I downloaded Renderman 23.4 (Non-Commercial Version/Houdini 18.0.532 on Windows 10) and the bloody confounded thing just won't work!!!! You hit render and simply Nada!! Nothing happens! Just a measly “Generating scene…” notification and that's it!
I went through the entire installation help page and even there, contradictory instructions exist like at the very beginning they noted:
The environment variable for RfH must be listed first in the houdini.env file. (Windows requires a semi-colon) For example:
HOUDINI_PATH=$RFHTREE/18.0.532:&
And then at the end of the page here's their recommendation on how RfH should look like in trhe Houdini.env file:
I commented out all the other lines, just so to avoid any conflicts, still nothing! I would wildly appreciate any help I can get, cuz this is simply driving me nuts! >:-B
Do you have any other 3rd party renderers installed besides Renderman? Those can conflict with each other. Rather than using the houdini.env file, I would suggest using the “packages” system for enabling plugins. It's more compartmentalized and less messy. Get rid of all the Renderman junk in your env file, create a folder called packages (if it doesn't exist already) under your houdini18 home directory, and place the attached Renderman.json file into this folder. 3Delight uses this system by default and hopefully other developers follow suit.
Thank you for your reply and the json file. I do have the trial version of Redshift installed but I commented out all of its relevant lines. And now, even with the json file I put in the “Packages” folder, absolutely nothing changed When I hit “IPR Render” nothing happens and when I hit render, nothing but the same… This is really driving me crazy! Great Job Pixar!!!
Wish I could say the same I even deleted my env file and had Houdini create a new one with the json file in packages folder, this shit refuses to work by George!!!
DaJuice Maybe try repairing/re-installing Renderman noc2. You haven't unchecked any part of the install, such as Renderman ProServer?
Hi again @DaJuice. To be honest, I've never been able to use RMan on my workstation, ever. It's always been giving me hell. I didn't uncheck anything during install and hence the result Renderman forums are by far, the worst I've ever seen. There's hardly any activity going on there and I couldn't find any topic that could help me out with my problem. And by the looks of it, I'm not the only one. There are lots of rants from people who are having the same damn problem.
Like I said, the plugin is recognized by Houdini and the shelf gets installed fine. I create a camera and a light and a Renderman rop, yet to no avail. No error messages, nothing. Just a “Generating Scene…” prompt on the top right corner of the renderview.
Should totally work then. I would try completely zeroing out your Houdini.env file, get rid of anything else and start from scratch. I'm in Houdini Indie and was able to get Renderman going without any issue.
Just for anyone who will encounter similar issues. Installation via .json file and Houdini packages folder.
1. Make sure RenderMan for Houdini is Python 3 version. 2. Use installation via packages (json file). RenderMan has provided a json file at: "C:\Program Files\Pixar\RenderManForHoudini-25.2\packages\renderman_for_houdini.json" 3. Copy-paste this file to: "C:\Users\Dmitriy\Documents\houdini19.5\packages" (houdini<your_version_of_houdini>). 4. Delete everything related to Renderman from houdini.env as json file will do the same and if both are used together, it may cause conflicts. Related post: https://www.sidefx.com/forum/topic/71405/?page=1#post-302661 [www.sidefx.com]
When I hit “IPR Render” nothing happens and when I hit render, nothing but the same… This is really driving me crazy! 
