Hi,

I am evaluating using Houdini for our Unreal Engine Project.

In order to get it working I use the Plugin (compile from github) and enable the Houdini Plugin in Unreal.
However it does not seem to work without installing the Houdini Engine properly.
I can import houdini assets, but placing them in a level triggers a message telling me that cooking/etc does not work because the Houdini Engine is not installed (which is correct, I do not have the Houdini Engine installed).
Does that mean though, that every team member has to have the Houdini Engine installed in order to cook/use Houdini in Unreal?
Does that also means that every developer on the Project needs a Houdini license, even though the developer only works in Unreal?

Thanks,
Marc

I'm not an expert in the licensing side of stuff, but I'll try to give you my best guess quickly and ask someone more knowledgeable to check it over.

marcblumrich
Does that mean though, that every team member has to have the Houdini Engine installed in order to cook/use Houdini in Unreal?

Yes. Everyone using Houdini Engine to use assets in Unreal needs Houdini Engine installed.

marcblumrich
Does that also means that every developer on the Project needs a Houdini license, even though the developer only works in Unreal?

Close. You'll need a license of Houdini Engine for everyone concurrently using assets in Unreal. They don't need a full Houdini license. A full Houdini Core license is needed for anyone authoring new assets, though.

Hopefully that clarifies things a bit, and hopefully I didn't get too many details wrong.

In order to use an asset inside a host application (UE4, Unity, Maya C4D), Houdini must be installed on the same computer as the host and a license that can run Houdini Engine must be accessible.

If you are running Houdini (CORE or FX) on your computer then the Engine will use that same Houdini (CORE or FX) license and you are good to go. If someone else needs to use the asset but doesn't have a Houdini license then they will need a Houdini Engine license. This license is only needed when you first create the asset and any time you recook it by modifying a parameter or other input value.

When you save your level/scene and open it again a cached version of the results are in place and a recook isn't needed so a license isn't pulled until you make a change.

Therefore a pool of floating engine licenses will often serve a larger team rather than one per artist. Unless of course the assets are being updated regularly at which time more licenses will be required.

Robert

My apologies for tagging along on this older post. I was just hoping to get some clarification on the following statements to work out how many licenses we would need and/or afford.

If we have a team of say 10 developers, but only 2 developers will ever modify Houdini assets in UE4;

• All developers ever opening the editor will require the Houdini UE4 plugin, to view the cached result which is included in the Houdini asset.
  
• The UE4 plugin requires Houdini Engine to be installed on the machine, but does not care whether a license is available, as long as a Houdini asset is not being modified.
  
• A floating license will only be consumed once a Houdini asset is modified.
  

As in this example we only want 2 of our developers to ever modify the Houdini assets. Is it possible for a the plugin to be configured as read-only (disable modifications / only ever show the cached result)? So that we can safely assume that our 2 developers will always have a license available to use?

On the subject of build machines; a build machine will only consume a Houdini license from the pool when cooking Houdini Assets. Does this mean that when it encounters a Houdini Asset it gets a license which is returned once done with that asset. Or does it keep the license for a certain amount of time/ until the cook is done?

My main concern in all of this is developers accidentally consuming a license. As it can cause the build systems to fall over and/or deny developers who actively need to work with the Houdini Assets.

Thank you for your time!

mverkerk
All developers ever opening the editor will require the Houdini UE4 plugin, to view the cached result which is included in the Houdini asset.

Yes, you need to have the plugin installed locally to open a project that uses the plugin. The cached result is usually resident in the map, unless you've baked out the results to mesh assets.

The UE4 plugin requires Houdini Engine to be installed on the machine, but does not care whether a license is available, as long as a Houdini asset is not being modified.

Correct, where modified means houdini-cooking the asset - this happens when a parameter is changed which requires the asset output to be re-evaluated.

A floating license will only be consumed once a Houdini asset is modified.

Yes, any houdini-cook operation will need a license.

Is it possible for a the plugin to be configured as read-only (disable modifications / only ever show the cached result)? So that we can safely assume that our 2 developers will always have a license available to use?

Sorry, I'm not aware of any way to make an actor read-only in the UE4 editor. However you can change the settings in the license manager on the local machine so that looking up the license will fail.

On the subject of build machines; a build machine will only consume a Houdini license from the pool when cooking Houdini Assets. Does this mean that when it encounters a Houdini Asset it gets a license which is returned once done with that asset. Or does it keep the license for a certain amount of time/ until the cook is done?

The build machine shouldn't require a license because the houdini-cooking is done before saving out the map.

chrisgreb

mverkerk
Is it possible for a the plugin to be configured as read-only (disable modifications / only ever show the cached result)? So that we can safely assume that our 2 developers will always have a license available to use?

Sorry, I'm not aware of any way to make an actor read-only in the UE4 editor. However you can change the settings in the license manager on the local machine so that looking up the license will fail.

Yes I meant having the plugin act as read/observe only

Thank you for the quick reply!

Hi,

That's correct, to build the plugin from source, you need to have Houdini installed because the plugin requires the HAPI include files to be built.

Every team member that wishes to build the plugin will either require Houdini installed, or at least, have those HAPI include files. You could try copying these files in the plugin's directory, and modify the plugin's build.cs files to look for the headers in the new directory.

A license is not needed for building the plugin, and is only needed to instantiate new HDAs, cook them (change parameters etc…). A team member who doesn't have a license will still be able to open levels with placed HDAs, but not use them.
To that extent we have two settings (in Project Settings > Houdini Engine) that prevents cook calls to happen:
Disable “Enable Cooking” and enable “Pause Cooking On start” on machines who doesnt need a Houdini license.

see https://www.sidefx.com/docs/unreal/_settings.html#SettingCooking [www.sidefx.com]