Reference COLLADA import window

Overview

  1. Choose File > Import > COLLADA.

  2. Click the chooser button next to the File field and choose the file you want to import.

  3. To import by reference, turn off Lock geometry.

  4. Click Merge.

Options

Filter options

Only import certain types of data from the file.

Geometry options menu

The menu controls how to translate units in the COLLADA file.

  • Scale to Houdini unit length – Use the units specified in the file and the unit size specified in Houdini to import geometry at the “proper” scale.

    For example, if the file has a point at (3, 0, 0) and the COLLADA unit length is 1 cm, and the Houdini unit length is 1 meter (the default), then the point is imported at (.03, 0, 0).

  • Do not scale – Use the literal values in the file as Houdini units without doing any translation.

    For example, if the file has a point at (3, 0, 0), then the point is imported at (3, 0, 0), regardless of unit lengths.

  • Scale to custom unit length – Set an explicit Houdini unit size to use for COLLADA units.
Tip

To set the real-world size of Houdini units, choose Edit > Preferences > Hip File Options.

Lock geometry

When this option is on, the File node Houdini creates loads the geometry and saves it with the Houdini .hip file, so the original file is no longer necessary. When this option is off, the File node only stores the reference to the original file.