Sunday, February 26th, 2017 Posted by Jim Thacker

Eye candy: SideFX’s 2017 Houdini games and VR reel


You can tell GDC 2017 is around the corner, because games tools developers keep releasing demo reels.

Like Autodesk last week, SideFX’s new games and VR reel is a mixture of the best cinematics and game projects created using its software: in this case, Houdini and Houdini Engine.

A lot of the best eye candy comes from the cinematics, created by the likes of Axis Animation, RealtimeUK and Wargaming.net, but SideFX is keen to make its pitch that Houdini is now more than a VFX package, so there is also a fair bit of in-engine footage.

The centrepiece is probably Naughty Dog‘s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End – a lot of the pre-baked simulations were done in Houdini – but there’s also a Mafia III breakdown from Hangar 13.

There are also a smattering of VR titles – including Dear Angelica, Oculus Story Studio’s test project for Quill, its VR painting tool – and quite a few indie and mobile titles.

All in all, it’s not a bad way to occupy two minutes of your coffee break. Check it out above.

Read a full list of credits for SideFX’s 2017 Houdini games and VR reel