1. Workstation: See the System Requirements page for the details.
2. SideFX Login: You will need to login into www.sidefx.com to download the software.
3. Connection to Internet: See here if your workstation don't have one.

Please see our system requirements page to see what hardware and operating systems are supported.

There is the single installation package for all Houdini products.
Apprentice, Indie, Education, and Commercial users will use the same installer for their operating system.

The installed licenses determine which features are available in the application and what restrictions are imposed on its use.

To download the installer:

• Go to www.sidefx.com → Get → Download
  
• Please login to download Houdini. If you are new, you can register here
  
• If you cannot access your account, try resetting your password here
  
• The Download button will auto-select and let users download an appropriate build based on their OS. Links to other Operating Systems are provided below.

If you want to download a specific build or version go to Daily Builds. For more about daily builds and production builds, refer to Houdini builds.

You may also check the SideFX public FTP server for older Houdini installers.

Nothing. All we need is a valid email address for your licensing login and for you to receive licensing notifications.

We do not require a MAC address or Host ID like other vendors.

You will be provided with a license entitlement to your account.

An entitlement is a "voucher" for a license(s) that you are entitled to install on any of your machines. An entitlement may be for a new license, or an extension/upgrade/change of IP to an existing installed license.

Entitlements are transformed into licenses when you log into the licensing system and "redeem" or claim them. When you redeem or install an entitlement, you bind it to a specific license server machine and you turn it into a license tied to that computer. It is at this point that the keystrings are generated and installed to your local machine.

There is the single installation package for all Houdini products. Apprentice, Indie, Education, and Commercial users will use the same installer for their operating system.

Please refer to the System Requirements for supported hardware and operating systems.

• If you are new to Houdini or upgrading a full version, you will need to install the License Server tools in addition to the Houdini software.
• If you have installed a version of Houdini and are to install a daily build of the same version, you do not need to install the License Server components.
• In general, uninstalling a previous version of Houdini is NOT required to install a new.

Windows:

• Please see Install (Windows)

Linux:

• Please see Install (Linux)

Mac:

• Please see Install (Mac OSX)

For more information about licensing Houdini please refer to Licensing a Houdini product

Account Activation

Once your account has been created, the system will send an activation email. This will be for your licensing account so you may install licenses locally or use Login-Based Licensing, where your machine looks to the SideFX server. Your email address will also receive other notifications from the system such as new license entitlements to be installed, upgrades or extensions to existing licenses. Please ensure that you have licensemanager@sidefx.com whitelisted in your spam settings.

Note Apprentice users will not be able to manage their licenses with their SideFX forum login through the License Administrator. This is reserved for Indie, Education and Commercial users.

Licensing

There are a few ways to license Houdini products:

• Install licenses to your computer and your machine is the license server to itself. (Method 1)
• Install licenses to a machine that will act as the network license server to serve network clients. (Method 2)
• Do not install licenses locally and use SideFX as your license server. (Method 3)

Method 1: Use your machine as the license server (install licenses to your computer)

With this method, you can install the licenses directly to the computer so your machine is both the client and server.

For Apprentice users, please refer to How do I license Houdini Apprentice.

Your machine serves itself the licenses. When you install the licenses locally, the machine name and hardware information are encoded into the license itself so renaming the computer name can invalidate the licenses. The benefit of using this method is that you don't need an Internet connection to run Houdini since the machine serves the licenses to itself.

This option is good for laptops on the move which may not have a persistent Internet connection.

Using the License Administrator (hkey):

1. Select File->Log In to log into your SideFX license account using your email address and password.
2. Select File->Install Licenses (See note under 4.)
3. Press the Select All button and ensure the Quantity box matches the allowed or desired number of licenses.
4. Press the Install button.

Note: If the Install Licenses option is greyed out, ensure that you have set your license server to be the local machine and you are not looking to SideFX as the server. In the License Administrator select File>Change License Server and add your machine from the Found Server(s) list to the Search Server(s) list.

The Server(s) column should list the local computer name if you have installed the licenses locally.

Method 2: Install floating licenses to a central network server.

Follow Method 1 to install the licenses to the machine that will act as the central license server. Only floating licenses (LAL/GAL) can to be served to network clients.
You will not be able to mix LAL and GAL licenses on the same server.

For more information, please refer to How do I setup a network license server?

Method 3: Use SideFX as the license server (login-based licensing)

With this method, you don't install the licenses locally. You set the machine to look to SideFX and launch Houdini.

This option is quite flexible as you can run Houdini on different computers or if your machine is formatted or crashes, you don't need to worry about how to release the original licenses. The complexity of licensing is taken away. However, this option requires an Internet connection. If you have started the Houdini session and Internet connectivity is lost, the license will be checked out for two weeks by the machine unless the Houdini session is closed.

Using the License Administrator (hkey):

1. Select File->Log In to log into your SideFX license account using your email address and password.
2. Select File->Use SideFX as my license server

The Server(s) column should list SideFX if you are using SideFX as the license server.

The License Administrator (hkey) is the easiest way to manage Houdini licenses.

If you are running a headless system (a machine without a graphical display), please refer to to How do I Install licenses non-graphically?.

Windows:

• Start menu -> All Programs -> Side Effects Software -> Houdini version -> Administrative Tools -> License Administrator
• You may also do a search for License Administrator

Linux:

• Applications -> Side Effects Software -> Houdini {{ latest_houdini_version }} -> Administrative Tools -> License Administrator

• Or, open a Terminal and type:
  $ cd /opt/hfs20.0
$ source houdini_setup
$ hkey

Mac:

• Applications -> Houdini -> Houdini {{ latest_houdini_version }} -> Administrative Tools -> License Administrator

When you launch the License Administrator, you will need to log in to your account if you wish manage your licenses. There are two ways to log into your licensing account in the License Administrator:

• File->Login...
• Press the Log in to get started button

The License Administrator from Houdini 18 and up connects to Side Effects Software using port 443 (https). If you require a proxy to access the web, please see this section..

If you are having difficulties logging into your licensing account from the License Administrator, try resetting your website password at www.sidefx.com/password_reset.

Apprentice Users

Apprentice users will not have an account containing licenses so Apprentice users cannot log into the License Administrator (hkey).
When Houdini Apprentice is first launched, the user will be prompted to install the free license.

Indie, Education and Commercial users

Try resetting your password at www.sidefx.com/password/reset.
By resetting the password, it will unify the login credentials for both the website and licensing system.

Make sure that you have installed your Houdini Indie licenses. It is not enough to only open the Houdini Indie application.

To install your Houdini Indie license: How to license Houdini Indie

If you are still having issues please see What do I do if I'm still having license trouble?

The Houdini Indie license is composed of 3 keystrings:

• Houdini Indie - This will open the graphical Indie interface
• Renderer (Non-Commercial) - Mantra Render
• Karma (Non-Commercial) - Karma Render

With Houdini 18.5 there are now 3 ways to license Houdini Indie:

Install license locally

Install the Houdini Indie license locally on your machine. You are issued 2 Indie licenses for the purchase of 1 license. These 2 licenses can be installed on 2 machines (for the use by 1 artist), or on a dual-boot machines. These licenses can be moved to a new machine 10x per year.

Purchase the Houdini Indie license from Steam

This allows you to launch 1 Houdini session on as many machines as you want. Only 1 Houdini session open at a time.

Houdini Indie on Steam

Use Login Licensing (new in 18.5)

Use sidefx.com as your license server. Your Houdini Indie license can be accessed from our license server onto any of your machines. Login licensing requires you to be constantly logged in with you SideFX account.

For more information see:

• How do I use Login Licensing?
• Login Licensing reference documentation

• Houdini licenses are registered to both the computer hardware and computer name.
• It is not enough that you uninstall Houdini from the computer to move your licenses.
• Release the licenses by returning them back to your account at SideFX using the License Administrator or sesictrl.

• Once the licenses have been released from the computer, they are returned to your SideFX license account.
  
• They will show on the account as uninstalled license entitlements.
• You can then use the License Administrator on the new computer to install the returned licenses. This will complete the move.

Note:

• You cannot use the web portal to move your licenses.
• Licenses must be moved from the machine with the licenses, using the License Administrator or sesictrl.
• For more information, please see Return licenses.

Unfortunately, the licensing system is not prepared to recognize the different operating system as the same machine.

Indie users
To solve this issue, a supplementary Houdini Indie license is provided for each subscription.

Commercial users If you have a floating license server, this will be a non-issue as the client computer can look to the remote server for licensing.

Houdini Indie does not auto-renew. You will need to purchase a new subscription for Houdini Indie. This will provide you with new licenses for the subscription.

If your subscription has expired or is close to expiring, you will need to purchase a new subscription.

To purchase Houdini Indie: www.sidefx.com/buy

Make sure that your computer meets our System Requirements.

Intel or AMD x64 CPU with SSE 4.2 required. Houdini {{ latest_houdini_version }} will not run on a system with an instruction set lower than SSE 4.1.

Do you have Nahimic or 3D audio drivers installed? Or 3D audio software installed? Please uninstall or disable them.

Asus Sonic Suite 2, the audio card software that comes with a lot of Asus ROG mainboards, seems to also be a culprit.

If you have any 3D audio drivers, please uninstall them or disable them.

We no longer provide Qt4 builds for Houdini 17.0 and later.

Other things to try: Try deleting (or renaming) your houdini{{ latest_houdini_version }} preferences directory. When you relaunch Houdini this directory will be regenerated, with all your Houdini settings at default. If you have an older version of Houdini, you will delete or rename the directory for that older version (for example, houdini19.5).

Windows: My Documents->houdini{{ latest_houdini_version }}

OSX: /Users/(your name)/Library/Preferences/houdini/{{ latest_houdini_version }}

Linux: /home/(your name)/houdini{{ latest_houdini_version }}

Qt4 builds for versions older than Houdini 17.0: Windows Mac Linux

If this doesn't help and Houdini stays open long enough, can you please send the support team your machine info from Houdini's Help -> About Houdini -> click on "Show Details". Please click the "save” button at the bottom, and send the file to support@sidefx.com.

Daily builds

SideFX provides new builds of Houdini almost every day. These daily builds contain bug fixes and small improvements to the software. The detailed list of fixes is available in the journal under the Support menu. By installing a daily build, users are often able to benefit right away from our agile development process.

Production builds

SideFX periodically designates a daily build of Houdini as a "production build". Production builds are released almost monthly and have gone through the full quality assurance process, so they are at least as stable as the original. It is thus advisable to upgrade from time to time, particularly from one production build to another to take full advantage of new improvements.

Please try resetting your password

If are you are still having issues accessing your account please contact support@sidefx.com.

You cannot open the Houdini indie interface using the Houdini Engine Indie license. Your Houdini Engine Indie license can be used to run Houdini Indie in non-graphical mode or to load Houdini Digital Assets into other content creation apps such as Autodesk® Maya,® and Cinema 4D, or game editors such as Unity® and UE5®.

www.sidefx.com/buy

Upgrades are provided to commercial licenses which have an active support contract (AUP).

It is not enough that you install the latest Houdini release. You need to apply the upgrades to your installed licenses.
You may run older versions of Houdini with the latest released license.

Using the License Administrator is the easiest way to upgrade licenses:

1. Download and install the latest Production Build or the latest Daily Build.

2. Launch the License Administrator on the machine you wish to upgrade.

3. Select File->Login to log into your SideFX licensing portal.

4. Select File->Install Licenses to view your license entitlements.

5. Press the Install button. This will apply the upgrades to the current licenses.

If you are having problems logging into your account through the License Administrator, please see the section I can't log into the License Administrator.

Check to ensure you're trying to run the right product for the license you have.

From the menu, select 'Houdini' to run Houdini Core (formerly known as Base Houdini or Houdini Escape) and 'Houdini FX' to run Houdini FX (formerly known as Houdini Master).

From the command-line, type 'houdinicore' (or 'basehoudini' to run Houdini Core, 'houdinifx' to run Houdini FX, and 'houdini' to run the program that you have licenses for, searching for Houdini FX licenses first and then Houdini Core licenses.

For more licensing help please see the License Trouble FAQ.

Houdini is backwards compatible. Older versions of Houdini will run with the most recent license.

For example, if you have a Houdini 20.5 license, you will be able to open Houdini 20.5 and older (20.0, 19.5, 19.0 etc...).

• When installing older versions of Houdini, do not install the License Server component of the old version.
• If you do overwrite the latest sesinetd server binary, reinstall the latest Houdini version again.

Old installers may be found in the public folder on our public FTP server: ftp.sidefx.com
You may use the standard FTP ports to connect from your FTP client.

To use FTP, you can download use any FTP client. One popular client is FileZilla.

The Houdini-Engine-Indie license is a 2-part license consisting of:

• Houdini Engine Indie
• Render (Non-Commercial)

All need to be installed on the same machine.

The Houdini-Engine-Indie is a non-graphical version of Houdini-Indie. It allows you to run command-line renders, and simulations, on remote render machines. And to open pre-made Houdini Digital Assets (HDAs) within Maya, Unreal, Unity and C4D. You make best use of your Houdini-Engine-Indie license if it is installed on a different machine than your Houdini-Indie license.

If you would like to use the Houdini Indie graphical interface, you can purchase Houdini Indie here: www.sidefx.com/buy

To install a license of Houdini Engine Indie:

1. Launch the License Administrator on the machine you wish to license with Houdini Indie.

2. Select File->Install Licenses (Windows/Linux).

   • On OSX there is no File menu option. On OSX, start the License Administrator and go to the License Administrator menu (top left) and select Install Licenses.

3. Enter your email and password used for Houdini licensing. If you are having problems logging into your account through the License Administrator, please see the section I can't log into the License Administrator.

4. Press the Install button.

This process will generate the keystrings and install your licenses. The keystrings will be written to the licenses file on the machine automatically.

Most licensing issues can be resolved by referring to the Common Licensing Problems page.

If you cannot resolve your licensing issues, please email support@sidefx.com with the license diagnostic from the machine you are trying to license. Please also include your Account number and or/email used for licensing so the support team can easily locate your account information.

To generate the license diagnostic:

1. Start the Houdini License Administrator (hkey)
2. Under the View menu, select "Diagnostic Information"
3. Save the file and attach it in an email addressed to support@sidefx.com

If you don't have a graphical display, you can type "sesictrl diagnostic > diagnostic.txt". Attach the diagnostic.txt in an email to support.

Refer to How do I start the License Administrator

This is due to using an older graphics card. Tell Houdini to use software OpenGL rather than hardware OpenGL. This is done by setting an environment variable:

HOUDINI_OGL_SOFTWARE = 1

Account Activation

Once your account has been created, the system will send an activation email. This will be for your licensing account so you may install licenses locally or use Login-Based Licensing, where your machine looks to the SideFX server. Your email address will also receive other notifications from the system such as new license entitlements to be installed, upgrades or extensions to existing licenses. Please ensure that you have licensemanager@sidefx.com whitelisted in your spam settings.

Licensing

There are two ways to license Houdini Indie:

• Install licenses to your computer and your machine is the license server to itself. (Method 1)
• SideFX is your license server and there are no licenses installed locally to the computer. (Method 2)

Method 1: Use your machine as the license server (install licenses to your computer)

With this method, you can install the licenses directly to the computer so your machine is both the client and server. Your machine serves itself the licenses. When you install the licenses locally, the machine name and hardware information are encoded into the license itself so renaming the computer name can invalidate the licenses. The benefit of using this method is that you don't need an Internet connection to run Houdini since the machine serves the licenses to itself.

This option is good for laptops on the move which may not have a persistent Internet connection.

Using the License Administrator (hkey):

1. Select File->Log In to log into your SideFX license account using your email address and password.
2. Select File->Install Licenses (see Note below 4.)
3. Press the Select All button and ensure the Quantity box matches the allowed or desired number of licenses.
4. Press the Install button.

Note: If the Install Licenses option is greyed out, ensure that you have set your license server to be the local machine and you are not looking to SideFX as the server. In the License Administrator select File>Change License Server and add your machine from the Found Server(s) list to the Search Server(s) list.

The Server(s) column should list the local computer name if you have installed the licenses locally.

Method 2: Use SideFX as the license server (login-based licensing)

With this method, you don't install the licenses locally. You set the machine to look to SideFX and launch Houdini. This option is quite flexible as you can run Indie on different computers or if your machine is formatted or crashes, you don't need to worry about how to release the original licenses. The complexity of licensing is taken away. However, this option requires an Internet connection. If you have started the Houdini session and Internet connectivity is lost, the license will be checked out for two weeks by the machine unless the Houdini session is closed.

Using the License Administrator (hkey):

1. Select File->Log In to log into your SideFX license account using your email address and password.
2. Select File->Use SideFX as my license server

The Server(s) column should list SideFX if you are using SideFX as the license server.

About Houdini Indie licenses

• A machine needs access to 1 Indie, 1 Renderer (Mantra) and 1 Karma Renderer license to complete a full subscription.
• The licenses are locked (workstation) to the local machine for use and may not be floated on the network to serve other computers.
• Reserve any Engine Indie licenses for a computer without a regular Indie license.
• Each Houdini Indie subscription comes with two licenses for Indie: a supplementary license for use on a secondary machine or secondary boot.
• If you cannot login to your account to install Indie licenses, try resetting the password.
• You cannot run Houdini Indie with only the Houdini Engine Indie license.

You will need to use the Production Build of Houdini that matches your Redshift plugin version.

It is essential that you run the Redshift plugin compiled against the correct version of Houdini.
Failing to do so will result in Houdini crashing, as the libraries will no longer be compatible.

For example, the following Production Builds of Houdini 18.5 will work with these Redshift versions:

Houdini 18.5.351: From Redshift 3.0.32 to the last available
Houdini 18.5.408: From Redshift 3.0.34 to the last available

Please refer to the Redshift documentation to see which Redshift plugins support which Houdini versions.

To use Redshift with Houdini, you will need to edit your houdini.env file that matches your operating system. This will tell Houdini where to look for the plugin. Please refer to the Redshift documentation on how to configure the plugin for your operating system.

If you are having issues with Redshift, please contact Maxon support.

The full installation tutorial video for SideFX Labs is located here.

To verify SideFX Labs install:

• Open Houdini.

• Enable the SideFX Labs shelf. At the top of the workspace, click the + sign (above and right of the Font shelf tool).
  Select the Shelves menu then locate the SideFX Labs submenu. Click to enable.

• Once enabled you will see the most common tools on the shelf. By clicking the Update Toolset icon on the far left, you can see what version is available or installed locally. Click update to install the tools locally to the computer if they have not been yet already.

• You may also check the Toolset version and update by selecting the Window->SideFX Labs menu.

• If you want to see more tools, go to the Network Editor. Right-click/Tab and type “Labs” in the search or select Labs from the dropdown menu. The submenu will show the tools at object level.

• If you want to see the most used SOPS tools, create a geometry container. Right-click/Tab and locate the Labs menu. There you will see the rest of the tools. If you are in a different context (ROPS, COPS etc), you will have the Lab tools there in that context.

Please watch your email for a message from licensemanager@sidefx.com notifying you that your license entitlements are available to redeem.

The licenses will be visible (and available to redeem) on the requested Start Date.

There are several different options available through which students can access Houdini Education licenses from their personal computers:

1) Accessing school’s existing licenses via central network license server

• Often requires most work by school IT
• Students’ computers need to be connected to the school’s network in order to access the licenses

2) Accessing school's existing licenses via Login-based Licensing

• Please refer here for important considerations for Schools.
• If licenses were previously installed using a different method, requires some intervention from school administration/IT
• Stable internet connection needed
• No limitations based on location
• It is strongly recommended that individual student’s emails are used as account logins, rather than using a shared login

3) Students can purchase their own Houdini Education license directly from SideFX

• Requires little to no intervention from school administration/IT
• Students are responsible for Billing, Installation and any Renewals/Replacements

4) Temporary Home licenses [For Houdini Certified Schools only]

• Instructors/administrators should contact education@sidefx.com for more details, if your school is eligible (Houdini Certified).
• Click here for information about Houdini Certification

In order to update your email*:

1. Log into www.sidefx.com with your username

2. Click the top-right profile icon

3. Select “My Profile”

4. Click the gear icon to edit your information

5. Click "Update Email"

This will help ensure that the following items are kept associated with your most up-to-date email address:

• Licensing permissions

• Email notifications about your licenses

• Release emails

• Forum posts

• History of completed tutorials

*If you have also moved companies, please contact your SideFX Account Representative to associate your details with the appropriate account.