Currently I'm learning Houdini with the Apprentice edition (an option SideFX should be lauded for continually) I'm kind of an oddball here because I have no intention of earning money from it. I'm an old retired git who enjoys learning things and has had a love/hate relationship with 3D software for many years.

So the resolution limitations aren't too important to me right now, and though it'd be nice to save things out to use in a third party program it's certainly not essential.

So I was wondering if an Indie licence would allow me to use the full GUI version on one computer then render, or sim, on another pc running the free Houdini engine licence? If this is possible what is the process like once they are set up? Does my scene need to be packaged or anything or is it a one click process?

Are there any other reasons I should buy an Indie licence?

thanks for your time, Gray

Hello Jerry,

First of all, you're not an oddball. I would say a good number of users around here are not necessarily making money directly from Houdini.

Secondly, you should buy Indie license because it's a good way to support SideFX in their effort to make the software better and more powerful.

Lastly, Indie license allows for installation on two separate machines, although officially the policy states that you can only run Houdini on one machine at a time.

Seconding Kays' words. I am not making any money from using Houdini - and I am a happy “Indie License” owner.

For me the main reasons are:

• supporting a company that has repeatedly shown an honest interest in cooperating with its users
  
• having experienced the exact opposite with “big name” companies in the 3d market before
  
• less loops and hoops to save out something or render more than just a thumbnail
  
• at least the chance to use features that might not be available in apprentice, should I want to use them
  
• a general feeling of “I want to pay for what I use” in general. I do like paying in cookies, but sometimes it has to be money. And my gut's feeling is that SideFX has more than enough cookies.
  

Marc

Thanks you both for your answers.

The point about supporting SideFX is of course very well made.

regards, Gray

If you are rendering with mantra indie includes up to 3 engine/mantra render only licenses so you can set up a tiny hqueue farm.

I am nearing retirement and have Indie because I am able to export to Substance Painter whereas you cannot with Apprentice and, as others have said, supporting SideFX by buying Indie. about $20 an month fits my budget. messing around with Houdini is a great way to stay engaged, lots of cool and helpful people here in forums and SideFX support

If you are rendering with mantra indie includes up to 3 engine/mantra render only licenses so you can set up a tiny hqueue farm.

How does that work? as Indie only gives 1 mantra render token.

Jerry Hat
The point about supporting SideFX is of course very well made.

I personally find it very bizarre. Donating to a non-profit organization makes sense, but to a company that operates on profit is essentially an invitation to complacency. My evil capitalist point of view. Also, not going to donate anything to the company providing me with electricity this month. Unless I become a fanboy in the meantime.
Do I have to point out that everyone is free to do whatever they want with their anything? I think I do or another Big Lebowski, about opinions, meme response is bound to appear.

What a destructive point of view. Being a point of view and your personal opinion, all is fine - you are expressing yourself in an at least somewhat moderate tone, so …

> Donating to a non-profit organization makes sense, but to a company that operates on profit

Well … we are not donating.

We are paying for a service (software development) that we consider worth support. “Donating” is something else. We - at least I speak for myself but assume others feel similar - do think that instead of pirating software that is professionally maintained and provides measurable value to its users is “fair”, whereas NOT paying for making use of something that costs money to create is not.

You are, of course, free to provide your services without compensation. This, as well as your expressed point of view, is up to you, most of us live in some form of democracy.

> Do I have to point out that everyone is free to do whatever they want with their anything?

That I cannot subscribe to. There are things like “moral”, “ethics”, “fairness” that limit your use of your “anything”. Just because you own a gun doesn't mean you should use it to kill people - while your statement above would allow just that. Not even talking about laws here, I am talking about a “humanistic approach”.

Again: You are free to feel different, you are very welcome to express your opinion. You may have to accept, though, that other people strongly believe in “good work should be compensated”. The modern internet's philosophy of “everything has to be free” to me is fundamentally wrong, destructive and, at its end, evil.

And, yes, I like to pay for electricity, because, that way I can be sure that I get electricity when I need it. It's a win-win-situation for me.

Marc Albrecht

@malbrecht oh my…
look, I don't feel like refining my arguments nor is the place for philosophy. in fact I regret I didn't bit my tongue in the first place, but we all fail to do so sometimes so let's drop it here

The 3 engine licenses come with licenses for Mantra (not Houdini gui) to run on the 3 clients. My Indie lapsed 6 months ago but I had it all running then. Hqueue is not indie friendly. It is built for studios, and the documentation mostly assumes full version. If you google a lot of results have outdated information as the licensing has changed over the years. You need to sort out your networking configuration, then get your licensing installed correctly, then figure out the gotchas, such as Houdini by default set to create IFD files to render, but Indie not being able to do so.

I did it on linux, but there is a windows guide here, can't speak for its accuracy:

http://kunani.com/how-to-setup-hqueue-for-sidefx-houdini-indie-on-your-windows-10-local-network/ [kunani.com]

I just resubscribed to Indie, so when I have some free time I will have to remember what I did to get it working again.

I don't know what the deal is with Karma, although my account seems to show 4 karma licenses or entitlements.