Houdini vs Strata Design 3D CX 8
Houdini
sidefx.comStrata Design 3D CX 8
strata.comSide by side
| Figure | Houdini | Strata Design 3D CX 8 |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $7.92/mo | $19.95/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 21 | 10 |
| Spec score · 3D modeling software | 9.2 (#5) | 8.3 (#47) |
| Spec score · 3D Animation Software | 8.7 (#4) | 7.6 (#26) |
| Founded | 1987 | 1988 |
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario, Canada | Santa Clara, Utah, United States |
| Karma Rendering | Karma is used to render photorealistic images within Houdini's Solaris lookdev workflow. | The product includes Intel Embree raycasting, which Strata says can improve rendering speed by up to 800%. |
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
Strata Design 3D CX 8
- Mac Subscription$19.95 a month
- PC Subscription$19.95 a month
- Dual Platform Subscription$29.95 a month
- Mac Standard License$595 a month
- PC Standard License$595 a month
- Dual Platform Standard License$849 a month
- Design 3D CX 8 Mac x64 subscription, 1 seat$19.95 a month
- Design 3D CX 8 PC subscription, 1 seat$19.95 a month
- Design 3D CX 8 Mac x64 standard license, 1 seat$595, paid once
- Design 3D CX 8 PC standard license, 1 seat$595, paid once
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.
Strata Design 3D CX 8
Strata Design 3D CX 8 has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.