Archive notice: This article was originally published on September 1, 2011. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Here are the first new features; SideFX will provide further information when Houdini 12 releases the beta version in October. Houdini users’ desire for more speed was fulfilled with the Geometry Engine, which was reworked from the ground up. According to the manufacturer, the new engine makes Houdini 12 substantially faster in all work steps and is intended to be more efficient than the previous versions. A new Geometry Format makes it possible to open large files faster. Rotating Geometry is even said to be twice as fast in Houdini 12 as in the versions before it. Render time has also improved – according to SideFX, a render of 10,000 instances with Random Material takes only 2.8 seconds in Houdini 12, compared with 380 seconds in Houdini 11. This is a particularly interesting aspect for artists who want to create SpeedTree V6 vegetation in Houdini. On a 24GB system, only 7 million points were possible in Houdini 11; with Houdini 12’s new memory capacity, it is up to 77 million. Thanks to the Geometry Engine, clothing and its folds can be represented more realitically. Large-scale fluid animations are also feasible with the Flip Fluid particle simulation.Fire and smoke are often needed – with Pyro FX 2.0 the animation works faster, because users now have the option of controlling the simulation with Geometry Nodes. This release changes the program’s underlying architecture, so extensive beta tests will first be carried out before Side FX distributes it commercially. A final release date has therefore not yet been set.
Houdini 12 Teaser from Go Procedural on Vimeo.
