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Houdini Indie?


danw

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Yeah, the tweet was what got me interested in the first place.  Seems like the pricing/comparison link was supposed to be private, but doesn't actually require any authentication now it's out in the public domain.

 

Well, I'm happy waiting a few more days to find out the specifics.  I assume Siggraph will be bringing news of Houdini 14 as well, in which case it's going to be a fun week indeed :-)

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Would that be 100k profit from houdini productions or anything you do as a company?

EDIT: Probably as a company, but how will they check all this?

 

There's other restrictions, such as a 1080p animation output limit, node-locked licenses, no PRman/other renderer support, and a single mantra token, that would probably make larger studios want to use a regular license anyway. SESI isn't going to be looking at your tax filings, nor cancelling your license if you suddenly make 101K :) but it does let a user know what the appropriate use of the Indie license is so flagent misuses could be dealt with.

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There's other restrictions, such as a 1080p animation output limit, node-locked licenses, no PRman/other renderer support, and a single mantra token, that would probably make larger studios want to use a regular license anyway. SESI isn't going to be looking at your tax filings, nor cancelling your license if you suddenly make 101K :) but it does let a user know what the appropriate use of the Indie license is so flagent misuses could be dealt with.

 

Yeah, the 1080p restriction pretty much constitutes a sign that reads "Don't use this for movie work!"

 

...that is until 4k ends up becoming ubiquitous for TV work, at which point it might be a bit too much of a limitation.

But assuming that happens about as quickly as that time when all the TV studios started making everything in 3D for all those TVs everyone bought, I don't think we'll need to worry too much :-P

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Well, it appears it's gone fully public... sidefx.com has been updated, and it seems it's available to purchase!

 

There's one line in the EULA that reads a little worryingly though:
"in the case of an Indie User that is using the Software to create content for a third party that will use such content in connection with a Commercial activity, such third party and its Affiliates and related individuals collectively have in the current calendar year, or had in the most recently completed calendar year, directly or indirectly, aggregate gross revenues from all sources less than US$100,000."

 

By that logic, isn't pretty much *any* commercial application going to break the licensing agreement?  I may not make $100,000... my direct client may be an independant too... perhaps even their client might be a tiny ad agency just starting out, but somewhere down the line there's always going to be a commercial entity that brings in more than 100k.  I mean, any company that can afford a TV advertising spot must have a turnover higher than that.

...How far down the chain is it your legal responsibility to account for?

 

The wording on the site itself seems generally geared around the idea of it being a product tailored towards independant contractors, and that the 100k limit applies specificially to the contractor only.  Hopefully we can get some clarification soon.

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By that logic, isn't pretty much *any* commercial application going to break the licensing agreement?  I may not make $100,000... my direct client may be an independant too... perhaps even their client might be a tiny ad agency just starting out, but somewhere down the line there's always going to be a commercial entity that brings in more than 100k.  I mean, any company that can afford a TV advertising spot must have a turnover higher than that.

 

The 100K applies to your business (either individual or independent animation/game studio) AND any animation/game studio that may contract you. So Houdini Indie is not for freelancing situations where you are sharing scenes and assets with a larger studio. When you are doing finished work directly for a client that is OK.

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Ah right, thanks for clearing it up Robert!  Does "finished work" include "finished renders" that comprise part of a 2D comp at the client's end?  I'm not much of a compositor!

 

Renders are fine. The key is that you are not sharing scenes and assets with a larger studio.

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Won't change anything by worrying.  It's for sure to get more Houdini into the world, that's then the program of choice when moving into larger studios- where the corporate cash is.  

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It's tough to know.  I hear nothing but stories and rumours of more and more studios moving their effects pipeline over to Houdini exclusively, so it sounds like there's a general background trend towards mass adoption... but then I also look at odforce, and wonder why it seems so quiet in here these days.

I wonder if it's just that most of the discourse around Houdini takes place between employees inside studios these days, and so people have less need to come to the forums for answers...

 

It seems an odd thing in the age of the internet... there seems to be more talk than ever about Houdini in the real-world, but less than ever online!

 

Well, I for one hope things are going well and only get better.  Houdini has been a continuous revelation to me over the last 6 years, and I really don't want to be forced to go back to a 'lesser' package anytime soon :-)

 

 

There's a side to reducing software licensing costs that I feel hopeful about - it seems like the logical thing would be that the most comprehensive packages cost the most, but in reality it has always seemed the case that it's the more niche products that cost thousands, even up to tens of thousands sometimes, and the more popular products that can afford to reduce prices simply because of the size of their userbase and the economies of scale that allows.

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Is it only me who is worried about this new application? I feel like companies do this to make more sales when they encounter tough times like Softimage did before they got bought out. I hope it doesn't happen to SESI :(

 

the big diffrence about houdini and other package is. 

 

sesi had maybe 90% or even more income from small and big studios. in the indie sector there market share was in the area of 0%. at the moment they win some market shares because in that market they where nobodys. 

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I strongly suspect it'll work the same way that .hipnc files currently work - if you share a .hiplc file, and someone opens it with a full-commercial version of Houdini, it'll automatically downgrade that session to an "Indie" session... with the same licensing restrictions.

 

If you open a .hip file in Indie, it'll open just fine, but as an Indie session, and if you save it back to disc, it'll become a .hiplc

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Haha, well, it would have been... if I hadn't just done exactly that :-)  Couldn't have come at a more perfect time for me.

 

Recently established Vortex VFX Ltd is kitted up, licensed, and ready for independent commercial projects... just as soon as I get back from my current contracting job :-)

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