The essential software is the game engine, most engines come with built-in tools such as particle and shader editors. This is the bread and butter of Real-time VFX, but not the only tasty part of the pipeline. We Leverage CGI software such as Houdini to create realistic and large-scale simulations, dynamics and effects, blender to generate Meshes render shaders on top and texturing software such as Substance and Photoshop to make intricate textures.