SideFX Software have released version 19 of their long running and popular CG application Houdini. Earlier this year, Houdini made it’s game engine runtime Houdini Engine available for free, making this release particularly interesting to game developers. Houdini is available in a number of different forms, including a free version called Houdini Apprentice, which are available for download here. This release contains several new features of interest to game developers especially tools to make level design easier such as the new lookdev support and new instancing brushes.
Details of the Houdini 19 release:
Houdini 19 reflects our ongoing effort to place artist centric workflows at the heart of every new feature, and to inject realtime tools and realtime physics into the full fabric of Houdini.
Key enhancements have been made to Solaris for lookdev, layout and lighting, Karma for rendering and KineFX for motion editing and retargeting, along with hundreds of improvements and new workflows.
Improvements are broken down across different subsystems such as PyroFX, Solaris, KineFX, etc. You can read the comprehensive Houdini 19 release notes here. You can learn more about Houdini and the newest release in the video below.