I’ll just add to what DEFNIQUE said about Houdini (and I’m way more biased 
)
if you’re a software developer that might give you an advantage over many people looking into Houdini for the first time - I DO NOT mean that you need to be a programmer to use Houdini - rather that the low level access Houdini provides might click with your programming experience, and get you over that first hurdle of learning that some people experience with Houdini.
it’s worth taking a few minutes and checking out some of the quick overviews and tutorials here : http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=247&Itemid=403
the Apprentice version is free and the Indie version is only $199/yr - and Indie gets you The Houdini Engine allowing you to build assets and tools that can be used directly in Unreal Engine.
I’d be happy to answer any questions you might have.