Houdini

Kim Davidson and Greg Hermanovic joined the computer graphics production company Omnibus in 1985, Hermanovic as director of research and Davidson as director of animation.⁠[1][2]

After Omnibus went bankrupt in 1987, Davidson and Hermanovic bought from the receivers the rights to the source code of PRISMS, 3D software developed in-house at Omnibus, and that year founded Side Effects Software (now known as SideFX), releasing PRISMS, the procedural graphics application that laid the groundwork for Houdini.⁠[3][1]

The company was based in Toronto, Canada, and at first also produced content for the Toronto broadcast market.⁠[2]

The company held its first user group meeting at SIGGRAPH 1989 in Boston.⁠[3]

Side Effects Software introduced Houdini, a next-generation 3D package, at SIGGRAPH 1996 and released it that December.⁠[2][3]

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented a Technical Achievement Award to Side Effects Software, recognizing PRISMS’ pioneering work in procedural animation.⁠[2]

Mark Elendt, Paul H. Breslin, Greg Hermanovic and Kim Davidson received a Scientific and Engineering Award (Academy Plaque) for the continued development of the procedural modeling and animation components of their Prisms program, as exemplified in Houdini.⁠[4]

Andrew Clinton and Mark Elendt received a Technical Achievement Award (Academy Certificate) for the invention and integration of micro-voxels in Houdini’s Mantra renderer.⁠[5][3]

Mark Elendt and Side Effects Software received an Academy Award of Merit (Oscar statuette) for creating and developing the Houdini system, with the citation noting more than twenty years of continual innovation in delivering procedural methods. At the same ceremony, Jeff Lait, Mark Tucker, Cristin Barghiel and John Lynch received a Scientific and Engineering Award for their contributions to Houdini’s design and architecture.⁠[6]

SideFX received a Technology & Engineering Emmy Award in the “Cost Effective Crowd Simulation Tools” category. The company says Houdini has been recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences five times.⁠[1]

SideFX presented Houdini 21 at SIGGRAPH 2025 and released it in late August; the new version improved the KineFX rigging and animation tools, the muscle system, the GPU Pyro solver in Copernicus, and the MPM solver.⁠[7][8]

The SideFX website lists Houdini 22 (H22) as the current version, highlighting Gaussian Splats asset creation and compositing, character workflows, modeling updates, and the move of terrain and ocean tools into Copernicus.⁠[9][10]

SideFX says Houdini was built from the ground up as a procedural system in which every action is stored in a node, with nodes connected into networks that can be adjusted at any time; its website describes the software’s use for destruction shots in visual effects and for procedural generation of game worlds.⁠[9]

Houdini is offered as Houdini Core and Houdini FX for commercial use, Houdini Indie for limited commercial use (at most three licenses per facility), and Houdini Apprentice, free for non-commercial learning with renders capped at 1920×1080.⁠[11]

SideFX is headquartered in Toronto, with additional offices in Santa Monica and Singapore.⁠[12]

SideFX: Official website: https://www.sidefx.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[13]

X: Official account: https://x.com/sidefx (opens in a new window)⁠[13]

YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry: Official account: https://www.youtube.com/user/houdini3d (opens in a new window)⁠[13]

LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Official account: https://www.linkedin.com/company/side-effects-software (opens in a new window)⁠[13]