Software Alternatives & Reviews

Houdini VS TouchDesigner

Compare Houdini VS TouchDesigner and see what are their differences

Houdini logo Houdini

Houdini covers all the major areas of 3D production, including:

TouchDesigner logo TouchDesigner

TouchDesigner is a visual development platform that equips you with the tools you need to create stunning realtime projects and rich user experiences.
  • Houdini Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-09
  • TouchDesigner Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-03

Houdini

Categories
  • 3D
  • 3D Modeling
  • Digital Drawing And Painting
  • Game Development
Website sidefx.com

TouchDesigner

Categories
  • Prototyping Tools
  • 3D
  • Interactive Presentations
  • VJ
  • Projections
  • Video Mapping
Website derivative.ca

Houdini videos

What is Houdini Used For?

More videos:

  • Review - Top 5 Reasons To Learn Houdini Today!
  • Review - Ultra Running Vlog: Patagonia Houdini shell review

TouchDesigner videos

Make mind bending, interactive 3D projects with TouchDesigner and Python

More videos:

  • Review - TouchDesigner Experiments
  • Tutorial - Particle Displacement – TouchDesigner Tutorial 7

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Houdini and TouchDesigner)
3D
33 33%
67% 67
3D Modeling
100 100%
0% 0
Interactive Presentations
Game Development
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using Houdini and TouchDesigner. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Houdini and TouchDesigner

Houdini Reviews

15 Best Maya Alternatives
3D Modeling and Rendering with Houdini isn’t very different from what you get on Maya. However, Houdini follows a node-based workflow. Every action in Houdini is a node and these nodes are linked together to form networks.

TouchDesigner Reviews

7 Best Projection Mapping Software 2024 (#1 Video Mapper)
Other options include Resolume Arena, which excels in live performances and offers an ultra-fast video player for real-time video mixing. Resolume Avenue, a sister program to Arena, also provides a reliable visual programming environment with an audio processing engine. HeavyM, on the other hand, is suitable for beginners and small-scale events, offering an online library of...
Exploring the top 10 World of LCD Projector Mapping Softwares
TouchDesigner stands out for its immense versatility and its ability to handle interactive multimedia projects. This node-based visual programming environment enables users to create complex projection mapping setups, combining real-time graphics, audio, and video processing. With its robust community support, TouchDesigner is an excellent choice for those seeking to push...
Top 7 Alternatives to MadMapper – Amplify Your Projection Mapping Projects!
TouchDesigner is a powerful visual development platform that enables artists and designers to create interactive installations, immersive experiences, and projection mapping projects. It offers a node-based interface, real-time rendering capabilities, and support for various media types. TouchDesigner is widely used in the media and entertainment industry for its versatility...
Source: www.uubyte.com
5+ best video mapping software for PC
TouchDesigner’s suite of features and open customization makes each project possible, with multiple solutions to tackle every job, whether small or large in ways that fit each scenario and budget.
Top 5 VJ Softwares In 2021
TouchDesigner is a node based visual programming language for real time interactive multimedia content, developed by the Toronto-based company Derivative. It’s been used by artists, programmers, creative coders, software designers, and performers to create performances, installations, and fixed media works.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, TouchDesigner should be more popular than Houdini. It has been mentiond 30 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Houdini mentions (4)

  • Book or courses recomendations?
    Otherwise, Unity (3D) has tutorials for Unity, Houdini (vfx) has tutorials on their site (sidefx.com). Blender (3D) has a good community on reddit. For 2D animation the book "The Animator’s Survival Kit" is a common book people read in this reddit. Also lots of youtube tutorials. Search for whatever you want to learn ("how to paint grass in photoshop", "how to use animation in Blender", "how to animate... Source: over 1 year ago
  • Coming from Cinema4D + octane
    Houdini is (a little) hard to learn, so the best you can do is focus on one area at the same time: Modeling, Vellum, Fluids, Particles, KineFx ... You can find a lot of free tutorials on sidefx.com. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Newbie question: Which software would I use to create the interactive, animated 3D model project I have in mind?
    It sounds like you would need a lot of procedural geometry, which is done best with Houdini. But it does not do interactive web. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Unable to Start Houdini - License Server Issue?
    I also checked my license status from sidefx.com and it said everything was correct, but of course now I cant even login to the website and it just throws me a 500 Error Code when I login, asking me to login again. Ive emailed support but figured I might check here too while I'm at it. Source: about 3 years ago

TouchDesigner mentions (30)

  • NestDrop Midnight Edition v23.15 - PRO VERSION FREE DOWNLOAD
    ⇒ Resolume ⇒ NestMap ⇒ TouchDesigner ⇒ MadMapper ⇒ Any other software listed on the Spout website. Source: 10 months ago
  • After Effects for live broadcasting?
    Touchdesigner: https://derivative.ca/. Source: 11 months ago
  • Lighting Software with programmable effects?
    Touch Designer is an object oriented environment with a range of ways to manipulate data and plugins for external control (ie - artNET, sACN, dmx dongles) - it is somewhat OS agnostic / MAC/PC. Source: 12 months ago
  • Method For Generating Graphical Representations from data?
    Python ranges from "decent" to "awesome" and "cutting edge" across a range of use cases. I would put graphics on the bottom tier of Python's strengths. You should look for something built for graphics. My go to is TouchDesigner by Derivative (derivative.ca). They offer a free license, it's all node based for real-time graphics processing, you can generate images with it, and you can script anything in... Source: about 1 year ago
  • Notch x TD - Real-time local network editing
    It's Notch and Touchdesigner, two of the most used real-time graphic software in the event industry. Source: about 1 year ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Houdini and TouchDesigner, you can also consider the following products

Blender - Blender is the open source, cross platform suite of tools for 3D creation.

MadMapper - The Mapping Software

Cinema 4D - Cinema 4D is a 3D modeling, animation, motion graphics and rendering application.

Resolume - Resolume is an application for live video performances.

Autodesk 3DS Max - 3ds Max is software for 3D modeling, animation, rendering, and visualization. Create stunning game enrivonments, design visualizations, and virtual reality experiences.

Pure Data - Pd (aka Pure Data) is a real-time graphical programming environment for audio, video, and graphical...