Hey I'm thinking about buying Houdini, the $99 one, not the thousands of dollar one. Anyway, I was wondering if you can do earth effect in the non-commercial version. I need a ground to collapse, but not the entire ground just like a small circle or rectangle , can you do this n the non-commercial version?

Houdini Apprentice HD is capable of doing everything that Houdini Master can do. The only limitations are a resolution limit of 1920x1080 for rendering, no FBX export and you can not use it for commercial purposes.

and commercial mean for money=?
what i mean is i am a apprentice hd user
but on that can i make video and thing for friends for free
just curious

Yes that is perfectly fine and encouraged use for HD! Share your work and post links here as well.

If you are doing professional work with HD where you are being paid for services rendered, that is a breach of the EULA.

Would posting my animation made on Houdini onto youtube be considered commercial use?