Apologies if this is obvious, but I had a good crack on Google before posting.

When working with Softimage, I like to launch it using a my own launcher that calls my own preferences that sit on a location of my choosing (one that stays constant wherever I am working using a symlink).

What files, folders or environment variables would I have to copy/set to have truly portable preferences with Houdini? so I could launch it on a different machine and have it exactly the way I want it, wherever I am.

Again, apologies if it's obvious (or indeed if this post in general makes no sense whatsoever).

Also, would there be issues launching commercial and non-commercial versions with the same prefs? (same version number, obviously)

Thanks.

DAN

It depends exactly what you mean by “preferences”, but yes, there are several environment variables for paths, a few of which are:

• HOUDINI_PATH - main root search path
  
• HOUDINI_DESK_PATH - desktop search path
  
• HOUDINI_DSO_PATH - plugins
  
• HOUDINI_OUTLINEFONT_PATH - true type fonts
  
• HOUDINI_TOOLBAR_PATH - shelves
  
  
  You can get a complete list of path variables by running ‘hconfig -ap’ (all paths) in a shell.

Thanks twod.

Let me simplify my question without all the fluff

How can I setup Houdini just the way I like it, take all those customizations and settings, copy them to a USB stick (for example) and use them when I launch Houdini on another machine somewhere entirely different - different machine, network, city, country, continent…

With Softimage I can take my Softimage user folder and copy it to a USB stick. I can then create a symlink at, for example: cdan_USB/dan_user_folder that links to the folder on the USB stick. I then launch Softimage using my own launcher that sets the pertinent environment variables relating to the user home location and I have all my keymapping and other settings wherever I go. I'm still launching the locally installed Softimage but it's using my portable preferences and settings.

Hope that's clearer.

Your preferences are stored in your home directory ($HOME) in the houdini13.0 directory (or houdiniX.X, depending on the version), so you should be able to copy that to a USB stick and tote it around with you.

twod
Your preferences are stored in your home directory ($HOME) in the houdini13.0 directory (or houdiniX.X, depending on the version), so you should be able to copy that to a USB stick and tote it around with you.

If you want to be particularly evil, you could also try to change the value of $HOME in your launcher script (I just tried pointing it to /tmp and nothing seemed to break, YMMV however).

Thanks Halfdan, that's exactly what I was looking for!

twod
Your preferences are stored in your home directory ($HOME) in the houdini13.0 directory (or houdiniX.X, depending on the version), so you should be able to copy that to a USB stick and tote it around with you.

Thanks twod!