This is the first time I have seen this. My project is good to go and I set it to render. The render will take several hours so I leave my computer to the task. However, when I return to view my render I see a message box that the License Server has terminated.

I did pay for the product, why am I seeing this?

Is there any way to avoid this state? I deem this an unacceptable condition.

Please advise…

It's really hard to tell what the problem given essentially no information about your setup. First of all, did you check whether your Houdini License Server and Houdini Server services were in fact stopped? Was there anything else running on your machine? I've seen things where bittorrent clients, etc. were interfering with the license communications. Does it happen all the time, or is it your first time? etc. etc.

This is the first time I have seen this message, that is why I freaked out. I don't use the computer for other background tasks. The browser may have been open in the background but basically I use the machine for 3D work and compositing only.

I may have misunderstood what a license is. I am coming to the conclusion that I have to be on the internet 24/7 to use the product, is that correct?

What if I wanted to take a laptop and go work in a cabin in the woods. Is that possible with the Houdini product?

For Houdini Indie, I don't think so since you already have a license on your local computer. The Houdini programs contact the license server that's sitting on the same machine using the TCP/IP protocol but that's not the same as requiring public Internet access.

For the free Houdini Apprentice, the licenses obtained via the Internet are only given out ~30 days at a time. So for those users, they do require some sort of public Internet access if they wish to renew their free licenses.