A new 3D assets store gives users a place to sell their work.
2012 has been a very good year for Side Effects, creators of Houdini 3D modeling and animation software. The company is seeing its products more widely used, it has a deal with Dreamworks that benefits the company through co-development, it has lowered its pricing, and it has announced a new asset store they’re calling Orbolt.
Houdini user Nicholas Plitsikas created Three Wise Monkeys for a tutorial on displacement shaders. More information at the Houdini website. (Source: Side Effects Software)
To keep the focus on the Houdini brand and better describe the roles each product plays, Side Effects has rebranded its two workstation products as Houdini and Houdini FX (formerly Houdini Escape and Houdini Master). Houdini includes procedural modeling and rendering; Houdini FX includes all Houdini features and adds particles: fluids, Pyro FX, cloth, wire, and rigid body dynamics. Houdini can open up and render scenes created with Houdini FX.
Houdini is priced at $1,995, and Houdini FX is $4,495. In addition, customers will receive their first year on an annual upgrade plan for free.
At Siggraph Side Effects announced Houdini 12.1. New features include the ability to create edge groups and optimizations to FLIP fluids, Mantra rendering, and Pyro FX. The big news for 12.1 though is the debut of the Orbolt Smart Asset Store, which will provide an outlet for Houdini users who create 3D assets. Content offered for sale on the Orbolt store will be reviewed and tested before being offered for sale.
It looks like Side Effects has gathered an important and innovative community of end users working on effects and 3D modeling and animation, while doing the work needed to make multicore content creation more efficient and practical.
