Hi,

I bought houdini indie on steam but I am unable to locate houdini engine during the install. Does it come with it? Am I able to use the houdini plugin for unreal by using houdini indie launched on steam? I am confused.

Hi,

Yes, you can use the UE4 plugin with the steam version of Houdini.

To install the plugin, you can either manually copy the plugin's HoudiniEngine from the houdini install directory (under engine/unreal/4.XX) to the engine/plugins/runtime/ folder in Unreal.
Alternatively, you can launch houdini, and use the houdini engine installer shelf tool.

Once the plugin is installed, when starting houdini on steam, you should have the option to start a houdini engine server (either named pipe/or tcp). You should leave it open, then start unreal.
Make sure that the session settings in Unreal matches what is indicated by HE Server
(by default, the ue4 plugin uses named pipe, “hapi”)

You should then be able to instantiate and use an HDA in Unreal.

dpernuit
Once the plugin is installed, when starting houdini on steam, you should have the option to start a houdini engine server (either named pipe/or tcp). You should leave it open, then start unreal.
Make sure that the session settings in Unreal matches what is indicated by HE Server
(by default, the ue4 plugin uses named pipe, “hapi”)

You should then be able to instantiate and use an HDA in Unreal.

Just to clarify - in this case will it be possible to run Houdini and UE4+HoudiniEngine at the same time with no conflicts?

Yes, though with Steam only allowing you to launch one software via the steam UI, you'll likely have to launch Houdini manually via the exe in the houdini steam install folder.