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Adobe Character Animator vs Houdini

Adobe Character Animator

adobe.com

Houdini

sidefx.com

Side by side

FigureAdobe Character AnimatorHoudini
Price fromFree$7.92/mo
Free planYesYes
Free trialYes—
Open source——
WindowsYesYes
macOSYesYes
Linux—Yes
Plans published921
Spec score · Motion Tracking Software9.2 (#1)8.8 (#5)
Spec score · Animation Software9.1 (#8)9.2 (#4)
Spec score · Multimedia Software9.0 (#3)8.5 (#8)
Founded19821987
Free planYesYes
HeadquartersSan Jose, California, USAToronto, Ontario, Canada

Plans

Adobe Character Animator

  • Character Animator StarterPrice not published
  • Character Animator StarterPriced on request
  • Creative Cloud Pro for students and teachersPriced on request
  • Creative Cloud Pro for students and teachersPrice not published
  • Creative Cloud Pro for teamsPrice not published
  • Creative Cloud Pro for teamsPriced on request
  • StarterFree
  • Creative Cloud Pro annual billed monthly$34.99 a month
  • Creative Cloud Pro$69.99 a month

Adobe Character Animator pricing →

Houdini

  • Houdini Core — Workstation perpetual$1,995 a month
  • Houdini Core — Annual Upgrade Plan, workstation$1,095 a year
  • Houdini Core — Local Access perpetual$2,995 a month
  • Houdini Core — Annual Upgrade Plan, local access$1,639 a year
  • Houdini Core — Annual rental, workstation$1,475 a year
  • Houdini Core — Annual rental, local access$2,195 a year
  • Houdini Core — Monthly rental, local access$370 a month
  • Houdini FX — Workstation perpetual$4,495 a month
  • Houdini FX — Annual Upgrade Plan, workstation$2,740 a year
  • Houdini FX — Local Access perpetual$6,995 a month

Houdini pricing →

In their own words

Adobe Character Animator

Adobe Character Animator has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.

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Houdini

Houdini is SideFX’s procedural 3D creation system for film, television, games, motion graphics, virtual reality and synthetic-data work. Its workflow stores actions in nodes connected as networks, and supports sharing workflows and custom digital assets with colleagues. Tools cover modeling, sculpting, animation, parametric modeling, character rigging, rendering and 3D-print export. Houdini FX adds simulation tools for fluids, destruction, pyro effects, grains and cloth. KineFX supports character rigging and animation, alongside tools for hair, fur, feathers, muscles and cloth. Karma renders images in the Solaris look-development workflow, while PDG distributes tasks, handles dependencies and creates datasets for machine-learning and AI applications. Houdini runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. The free Apprentice version is for non-commercial learning and personal projects; its renders are capped at 1920x1080 and carry a watermark. SideFX lists perpetual licenses, annual upgrades, rentals, subscriptions and education licenses. Listed paid pricing starts at $299/yr, though individual options have different terms and prices.

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