Houdini vs Plask Motion
Houdini
sidefx.comPlask Motion
plask.aiSide by side
| Figure | Houdini | Plask Motion |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $7.92/mo | $18/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| API | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 21 | 6 |
| Spec score · Animation Software | 9.2 (#4) | 9.2 (#7) |
| Spec score · 3D Animation Software | 8.7 (#4) | 8.7 (#5) |
| Spec score · 3D Character Animation Software | 8.8 (#6) | 8.7 (#9) |
| Founded | 1987 | 2020 |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
Plans
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
Plask Motion
- Standard$216 a year
- Pro$600 a year
- FreeFree
- FreemiumFree
- Standard$18 a month
- Pro$50 a month
In their own words
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.
Plask Motion
Plask Motion turns video into 3D animation using AI motion capture, without suits or sensors. Its single-camera capture extracts body movement that users can apply to an imported 3D character. MMD and VRM models support blinking and physics. The product also renders video with automated camera and lighting controls and customizable effects, and exports FBX, GLB, and BVH. Listed workflows cover Blender, Unreal Engine 4 and 5, iClone, After Effects, MetaHuman, VRoid, Cinema 4D, and Ready Player Me. Scene sharing and realtime collaboration are listed for all three plans. Plask recommends horizontal video at 720p or higher; it accepts MP4 and WebM files up to 100 MB and from 3 seconds to 5 minutes long. Multi-person capture is recommended for fewer than 10 people and limited to under one minute and 1,800 frames. The software recognizes human forms, not non-human objects for animation. A free plan is listed; Standard and Pro offer a 7-day trial. Standard is $216 a year and Pro is $600 a year.