Procedural Workflow for Houdini

For the first time in its history, Side Effects is also offering a "lite" version of its flagship program. Houdini Select is designed to appeal to professional animators other than those in high-end television and film environments-Houdini's current user base. The Select package will be the same basic program as Houdini 5, except that the latter will also offer character tools, additional effects, integrated compositing, a software developer kit, and a wider range of rendering options. Both packages were scheduled to ship in the first quarter of 2002.

Both Houdini 5 and Houdini Select run on Linux, Irix, Solaris, and Windows NT operating systems. The cost of Houdini Select is $1999. The full version of Houdini 5 is $17,000. (Side Effects Software; www.sidefx.com) -JD