Side Effects opens Asia Pacific HQ in Singapore

Canada’s Side Effects Software Inc., a world leader in the development of advanced 3D animation and special effects software, opened its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore. Side Effects Software leads the field of procedural animation with its award-winning Houdini high-end software technology. Side Effects Asia Pacific will work closely with studios and educational institutions in the Asian region to deliver Houdini support and training.

Houdini, a two time Academy-Awards winner for Technical Achievement, is the leading solution for high-end visual effects and has been used in more than 300 feature films and motion pictures including blockbusters Superman Returns, Spider-Man 3, Bolt, Transformers and The Incredible Hulk among others. Houdini is available for Mac OS X, Linux and Windows and offers digital artists an unprecedented level of power, flexibility and control.

During the launch event, senior production specialist and Houdini guru, David Robert introduced Houdini 9.5 to regional artists as well as Houdini users who came to Singapore to participate in SIGGRAPH Asia.

With Side Effects establishing a regional presence, Asia will be more strongly connected to other Houdini users in high-end animation and visual effects production studios in Hollywood and Europe, as well as key markets such as Japan, Australia and India.

Initially focusing on skills development in the region, Side Effects Asia Pacific plans to create a wealth of new learning and working opportunities for regional talent. Developing Houdini skills will prove invaluable to artists interested in careers in feature film and games, as well as visualisation and simulation.

Side Effects Asia Pacific will work in collaboration with Singapore digital media training institutions as well as the industry to develop and upgrade skills to align with the high expectations typically found in Hollywood productions.

Speaking about the latest version, Robert explained that Houdini 9.5 brings the 3D industry’s first node-based workflow to the Mac ensuring that 3D artists can collaborate seamlessly in a multi-platform environment.

“More and more artists are embracing Houdini’s node-based workflow for their animation and visual effects projects,” said Robert. “Houdini for Mac is an important step in bringing Houdini’s renowned power and flexibility to the wider creative community.”

For all platforms, Houdini 9.5 includes a number of key productivity enhancements including FBX export with support for geometry, lights, cameras, animation, hierarchies, skeletons, weighted skins, UVs, geometry caches, particles, and dynamic simulations. Adobe Illustrator and eps import has also been included for motion graphic artists.

To streamline workflow and make Houdini more accessible, a tool shelf was added in Houdini 9. Houdini 9.5 continues to utilize the shelf with new Rigid Body fracturing tools, debris generation tools, river and wave simulation tools, and tools for generating fluids-based fire and smoke.

In addition, an animatable all-purpose Ramp parameter type has been added to help artists build shaders and control effects such as particles or L-systems. Artists can also use real-time shadows in the viewport and Houdini 9.5 now supports hand-coded OpenGL2 shaders.

“Customer requests have fueled many of the workflow improvements in Houdini 9.5, said Robert. “One example is the ability to make nodes inside locked Digital Assets editable. And the Wedge tool is an important productivity enhancement that lets artists render out multiple iterations of a shot using randomly generating parameter values, much like photographers using bracketing to explore exposure variations.”

“Houdini is about saving time and money for artist. Instead of learning to write hundreds of lines of MEL script to achieve a particular result, the artist can perform “visual programming” through the proceduralism of the node based workflow. This encourages adventurous explorations therefore a mistake can lead to the development of new art technique.”

“Houdini is out to create more options and interoperates; not to compete with other 3D software developers. Houdini aims to change the fixed mindset of Maya/MAX developers and users.”

B. K. Ng, Asia Pacific representative said Side Effects Software’s immediate business goal for Houdini is to “collaborate with educational institutes like Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Institute of Technical Education, etc.”

“Side Effects wishes to promote the culture of process discipline through the understanding and application of proceduralism in the production pipeline of local animation works,” said Ng. ASIAIMAGE