By starting Houdini for the first time or without a license, you will be prompted to install either:

• Apprentice (free) license
• Paid License
• Use SideFX as my license server (Login-Based Licensing for Indie, Education and Commercial customers)

Apprentice

Choosing Apprentice, an Apprentice license is installed and Houdini will launch in the non-commerical mode.
This is the only available option for Apprentice users.

Note for Apprentice users, if you log into the License Administrator, you will not be able to install or manage licenses. This is reserved for Indie, Education and Commercial users.

Paid License

This option is for Indie, Education and Commercial users. You will have been sent an activation email once your account to the license portal has been created.

By choosing Paid License, the Houdini License Administrator will start.

1. Select File->Log In to log into your SideFX license account using your email address and password.
2. Select File->Install Licenses
3. Press the Select All button and ensure the Quantity box matches the allowed or desired number of licenses.
4. Press the Install button.

This will install Houdini licenses directly to the computer or server machine.

Use SideFX as my license server

This option is for Indie, Education and Commercial users. You will have been sent an activation email once your account to the license portal has been created.

Login-Based Licensing will set your machine to use the SideFX server as the license server.

When using SideFX as your license server, there is no need to install licenses. Once this option has been selected, just start the Houdini product you are licensed for.

To manually start the License Administrator, please refer to How do I start the Houdini License Administrator.