Houdini vs Nomad Sculpt

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.

Nomad Sculpt is a sculpting and painting application for Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows. Its sculpting tools include brushes, customizable strokes, vertex painting, and layers. Mesh workflows include multiresolution sculpting, voxel remeshing, dynamic topology, decimation, face groups, and automatic UV unwrap. The built-in renderer provides PBR rendering, lighting, shadows, and screen-space post-processing effects. The manual lists imports for NOM, glTF, OBJ, STL, PLY, and experimental FBX, and exports for glTF/GLB, OBJ, USD, PLY, STL, and FBX. The maker describes workflows with Procreate and Blender. Desktop users can download and try the app without an account. A desktop license is a one-time purchase for Windows or macOS; one key covers two computers. The desktop app periodically checks the license online and continues offline for 15 days. Mobile versions are separate store purchases, and a store purchase does not unlock desktop use. The maker says the app does not support animation or low-poly modeling, and its real-time renderer is limited to four lights.