Houdini 22.0 Reference Stand-alone utilities

Migrating From the Old Installer

The old Houdini Installer is no longer available in Houdini 22

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Overview

Starting in Houdini 22, the new Houdini Installer (formerly Houdini Launcher) is the only supported way to install Houdini.

With the Houdini Installer, installation is now a two-step process:

  1. Set up the Houdini Installer application (downloaded from sidefx.com).

  2. Open the application or run the houdini_installer command to install Houdini and other products.

With the old installer, these steps were combined into a single self-extracting installer. The new approach allows you to install and update multiple Houdini versions without re-downloading the installer each time.

For new scripts, we recommend using the standard install subcommand rather than legacy_install.

See Installer for full documentation of the new installer commands.

Updating Install Scripts

To update scripts that use the old installer, the new installer provides a legacy_install command that accepts most of the same command-line options as the old houdini.install script.

legacy_install subcommand

The legacy_install command translates old installer options into the equivalent new installer commands.

houdini_installer legacy_install [options] [installdir]

Note

The legacy_install command is not available on macOS.

Basic Usage 

# Online installation with login credentials
houdini_installer legacy_install \
    --login-file ~/sidefx_credentials.txt \
    --version 22.0.123 \
    --accept-EULA 2021-10-13 \
    --install-houdini \
    --no-install-license \
    /opt/hfs22.0

# Offline installation from a tarball
houdini_installer legacy_install \
    --offline-installer houdini-22.0.123-linux_x86_64_gcc11.3.tar.gz \
    --accept-EULA 2021-10-13 \
    /opt/hfs22.0

Supported Options

The following options from the old installer are supported:

General Options

--offline-installer ‹path›

Path to the offline installer tarball or ISO file.

--accept-EULA ‹date›

Accept the End User License Agreement. The date should be in the format YYYY-MM-DD (for example, 2021-10-13).

--version ‹version›

The version to install (for example, 22.0.123).

--platform ‹platform›

The platform identifier (for example, linux_x86_64_gcc11.3).

--build-option ‹option›

The build type (for example, production or daily).

--login-file ‹path›

Path to a file containing login credentials.

installdir

(Linux only) The installation directory, specified as a positional argument at the end of the command.

Product Selection

Products can be enabled with --install-<product> or disabled with --no-install-<product>. Short aliases are also supported.

--install-houdini, --houdini

Install Houdini (enabled by default).

--no-install-houdini, --no-houdini

Do not install Houdini.

--install-license, --license

Install the License Server (enabled by default).

--no-install-license, --no-license

Do not install the License Server.

--install-engine-maya, --installEngineMaya

Install the Houdini Engine for Maya.

--no-install-engine-maya, --no-installEngineMaya

Do not install the Houdini Engine for Maya.

--install-engine-unity, --installEngineUnity

Install the Houdini Engine for Unity.

--no-install-engine-unity, --no-installEngineUnity

Do not install the Houdini Engine for Unity.

--install-engine-unreal, --installEngineUnreal

Install the Houdini Engine for Unreal.

--no-install-engine-unreal, --no-installEngineUnreal

Do not install the Houdini Engine for Unreal.

--install-sidefxlabs, --sidefxlabs

Install SideFX Labs.

--sidefxlabs-dir ‹path›

Directory to install SideFX Labs.

--install-menus, --menus

Install desktop menu entries.

--no-install-menus, --no-menus

Do not install desktop menu entries.

HQueue Server Options

--install-hqueue-server

Install HQueue Server.

--no-install-hqueue-server

Do not install HQueue Server.

--hqueue-server-dir ‹path›

Directory to install HQueue Server.

--hqueue-shared-dir ‹path›

Path to the HQueue shared directory.

--hqueue-shared-dir-mount ‹path›

Mount point for the HQueue shared directory.

HQueue Client Options

--install-hqueue-client

Install HQueue Client.

--no-install-hqueue-client

Do not install HQueue Client.

--hqueue-client-dir ‹path›

Directory to install HQueue Client.

--hqueue-client-user ‹username›, --hqueue-client-account ‹username›

User account to run HQueue Client.

--hqueue-server-name ‹hostname›

Hostname of the HQueue Server.

--hqueue-server-port ‹port›

Port number of the HQueue Server.

Unsupported Options

The following options from the old installer are not supported by legacy_install:

--make-dir

The new installer does not support automatic directory creation. Ensure the parent directory exists before installation.

--auto-install

Automatic installation is handled differently in the new installer.

--no-root-check

Root privilege checks are handled differently in the new installer.

--no-install-sidefxlabs

Not installing SideFX Labs is the default behavior.

--install-bin-symlink, --no-install-bin-symlink

Creating symlinks in /usr/local/bin for hkey, houdini, hython, and mantra is not supported. You can create these symlinks manually after installation if needed.

--install-hfs-symlink, --no-install-hfs-symlink

The /opt/hfs<version> symlink option is not available via legacy_install. Use the GUI installer or the standard install command with the --symlink-hfs option instead.

--avahi, --no-avahi

Avahi installation is not supported via legacy_install. Use the standard install command with the --avahi option instead.

--license-server-name

Configuring the license server name is not supported.

--upgrade-hqueue-server-if-exists

Automatic HQueue Server upgrade detection is not supported.

--mount-hqueue-shared-dir

Mounting the HQueue shared directory is not supported.

--create-hqueue-shared-dir

Creating the HQueue shared directory is not supported.

Stand-alone utilities

  • abcconvert

    Convert between Alembic formats.

  • abcecho

    Print information about an Alembic file.

  • abcinfo

    Print information about an Alembic file.

  • chchan

    Copies channel collection to/from action channel format.

  • chcp

    Copies channel collection file to another format.

  • chinfo

    Prints information about a channel collection file.

  • claudio

    Copies CHOP data (clip) to/from audio formats.

  • clchan

    Copies CHOP data (clip) to/from action channel format.

  • clchn

    Copies CHOP data (clip) to/from channel collection format.

  • clcp

    Copies CHOP data (clip) to another format.

  • clinfo

    Prints information about a CHOP data (clip) file.

  • dsmconvert

  • dsmmerge

  • dsparse

    Parses and displays dialog scripts.

  • gabc

    Convert between Alembic and Houdini geometry.

  • gconvert

    Convert between Houdini polygon formats.

  • gdxf

    Converts DXF polygons to/from Houdini format.

  • geodiff

    Display Geometry Differences.

  • geps

    Converts EPS files to Houdini polygon format.

  • giges

  • ginfo

    Prints polygon file statistics.

  • glightwave

    Converts LightWave files to/from Houdini format.

  • gpdb

    Converts .pdb files to/from Houdini format.

  • gplay

    Geometry viewer.

  • gply

    Converts .ply files to/from Houdini format.

  • gptex

    Makes a ptexture image file from a geometry file.

  • greduce

    Reduces polygons in a file.

  • gwavefront

    Converts .obj files to/from Houdini format.

  • hcollapse

    Collapses a directory structure.

  • hcpio

  • hexpand

    Expands hip files into a directory structure.

  • hkey / License Administrator

    Opens a graphical user interface for viewing and managing licenses and license server options.

  • hoiiotool

    Swiss-army knife of image operation tools.

  • hotl utility

    Command line utility to work with .hda/.otl files.

  • hrender

  • hsc

  • hscript

    Command line HScript interpreter.

  • hserver

    Houdini communicates through this proxy server to the sesinetd licensing daemon.

  • htexcache

    Query or modify the disk texture cache.

  • husk

    Command line utility for rendering a USD file using Karma or some other Hydra client.

  • i3dconvert

  • iautocrop

    Crops images based on pixel values.

  • icineon

    Convert images from 10-bit Cineon format to an 8 bit format.

  • icomposite

  • iconvert

    Converts an image of one type to another type.

  • icp

    Isolate a region of an image in a new image.

  • idenoise

    Removes noise from an image file.

  • idiff

    Display Image Differences.

  • iflip - Flip Image

  • iinfo

    Outputs information about an image.

  • ilut

    Generates a lookup table (LUT) from standard channel formats or another LUT.

  • ilutcomp

    Generates a single lookup table (LUT) from two LUTs.

  • ilutinfo

    Prints information about a lookup table (LUT) file.

  • imaketx

    Creates mipmapped .exr, .rat, or .tx textures from image files.

  • imdisplay

    Sends an image to an mdisplay window.

  • Installer

    The Houdini Installer downloads, installs, upgrades, and uninstall Houdini and its components.

  • Migrating From the Old Installer

    The old Houdini Installer is no longer available in Houdini 22

  • iprint

    Prints the RGBA values for an image as text.

  • iquantize

    Reduces the number of colors in an image.

  • isixpack

    Generates an environment/reflection map from six images representing the six sides of a cube, or a cross image.

  • itilestitch

    Assemble a series of image files with crop windows into a single image.

  • izg

    Converts Z-depth images to 8-bit grayscale images.

  • mcacclaim

    Converts an Acclaim motion file to a Houdini script and channel file(s).

  • mcbiovision

    Converts a BioVision motion file to a Houdini script and channel file(s).

  • mcmotanal

    Converts a Motion Analysis TRC motion file to a Houdini script and channel file(s).

  • mcp

    Convert an image sequence to a movie file.

  • minfo

    Prints information about movie files.

  • mqserver

    Message Queue Server for PDG/TOPs

  • renderstatsoverlay

    Generates a (possibly scaled down) version of a rendered image with render statistics baked in.

  • renderstatsreport

    Generates an HTML page containing render statistics from an EXR image.

  • sesictrl

    Sets Houdini license server options from the command line.

  • sesinetd

    The Houdini license server. This program runs in the background managing Houdini licenses.

  • siminfo

    Prints simulation cache file statistics.

  • spiff

    Display Text Differences.

  • spy

    Shell utility for navigating the UNIX filesystem.

  • usdview

    Command line utility for viewing and inspecting USD scenes.

  • vexcache

    Query or modify the VEX compile cache.

  • vexexec

    Execute a cvex shader.