Houdini 11 Released
New version of Houdini is out. Here’s the press release from SIGGRAPH:
Side Effects Software Releases Houdini 11
New FLIP fluid solver, dynamic fracturing tools and a streamlined lighting workflow give artists more control in their day-to-day work.
TORONTO: July 27, 2010 – Side Effects Software, an industry leader in 3D animation and visual effects software, is excited to announce the immediate release of Houdini 11. With a focus on productivity, Houdini 11 meets the needs of artists and studios who are looking for ways to accomplish more and work faster. From the new FLIP fluids solver, which offers amazing speed and control, to automatic fracturing of RBD objects, to a re- architected shader building workflow, artists will be able to work much more effectively with Houdini 11.
“The new FLIP fluid solver is going to make a big difference for artists in production,” says Kim Davidson, President and CEO, Side Effects Software. “Not only is it up to 70 times faster, it draws on the power of our renowned particle tools to offer an unprecedented level of directability.”
The new dynamic fracturing tools are also designed to automatically create high-quality fracturing effects using a Voronoi-based algorithm. Artists can establish nicely shaped interior cracks and use volume “maps” to control the results.
The new version also brings important enhancements to Houdini’s lighting and shading workflows. Artists can make lighting decisions interactively in the viewport with new OpenGL effects such as GPU-assisted Volumes, unlimited lights and support for diffuse, specular, opacity, environment, bump and normal maps.
Houdini’s Mantra renderer is being used more and more in production and with Houdini 11 it becomes more accessible to artists. Houdini 11 ships with a robust general-purpose material which includes features such as sub-surface scattering and per-light exports. Houdini 11 includes new lights to make it easier to set up and render shots.
“With Mantra, artists now have more options, more control and a significant improvement in speed,” says Davidson. “And as always, Mantra-tokens are unlimited which means that renderings can be distributed across as many machines as required.”
In addition, Houdini 11 introduces new tools for combining, surfacing and visualizing volumes defined by the camera frustum, support for Disney’s “ptex” format and tools for styling fur. In all, Houdini 11 includes a wealth of new features and enhancements which are all geared towards making the artist more productive.
Pricing and Availablility
Houdini 11 is available immediately with Houdini Escape available for as low as $1,995 and Houdini Master available for as low as $6,695. The free Apprentice Edition can be downloaded today from sidefx.com and Houdini Apprentice HD can be purchased for $99. Existing version 10 Apprentice HD customers can upgrade for $69.
With Houdini 11, Side Effects is launching a new Annual Subscription Plan which offers access to Houdini software, upgrades and support for a year at a time. This program lowers the up-front cost for studios interested in working with Houdini and gives them a flexible way to scale up their licenses. With this program, Houdini Escape is available for as low as $1,595 and Houdini Master is available for as low as $4,595.
About Houdini
The Houdini family of animation software offers digital artists an unprecedented level of power, flexibility and control based on award-winning procedural technology. The comprehensive feature set includes: modeling, rigging, animation, particle effects, dynamics, compositing, integrated rendering, and more. All Houdini applications work together seamlessly and are available for the Mac OS X, Linux and Windows operating systems.
Houdini has been used to create stunning digital animation in blockbuster films, including: Avatar, Iron Man 2, Hot Tub Time Machine, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Invictus, 2012, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Coraline, Watchmen, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Bolt, Transformers 1 and 2, The Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Superman Returns, The Wild, X-Men: The Last Stand, Spider-Man (1, 2 & 3), the Harry Potter series, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Matrix trilogy and more.
About Side Effects Software
Established in 1987, Side Effects Software is a world leader in the development of advanced 3D animation and special effects software for use in film, commercials and video games. Side Effects Software leads the field of procedural animation with its unique, award-winning Houdini technology. Houdini is used by numerous digital content creation leaders including: Disney Feature Animation, PSYOP, Framestore-CFC, Asylum FX, Guerilla Games, EA, The Mill, Method Studios, Digital Domain, Rhythm and Hues, and Sony Pictures Imageworks among others.