HQueue is initially being released for LINUX users as a free public beta. The planned release of HQueue is July 2009, when it will also be available for Mac OS X and Windows systems. HQueue will be made available as a free add-on to commercial licenses of Houdini Master and Houdini Escape.

VFX artists can create high quality smoke and fire in Houdini 10 with the new Pyro FX tools. Utilizing cutting edge up-resing technology, Pyro FX makes it possible to create a low resolution simulation in planning out a shot, then increase the resolution on subsequent passes to add higher level of details and refinement. Pyro FX comes with several pre-made Pyro FX such as Billowy smoke and Fireball to give artists a head start when setting up a simulation.

"Distributed Fluid simulations integrate effectively with the up-res technology in Pyro FX," say Judith Crow, Senior Production Consultant, Side Effects. "Artists can get great results out-of-the-box while TDs can explore the open and extensible networks created with these production-ready tools."

Lighting artists can take advantage of the progressive Interactive Photorealistic Rendering (IPR) feature in Houdini 10. This IPR workflow supports both raytracing and Physically Based Rendering (PBR), providing feedback whenever a scene changes. An update will be triggered when shader and light parameters are tweaked or when objects, cameras and lights are added, moved or even removed. Artists can drag and drop materials into the IPR window and can "control click" to access shader parameters for any part of an image. Snap shots can be taken to compare with other iterations of a shot using features such as "diffing".


Houdini 10 also includes support for Stereoscopic 3D in both the viewport and Houdini's image viewer. The Houdini stereo camera supports both anaglyph and horizontal interlaced stereo and includes control for parallax and inter-axial distance. Studios can preview their 3D work from within Houdini and can generate stereo images at render time.