Houdini is written for Windows and will run on any not too ancient Windows version. On Linux you can run Houdini using Wine without any significant performance loss.

 

You should have received the download link for the Houdini Setup, together with your Customer Code and Serial Number.

 

Download and run the Houdini Setup package. During installation you will be asked for the Customer Code and Serial Number. The Houdini Setup will perform an internet Activation. Without activation Houdini will run at reduced strength.

 

The Houdini Setup will install the Houdini version that is appropriate for your 32-bit or 64-bit system. The Houdini engine contains optimized code for single-core up to 8 threads (Houdini Standard version) or up to 128 threads (Houdini Pro version). The 64-bit version is about 40% faster than the 32-bit version. On modern hardware the program will use the POPCNT or PEXT processor instructions for an additional performance gain.

The Houdini Setup will automatically install the fastest version that will run on your hardware.

 

The Houdini Pro package also contains a copy of the Houdini Standard engine. This can be useful in situations where you want to avoid some automatic behavior of the Pro engine with regards to Large Pages or NUMA awareness.