I heard a rumor that in the next major version they will remove the default texture of the rubber toy, to reduce the carbon footprint of the GPUs worldwide displaying it in a viewport.

I really hope to see a new flipbook, a karma solutio for geo context(really hard I know) and vellum integration with rbd

all the rest is really welcome !!

and maybe... trailer soon?

And because music is an aspect of life, i am looking forward to see them go with some ambient/abstract music for the launch presentation / sneak peak, like they did with last releases. It instantly makes it feel more magical/mystic.

The release date of H18 was somewhere November 2019. 18.5 was released almost one year later.

I guess it will be the same this time.

Well, traditionally SideFX had followed a tic-toc type of upgrade cycles, with a substantial upgrade being a whole number, followed by a still-impressive-but-more-evolutionary update in the half version. I would say that for 15-18 that cycle was about every 8 months or so to the point that I remember a couple of years ago being quite surprised at how quickly these half-updates were coming.

Houdini 18 took a bit longer to get going from 17.5, but which also had a pretty major implementation of both USD and a brand new render engine with Karma so it was appropriate to cut SideFX some slack. 18 was showcased at Siggraph in August of 2019 and released early December if I remember correctly.

Had everything been normal, I think we'd have seen an 18.5 release somewhere around June of 2020, but the world decided to take a weird turn and that didn't happen. Instead SideFX did offer some "back ports" of new functions from H18.5 and some sneak peeks until releasing 18.5 in the Fall of 2020...once again the delay seemed more than justified.

Fast forward to H19 and 2021, it's now August and there's been no sneak previews of what's coming, no back porting of new functions, no communication whatsoever; so I can understand why the natives are growing a bit restless.

I figure that Siggraph, now less than ten days away, will see some sort of announcement. My understanding is that H19 does indeed exist and is currently in beta, so I suspect SideFX will want to tease something soon.

I think a Fall release of H19 is likely a reasonable assumption, once again November-ish. What I am however bracing for is not that big of a set of updates; an evolutionary and not revolutionary release. I could be wrong and SideFX might be gearing up to blow the CG world completely away with Unreal Engine implementation right into the viewport, POP solvers and Fluid solvers at the SOP level, and a heavily simplified USD context for the rest of us (I can dream). We'll see, as always I think there will be a little bit for everyone but not a lot for anyone specifically.

ifree
SIGGRAPH

I cant see any reference to "new features" on their calender, it's going to be a regular HIVE talk with some game devs and VFX houses.

Midphase
Unreal Engine implementation right into the viewport

Insert 1000 fire emojis here. :P

We all might have gotten a bit spoiled with the huge updates in 17 and 18. Maybe things are just returning to a more normal pace of smaller iterations.

AhmedHindy

ifree
SIGGRAPH

I cant see any reference to "new features" on their calender, it's going to be a regular HIVE talk with some game devs and VFX houses.

they could be playing coy and surprise everyone

True, nothing stops them from inserting the usual 10ish minute sneak peak of what’s to come at the end.
However previously it was usually accompanied by Fianna showing new modeling features hehe.

Keep your wild guesses coming guys. They are very entertaining.

in H19 we will see fliyng nodes

Houdini goes Everything gestures! The software core will be completely redone from scratch to support draw gestures only workflow in brand new Spellcasting and Alchemy tabs. VR, AR, Motion Leap are also fully supported with the new awesome floating spell construction plane.

Nodes are obsolete. It's time to do real magic! - Hurry Codder (Lead software engineer).

I've just visited SideFX secret office at Hogwarts(Canada) and I say - That was incredible! Houdini is changing the world order! Again! - Editor-in-chief of Time.

Yesterday there was some interesting little piece of information from Mark on an Open Source Days talk: MaterialX import into LOPs and MaterialX shading nodes for Karma will be included in the next Houdini version!

jarenas
Yesterday there was some interesting little piece of information from Mark on an Open Source Days talk: MaterialX import into LOPs and MaterialX shading nodes for Karma will be included in the next Houdini version!

Very cool, I'm looking forward to hearing more about this.

Looks like nothing from SideFx for Siggraph

LukeP
Looks like nothing from SideFx for Siggraph

Houdini HIVE SIGGRAPH 2021 [www.sidefx.com]
But nothing about H19, and I'd say aside of the one named "Worldbuilding with USD" and "SideFXLabs 2021 | New and Improved Workflows for Artists" it's the most boring and uninteresting selection of classes. :/ Sorry. I'm bitter and spoiled.

Njordy
most boring and uninteresting selection of classes

How can you go wrong with "Building and Tearing a Flesh Portal"?! :P

BrianHanke
How can you go wrong with "Building and Tearing a Flesh Portal"?! :P

Maybe. I haven’t checked. But… THERE IS NO DIABLO AFTER DIABLO II.

At least you don't have to wait a week for video recordings from siggraph