This proceduralism has several advantages: it allows users to construct highly detailed geometric or organic objects in comparatively very few steps; it enables and encourages non-linear development; and new operators can be created in terms of existing operators, a flexible alternative to non-procedural scripting often relied on in other packages for customisation.

This data could represent 3D geometry, bitmap images, particles, dynamics, shader algorithms, animation, audio, or a combination of these.

Successful users are generally familiar with a large repertoire of networks (algorithms) which achieve standard creative outcomes.

In large productions, the development of a procedural network to solve a specific element creation challenge makes automation trivial.

These operators exist in the context called "CHOPs" for which Side Effects won a Technical Achievement Academy Award in 2002.

Houdini is bundled with a production-class renderer, Mantra, which had many similarities to RenderMan in its scope and application in its initial incarnation.

Micropolygon rendering is supported, allowing high-quality displacement operations as well as traditional scan-line and raytracing modes.

This allows more complicated light interactions, such as sub-surface scattering and ambient occlusion, to be produced with lower computational overhead.

Tailored toward real-time OpenGL-generated animation, it was used on rock group Rush's 30th-anniversary tour to produce dynamic graphics driven directly by the musicians.