Houdini 19 reflects our ongoing effort to place artist centric workflows at the heart of every new feature, and to inject realtime tools and realtime physics into the full fabric of Houdini.
Key enhancements have been made to Solaris for lookdev, layout and lighting, Karma for rendering and KineFX for motion editing and retargeting, along with hundreds of improvements and new workflows.
H19 SNEAK PEEK
H19 LAUNCH EVENT
KEY FEATURES
MODELING
Houdini's procedural techniques for generating geometry and building models are growing with each release. Houdini 19 new tools designed to make it even easier to work efficiently and to accomplish more.
CURVE | BEZIER HANDLES
The new Curve tool has bezier handles along with the ability to edit multiple points at one time and draw more than one curve at a time. The interface for this tools is built using Python states.
CURVE | ROUNDED CORNERS
The Curve tool includes the ability to define rounded corners which can be controlled as a group or one at a time. These can then be baked to continue to work with Bezier handles.
CURVE | CHAIN LINK
Another feature of this new Curve tool is the ability to be embedded into other tools. This Chain Link example shows a digital asset that includes a bezier curve with all of its handles.
SIDEFX LABS | POLY SLICE
This tool slices polygons into strips of polygons or polylines. It handles large numbers of slices well, and propagates most data onto new created geometry, allowing for geometry attributes like UV to work correctly once processed.
TOPO TRANSFER
Topo-transfer now supports the ability to bring non manifold geometry along with the main mesh. Geometry like eyeballs, gums and teeth can be included in the process to help you transfer all the geometry in a single step.
UV FLATTEN
This tool has been improved with the ability to switch between different path finding modes. There is also a new mirror plane option that works topologically and interactive cutting and sewing is now easier to work with.
UX
FIRST PERSON NAVIGATION
First-person navigation lets you move the camera through the scene using WASD movement keys and Mouse Look, similar to moving through a level in a first-person video game. Double-click geometry in the viewer to Jump the camera directly in front of it.
UX
Python State Info Panels
Many tools in Houdini make use of Python states which can now display an info panel containing hotkey and mouse usage hints, as well as current settings. These tool hints are an initial implementation of a Heads Up Display information overlay API for the viewer which TDs can access when building their own tools.