networks can be encapsulated into single meta-operator nodes that function like class definitions instantiated within other networks. This design empowers users to build advanced tools without requiring programming expertise. Consequently, Houdini operates as an interactive visual programming environment that significantly enhances creative flexibility.
Although Houdini’s operator-centric approach presents a steeper learning curve compared to similar software—demanding comprehension of node networks to realize artistic goals—the resulting creative and algorithmic versatility is substantial. Large-scale productions utilize procedural networks to automate asset generation efficiently. Numerous studios maintain extensive libraries of procedural tools to produce film elements with minimal manual input.
A distinguishing feature of Houdini lies in its broad array of input/output OPs supporting hardware and protocols such as MIDI, raw data files, TCP connections, audio devices with integrated phoneme and pitch recognition, mouse cursor input, among others. Particularly noteworthy is Houdini's CHOP context, which delivers sophisticated audio functionality including sound synthesis and spatial 3D audio processing—a capability that earned Side Effects a Technical Achievement Academy Award in 2002.
VEX (Vector Expression) serves as Houdini’s embedded programming language comparable to the Renderman Shading Language. It allows users to craft custom SOPs, POPs, shaders, and more while utilizing SIMD-style parallel processing for enhanced performance.
Rendering
Houdini features the production-grade renderer Mantra, originally designed with similarities to RenderMan. It supports Micropolygon rendering techniques for superior displacement detail alongside traditional scan-line and ray-tracing methods. Shaders can be programmed using the VEX language or created through node-based VOPs. Mantra processes point-cloud data enabling complex lighting effects such as sub-surface scattering and ambient occlusion with reduced computational demands. Additionally, it provides efficient volume rendering and physically accurate path-tracing, simulating realistic light-material interactions.
TouchDesigner
Derivative Inc., a company that originated from Side Effects Software, offers TouchDesigner, a real-time OpenGL animation tool derived from Houdini. This software was instrumental in creating live visuals for the rock group Rush during their 30th-anniversary tour and was also utilized by Xite Labs to produce live visual effects for Amon Tobin's ISAM installation tour.
Production
Houdini has played a significant role in high-profile projects, including the 1997 movie Contact and the 2016 animated film Zootopia.
See also
External links
- SideFX Software, Creators of Houdini