Houdini 20.0 What’s new What’s new in Houdini 18

What’s new Modeling and Geometry

Houdini 18 adds numerous new and improved tools for interactive and procedural modeling.

Redesigned Bend tool with artist-friendly handles.
Local-space editing of primitives in SOPs
More controls in the geometry selection toolbar.
Redesigned Sweep SOP.
Interactive Point Weld tool using new Fuse SOP.
New point, edge and face sliding options in interactive tools such as Edit.
Procedural masking/falloff tools for deformers. Create scaling attributes using Distance Along Geometry, Distance From Geometry, and Distance from Point.
Redesigned Poly Bevel SOP for interactive poly modeling.
New Group Expand, Group by Lasso, Group Find Path, Group from Attribute Boundary nodes. Improvements to Group Promote and Group Range.
Switch-If makes it easier to control flow in geometry networks.
New node to bend edges into circles.
Heightfield Terrace 2.0 for advanced terrain generation.

SOP verbs ¶

The following nodes are now compile-able/verbified:

Solaris is Houdini’s support for creating and editing USD. This includes a new network type (LOPs), tools for layout and lighting, an improved scene viewer that displays the scene using Hydra delegates, and a new renderer (Karma) that natively renders USD files.

RBD Destruction

Houdini 18 features exciting improvements to destruction workflows such as guided destruction, improved chipping, destruction in SOPs, and custom fracturing.

Modeling and Geometry

Houdini 18 adds numerous new and improved tools for interactive and procedural modeling.

PDG and TOPs

In Houdini 18 PDG has even better wedging, better Deadline and Tractor integration, a new toolbar UI to get an overall sense of the network state, and numerous improvements to tools and internals.

Viewport and user interface

Houdini 18 includes improvements to the viewport and user interface such as a new Paint tool, 2D pan and zoom of 3D cameras, hotkeys in radial menus, and much improved custom Python states.

Pyro and FLIP fluids

Houdini 18 features a new more efficient sparse volume implementation of pyro, pyro in SOPs, and faster FLIP fluids.

Vellum

In Houdini 18 vellum improves resolution and scale independence, more robustness, sliding surface constraints, and other constraint improvements.

Character and crowds

Houdini 18 adds blendshapes on agents, export from crowds to USD skeletons, procedural clip transitions, better FBX support, and more.

FEM

Houdini adds new solver models with improved realism and performance.

VEX and expressions