Houdini Engine goes free for indies

Small teams can now use Houdini Engine to make their game for free.

SideFX has released Houdini Engine Indie, a free-to-use version of the animation software aimed at studios requiring fewer than three licences and earning under $100,000 a year.

Like its $99 predecessor, the Indie release of Houdini features support for Unity, Unreal Engine 4, Mata, Cinema 4D and 3DS Max plug-ins to load digital assets created in Houdini in the engines. Houdini digital assets can also be found in the Unity Asset Store and Orbolt 3D Smart Asset store.

Developers wishing to make custom tools for their game will still have to shell out the annual $199 subscription to Houdini Indie.

Houdini has been used in games including Far Cry Primal, Sunset Overdrive, Killzone: Shadow Fall and Uncharted 3, and by studios including Ubisoft, Blizzard, EA, Pixar, Sony Pictures and Guerrilla Games.