I've been using Apprentice for a few month, doing CMIVFX and SideFx tutorials and I am feeling comfortable and confident with Houdini now. However I am concerned about how well the FBX export works with game engines like Unity. I have not had the best results with FBX import, particularly with blendshapes. This causes me some concern with the FBX pipeline in Houdini as a whole.

Concern over the FBX pipeline is one of the things keeping me from purchasing a license of Houdini. I understand the need to restrict output from the apprentice version of the program to prevent it from being used in production, however rendering out resolution restricted images is not adequate for proper evaluation for doing games work.

Is there really no avenue to test the entire fbx pipeline before putting money down?

What do other software companies do when you are testing software for games?

You could put an RFE in the Support menu above.

Autodesk has a 30 day trial that isn't crippled in export, same with the student versions. I understand SideFX's reasons for not having it in apprentice, I am just a little dismayed there isn't a time limited trial with more export functionality available.

Thanks I will put in an RFE, even a limited fbx export would be enough, 15,000 vertices or something. I just need to know what kind of work my programmer is in for.

Lyr
Is there really no avenue to test the entire fbx pipeline before putting money down?

Simply shoot an email to sales@sidefx.com and ask about trial license.