"Houdini Indie" License for Freelancers

Houdini Indie license - just $299 per annum

Software developers sidefx, makers of Houdini, offer a "Houdini Indie" license for independent film-makers looking to create industry-standard FX work on a modest budget.  This is great news for Escapees looking to take on small freelance gigs, but without studio-level financial resources. 

Houdini Indie
As Escapees step out of their studies and into the professional world, the Houdini Indie offers production-quality features,and also fits the budget and ambition of recent graduates or small independent studios. 

Houdini FX by Brandon Welch

Full Feature Access at a Graduate-Level Price
Houdini Indie gives access to virtually all the core tools of Houdini — the procedural workflows, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering options — everything you need to build strong pieces for your reel or freelance projects. This means you’re working on real-industry software from day one, not a watered-down student version.

 
Commercial Use — With Realistic Limits
You can use Houdini Indie for commercial work — i.e., client jobs, freelance gigs — as long as you meet the criteria (annual gross revenue under USD $100K and under USD $1 M funding) and adhere to the licence requirements.  For a graduate, this means you can start earning using the same toolset you learned at Escape Studios.

Build a Professional Reel and Pipeline

Houdini FX created at Escape Studios by Thomas Colangelo

Because it supports rendering, real production workflows (including third-party render engines) and real asset creation, you can build demo projects, VFX shots or game-dev assets that look “studio-ready”.  That means you go into interviews or freelance with work that stands up to industry standards.

Scalable for Growth
As you begin freelancing or even setting up a small studio, Houdini Indie keeps your overhead lower while you test workflows, styles, and your market fit. If you start earning more and your business scales above the Indie licence limits, you can consider upgrading to the full commercial licence path. 

Official Site
The Houdini Indie costs $299 per annum and is available from the official site: https://www.sidefx.com/products/houdini-indie/

Houdini Tutorials
We have many online resources for our students in Houdini. To see Mark Spevick's free Houdini tutorials hosted at the SideFX official site, follow this link. There are many Houdini Tutorials at the official SideFX site:

The Escape Studios Animation Blog offers a personal view on the art of animation and visual effects. To apply for one of our courses, follow this link.