Side Effects is bringing Houdini, their professional 3D software, to OS X for the first time with the release of the Houdini 9.5 beta for OS X, Windows, and Linux. According to the company, Houdini “brings the 3D industry’s first node-based workflow to the Mac ensuring that 3D artists can collaborate seamlessly in a multi-platform environment.” This modeling and rendering platform has been used on a number of high profile projects like Spiderman 3 and Resident Evil: Extinction.

Houdini will come in four editions:

1. a free Apprentice edition for learning that includes watermarks
2. a non-watermarked Apprentice HD for $99
3. Houdini Escape “with modeling, animation, characters, lighting, rendering and compositing” for $1995
4. Houdini Master “with all of Escape’s features plus particles and integrated dynamics such as rigid bodies, wire, cloth and fluids” for $7995.

Right now only the Apprentice and Apprentice HD editions are available for download, with the others expected July 15. Houdini is 64-bit Leopard-only. Thanks eze! Read