INDIE PRODUCTS
The Indie licenses are for artists making less than $100K USD or working with less than $1 million USD in funding. These are workstation licenses that can be set up in one of two ways. Learn how to set up your licenses and how to get started quickly.
Houdini License Servers
In order for Houdini to run, you need to set up a license server. By default a license server is created when you install Houdini but there are different locations where servers can be setup based on your license type. Here are the server locations that you may want to use depending on your need.
SideFX Login
If you leave your licenses on the SideFX servers then you can log in to access them. This lets you access your licenses from multiple computers but only one person and only one computer at a time.
Local Server
You can install your licenses onto a local server that is node-locked to your computer. This would allow you to work even if your computer is offline.
Where to Install your Licenses:
Since Houdini Indie and Houdini Engine Indie come with Workstation licenses they can be set up using either SideFX Login or Local servers. Network and Cloud servers are not available for use with Indie.
WORKSTATION LICENSE [WKSTN]
SIDEFX LOGIN
LOCAL SERVER
NETWORK SERVER
CLOUD SERVER
Non Graphical | Houdini ENGINE Indie
In a Houdini Indie pipeline, there are times when you do not need to see the Houdini Indie interface but rather want to let it work under-the-hood. The Houdini Engine Indie license is designed to work non-graphically.
NOTE: The Houdini Engine Indie license CAN NOT run the interactive Houdini Indie - only the non-graphical version.
DO NOT install the Houdini Engine for Unreal/Unity license because it is a commercial license that will not be able to read the HDALC files. Its presence on your server will cause problems.
Houdini Batch
In situations where you send renderings or simulations to a compute farm, you can use Engine licenses to run Houdini in batch mode. When rendering, Engine can be used to take Houdini scene files and output to USD for Karma licenses to render.
Engine Plug-ins
One feature of Houdini Engine is the ability to send Houdini Digital Assets [HDA] to HOST applications using plug-ins for Unreal, Autodesk Maya, Unity and 3dx Max. The artist who is creating the assets can run the Engine plug-ins using the Houdini Interactive license. Other artists who don't want to run Houdini can use Houdini Engine licenses to run the plug-ins in the HOST app.