The System Requirements page has been updated for Houdini!
Check it out before installing Houdini!

http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=415&Itemid=269 [sidefx.com]

Does Mavericks' updated OpenGL Drivers not allow for Opengl 3.3 support? I thought it was updated to 4.1.

Apple implemented its OpenGL 4.1 driver using the core profile. Houdini requires the compatibility profile, which everyone else provides (Nvidia, AMD, Intel). As a result, Houdini still uses OSX's OpenGL 2.1 driver, which hasn't changed much since OSX 10.6.

That's frustrating; that might be a good asterisk/footnote for the Requirements page, since I can imagine a few surprised OS X users; like what happened with OpenCL Smoke sims on Macs.

Thanks for the update!

Is this limitation going to be resolved in the future by SideFX or does it solely depend on Apple implementing the compatibility profile? I'm asking because I intend on getting the new MacPro when available and am building a shopping list of software for the machine and was thinking of getting HoudiniFX as the primary 3D package.

Best regards,
Igor

I think it's probably a hurdle Side Effects will have to overcome. Apple isn't known for maintaining backwards compatibility or old interfaces, so waiting on them to resolve the issue probably isn't realistic. It's been something we've been considering for a while now, but have not been able to fit into the past few releases.

Apple will never support Compatibility Profile because that's just literally a legacy API, and the company really hate any legacy only for compatibility.

I was Softimage user for a few years, and recently I gave it up because once I switched to Mac, I really couldn't go back to Windows. So I looked for an alternative, and I discovered Houdini is actually a lot better than Softimage in every bit. I don't think I will go back to Softimage even if it support OS X.

It's great to see that you are seriously supporting OS X.
I really wish to see proper OS X support anytime soon.

Core profile support would be much appreciated by all Mac users. Other packages' opengl support for OSX platform is pretty decent compared to Houdini. I would like to move all my indie projects to Houdini platform but I can't afford to move away from the OSX platform at the moment.