Freeing the VDB Pipes
Zibra AI has made ZibraVDB, its AI-powered volumetric compression tool for Houdini and Unreal Engine, available at no cost to indie artists and small studios earning or funded under $100,000 per year. This applies to both Houdini and UE5 editions, including for commercial use.
ZibraVDB compresses OpenVDB files, used for effects like smoke and fire, down to approximately 3 percent of their original size and claims to render them about twice as fast as Unreal Engine 5.3’s native Sparse Volume Texture (SVT) system.
What Changed—and What Remained
Until now, the free trial edition restricted users to compressing only five VDB sequences. With this update, the restriction is gone: indie users can compress an unlimited number of sequences and play them back in real time within Unreal Engine. Previously, individual subscriptions cost $10 per month or $150 per year. Those options remain for users outside the indie threshold, while studio-level subscription pricing is available on enquiry.
System Support and Availability
- Unreal Engine edition: Compatible with UE 5.3 or higher on Windows only. It’s distributed via Epic’s Fab online marketplace under a Standard license.
- Houdini edition: Compatible with Houdini 20.5.619 or newer, on Windows, Linux, and macOS. Available via SideFX Labs, an experimental plugin repository for Houdini users.
Installing either requires registering for a license key on Zibra AI’s website.
Final Note for Professionals
All claims of compression ratios and render-speed improvements are vendor-reported. Users should test ZibraVDB in their own environments before adopting it in production.
