Hello everyone. I am developing a tool on my Houdini apprentice version. Now the design phase is over and I would like to switch to a commercial license for the actual implementation.
The question is: what if I have to sell my stuff (a collection of HDAs) to a big studio for production? Can I create the HDAs with an indie license (which is good for me as a freelance but definitely not for a studio) or not?
Would a studio be able to do something on its side to “upgrade” the license of what I give them?

Thank you for the enlightenment!

If you're distributing your tool via Orbolt, SideFX will upgrade the license from Indie to FX for you. Otherwise, you would need an FX license to create and distribute FX tools yourself. Big studios can't do the license upgrade for you, so they'd be pretty unlikely to license your tool if it was .HDALC.

toadstorm
If you're distributing your tool via Orbolt, SideFX will upgrade the license from Indie to FX for you. Otherwise, you would need an FX license to create and distribute FX tools yourself. Big studios can't do the license upgrade for you, so they'd be pretty unlikely to license your tool if it was .HDALC.

Is there anyway to use orbolt to distribute a paid tool though?

Can it be blackboxed?

Thanks!

Yes, Orbolt will blackbox HDAs if you want it to. That said, if your target market is larger studios, you might have trouble convincing them to use assets distributed through Orbolt. Indie users and small shops are usually much more amenable.

You don't even need the indie license. As long as you distribute it solely through orbolt you can create and get paid using the free apprentice license.
Source:
https://twitter.com/ambrosiussen_p/status/1365750105865814019?s=19 [twitter.com]

At some point you'll most likely want to upgrade to the indie license just to get rid of the watermark when rendering, but there's no requirement for it.