Forger vs Houdini

Forger is an iOS application for digital 3D sculpting and texture painting. Its mesh workflow includes multiresolution sculpting, volume-based quad-dominant remeshing, auto-retopology, sculpt layers, masks, and vertex colors. Apple Pencil input supports pressure sensitivity and configurable styles. Forger imports OBJ, Alembic, and C4D files, and exports OBJ, STL, USD, and C4D files; exporting a scene to Cinema 4D requires a subscription. The free version has no time limit, but saves only three scenes and requires a subscription for scene export. Free users must register with Maxon after a 14-day grace period. Forger entered limited maintenance mode on September 10, 2025, after which Maxon said there would be no further updates, bug fixes, or changes. Support was available until that date, or through an existing subscription term if later. Subscription users could re-download it by contacting support.

Houdini is SideFX’s procedural 3D creation system for film, television, games, motion graphics, virtual reality and synthetic-data work. Its workflow stores actions in nodes connected as networks, and supports sharing workflows and custom digital assets with colleagues. Tools cover modeling, sculpting, animation, parametric modeling, character rigging, rendering and 3D-print export. Houdini FX adds simulation tools for fluids, destruction, pyro effects, grains and cloth. KineFX supports character rigging and animation, alongside tools for hair, fur, feathers, muscles and cloth. Karma renders images in the Solaris look-development workflow, while PDG distributes tasks, handles dependencies and creates datasets for machine-learning and AI applications. Houdini runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. The free Apprentice version is for non-commercial learning and personal projects; its renders are capped at 1920x1080 and carry a watermark. SideFX lists perpetual licenses, annual upgrades, rentals, subscriptions and education licenses. Listed paid pricing starts at $299/yr, though individual options have different terms and prices.