Produced by a company called Side Effects Software, Houdini 3D Animation Tools is a program that you can use for 3D character mapping, rendering and other computer graphics applications. It has been used in feature films such as "Toy Story 3," "Battle: Los Angeles" and "Clash of the Titans," and in video game programming, including popular games such as "Halo Reach." Unlike many other computer graphics software packages, Houdini runs on the Windows, Macintosh and Linux operating systems, so long as certain system requirements are met.
Instructions
1. Navigate your browser to the Side Effects Software's website (see References). If you don't have an account, create one now -- it's free -- and log in to the site.
2. Download the installation archive appropriate to your Linux distribution, located in the Download section of the Support page on the main site. Make note of where you download the archive.
3. Open a terminal and navigate to the directory where you downloaded the archive. Unpack the archive by typing "tar -xvzf xxx.tar.gz" -- without the quotes -- where "xxx" is the name of the archive. This process creates a directory named, for instance, "houdini-10.0.249-linux_x86_64_gcc4.1" or another version if you have downloaded a different version.
4. Navigate to the new folder in the terminal. If you are installing the License server, you must run the installation program as root. Type "sudo ./houdini.install" -- without the quotes -- and give the root password when prompted.
5. Follow the installer's instructions. The installer installs Houdini into "/opt/hfs10.0.249" or another version number. You can now access Houdini through "Applications," "Side Effects Software" and "Houdini 10.0.249" from the desktop menu.
