Houdini Engine

[Mathaeus]

it's me again...
in another word, if I'm correct. Yes, story is great for studios. For example, one Houdini guru, sitting in front of full Houdini, will be able feed the number of HE for Maya. Maya artists will be able to do tweaks in friendly environment, for them, also they wouldn't be able to make damage, as asset+HE allows only what's allowed in asset.
The same goes for gamedev studios - and to say this honestly, Houdini looks much more 'programmer friendly' than 'half-artistic' (my word..) Softimage ICE.

However, for individuals who don't have Houdini license, entire windmill needs a good bit of pre-rolling. At least, enough strong collection of available assets, not only an 'empty' HE plugin.

[Lord Futzi Voldemort]

you tell me! I don't see anyone from sidefx saying that the plug-in runs without licenses! In fact the only licensing-related comment in the announcement is "The Houdini Engine API is available today as an enterprise solution for film and game studios looking to bring Houdini into their pipeline"
which doesn't sound good for you if you're an individual. (see: Arnold)

I meant you wouldn't need a houdini license for the plugin to run in modo or wherever, or would you? What mattheus said would make sense for most of us.

[luceric]

meant you wouldn't need a houdini license for the plugin to run in modo or wherever, or would you? What mattheus said would make sense for most of us.

why don't you guys ask sidefx if the houdini runtime is free to use, instead of fantasizing about getting free houdini fluids in your 3D app if you can just get an houdini asset that exposes the parameters with a dialog box. it makes zero sense for sidefx to do this and as far as I can tel, they did not announce that at all.

All they said that in a pipeline a studio could host houdini assets in another app, and also that a third party company could license houdini libraries to write and sell their own plug-ins. There was no discussion of price.

Btw, Maya is already an engine you can host in other application, without all the UI. you can litterally write a python script that does "import maya" and call all the commands in it and fetch the result, display it in your own viewport, etc.

[Hirazi Blue]

Whenever a company makes an announcement like this without any clear idea about their license plans, I tend to assume the worst (i.e. the priciest). The closest to an actual answer to this little conundrum seems to be "hidden" in this article by Jim Thacker over at CGChannel.

Freelancers and small studios benefit too: Side Effects is working on plugins for Maya and Unity based on the API.

&

As well as importing custom assets, Side Effects’ new plugins will enable Maya and Unity users to use ready-made assets from the Orbolt online store.

which would SEEM to imply, you won't need to own a full Houdini license, especially when read together with the following quote:

During beta testing, the plugins will be free. Side Effects tells us that if it then decides to bring them to market, it will decide on pricing at that point based on demand and feedback during the beta period.

From which I would conclude (but this very IMHO), that you either license the engine itself at high cost to adapt it to your own specific pipeline or license one of the ready-made plugins (at presumably lower cost) for use with ready-made assets.
;)

[Mathaeus]

meant you wouldn't need a houdini license for the plugin to run in modo or wherever, or would you? What mattheus said would make sense for most of us.

why don't you guys ask sidefx if the houdini runtime is free to use, instead of fantasizing about getting free houdini fluids in your 3D app if you can just get an houdini asset that exposes the parameters with a dialog box. it makes zero sense for sidefx to do this and as far as I can tel, they did not announce that at all.

As far as I know, they don't want to go with final decision, but the want to hear what people think about it. Without any obligation, of course. I think nobody expected all that for free - especially I didn't say anything like that.
Just personally, I could imagine tons of problems with this connection, once it is out of protective environment ( that is, studio, skilled TD, so on). But, right now, I think it's pointless to go against the positive energy - let's say, one negative post from my side should be more than enough.

[Lord Futzi Voldemort]

meant you wouldn't need a houdini license for the plugin to run in modo or wherever, or would you? What mattheus said would make sense for most of us.

why don't you guys ask sidefx if the houdini runtime is free to use, instead of fantasizing about getting free houdini fluids in your 3D app if you can just get an houdini asset that exposes the parameters with a dialog box. it makes zero sense for sidefx to do this and as far as I can tel, they did not announce that at all.

All they said that in a pipeline a studio could host houdini assets in another app, and also that a third party company could license houdini libraries to write and sell their own plug-ins. There was no discussion of price.

Btw, Maya is already an engine you can host in other application, without all the UI. you can litterally write a python script that does "import maya" and call all the commands in it and fetch the result, display it in your own viewport, etc.

I don't expect anything for free. There is a difference paying for a houdini license or a plugin that reads houdini assets. I thought that was obvious.