I see that Indie is now available through Steam. Are there advantages/disadvantages of going through this route? Does the Steam version use the Steam DRM, or does it still require licensing with SideFX? Given that plugins are configured outside of the Houdini directory, I would think this would be similar. Just trying to figure out which would be better when my renewal comes up.

Thanks,
David

If you have an option, I think you're better off with the regular version. I tested it on Steam, it uses the Steam DRM. But it complicates the basic process of launching Houdini because you have to do it through Steam. Also if you want to use some of the daily builds, that is not possible with the Steam version since you have to wait until the official production build is released.

Other than that, the two versions are identical as far as I can tell. All 3rd party renderers and add-ons work fine.

I believe you can run daily builds.
The big advantage of Steam is that if you have many computers you regularly use you can install on them all and the Steam DRM will only allow you to use one at a time. I beleive you can do this with 2 for the regular.