Hi, there. I'm releasing an “early version” of a tool I've been working on.
The Wormhole Content Browser is a custom UI for Houdini that enables quick browsing, previewing, and importing of content into Houdini.
Some existing features:
File browser within a pane tab for easy integration with your desktop.
Access browser through parameter context menu to set parameter to a selected file.
Easily generate geometry previews using the viewport or mantra.
Thumbnails are cached to disk for quick access, especially for previously loaded large images.
Import files into SOPs, COPs, or CHOPs.
Plus more!
Note: This tool is in development, but the functionality currently provided is complete. I am offering this version for free to get people to bang on it a bit. I will continue to fix bugs and make limited improvements to this version. I am planning on adding more features like improving workflow interactions with Houdini, and tools to search through content in a future version that may not be free.
Happy new year! I'm starting the new year off with a new version of the Wormhole Content Browser, version 0.3.3. This version addresses some minor issues related to Houdini 18.0 and includes some major performance improvements for thumbnail generation, as well as bug fixes. There is also a feature to create network background images from images in the content browser for easy network editor reference image contact sheet creation.
0.3.3 Release Notes:
Feature: Houdini 18 support.
Feature: Image file context menu action to create a network background image. The image is sized to the current network view and attached to the selected node if one is selected.
Feature: Context menu action to copy shell compatible path to the clipboard.
Feature: FBX file context menu action to merge or load the file by creating OBJ nodes instead of a geometry import SOP.
Feature: Major performance improvements in loading previews of many quick to load files. A directory of 760 small files loads in 3 seconds now instead of 59 seconds! This also translates to better interactivity during loading.
Feature: Configurable time threshold for saving previews to disk cache. This prevents quickly loading files from being added to the cache saving space.
Improved: File label layout is much better.
Improved: Delete the selected content root with the Delete key.
Improved: Remember last content root location between sessions.
Improved: Tooltip help on all context menu actions.
Improved: Undo now works on each context menu action where appropriate.
Fixed: Missing channel file extensions from file CHOP content dialog.
Fixed: Errors when loading icons from HDAs with missing icons.
Fixed: Thumbnails for HDAs now correctly get the icon from the HDA.
Fixed: Error when selecting an item from the content selection dialog and previews are still being loaded.
Fixed: Start browser starts empty so that directories outside of the content root are not shown initially.
Fixed: Clear cache didn't work immediately after enabling the preview cache.
Fixed: Error with automatic mantra rendering of geometry files with compressed extensions (i.e. .bgeo.sc).
Fixed: File tooltips now show the file path native to the current platform (i.e. using \ on windows)
Fixed: Errors when generating viewport preview or importing geometry with invalid custom import sop type. Now a dialog pops up offering to create the default File SOP instead if the given node type doesn't exist.
Fixed: Generate preview actions not showing up on Mac OS X.
Happy autumn! Version 0.4.0 of Wormhole Content Browser for Houdini has been released. This version adds support for Houdini 18.5, initial drag & drop support, some miscellaneous usability additions, and some bug fixes.
One issue users might have run into that still needs some work is the preview cache breaking after switching between certain Houdini versions (such as opening in 18.0 after 18.5). Sorry about that, I did not foresee that being an issue. This version addresses part of the problem by not crashing outright in this case and providing a path to using Content Browser even after this has happened. A future version will provide a better workflow surrounding this.
0.4.0 Release Notes:
Feature: Support for Houdini 18.5.
Feature: Initial drag and drop support from Content Browser into Network Pane. Files can currently only be dropped into a context that corresponds with the file type (i.e. geometry files can only be dropped into a SOP or LOP network). Keep in mind some of the managers (i.e. /img and /ch) are not actually subnet types so cannot take files dropped in them.
Feature: (Houdini 18.0+) Drop files onto a LOP to create appropriate loader and connect it.
Feature: Support for VDB files as generic geometry.
Feature: (Houdini 18.0+) Support for USD files as generic geometry.
Feature: (Houdini 18.0+) Import as USD action.
Feature: Import as alembic action.
Feature: (Houdini 18.0+) Create “Reference Image Object” from image.
Improved: Use Houdini icons for various file types.
Improved: Help avoid selecting custom SOP type and provide feedback when custom SOP type is invalid.
Fixed: Various Import actions failing when Stage viewport is open.
Fixed: Viewport renders failing when Stage viewport is open.
Fixed: Crashes due to invalid or corrupt preview cache.
Fixed: Error when rendering previews of a file that contains invalid geometry.
Happy New Year! Version 0.4.1 of Wormhole Content Browser for Houdini has been released. This version adds support for the Python 3 version of Houdini 18.5 and a small bug fix.
0.4.1 Release Notes:
Feature: Support for Python 3 version of Houdini 18.5.
Fixed: Capture of selection highlight when generating preview with the viewport in certain cases.
This is a fantastic tool, I'm getting attached to it
Thank you for the kind words. I'm happy you've found it useful. If there are features you might be interested in, let me know. I have a ton of ideas already, but don't have time to add everything unfortunately. However, I prioritize requests.
I'm working with it daily, for now I like it as it is but "Favorite directories" for quick access would be cool as well. another thing that happens to me when saving presets, doesn't give me the permission to do so. I deleted the wormhole line from houdini.env and It worked, gave me the permission to save presets, but I loose WCB. what should I do?
Hi, there. The "Favorite directories" is a good idea and shouldn't be too difficult to implement. I'll add that to the list.
I don't really understand what the problem is that you are having with permissions. Do you mean when saving presets with the gear button on the parameters of a node? I noticed that they added a menu to this to allow you to save to various places, including locations on HOUDINI_PATH, of which the WCB install would be one. I tried on windows, linux, and mac various things like making the install read-only, thinking that maybe Houdini was trying to write there, but Houdini handled it cleanly and it didn't produce an error.
Could you post the steps you take that produce the error, and the error message you are seeing? (is it a Houdini window or on the console). Also, which platform, Houdini version, and version of Wormhole Content Browser are you using?
ophiuchus42 Do you mean when saving presets with the gear button on the parameters of a node?
yes. when 'save Preset To; is set to 'no entries', It's saved to the default location which is presets/sop/... and this doesn't happen to me when this houdini.env path: # Wormhole Content Browser install (do not edit by hand) HOUDINI_PATH = $HOUDINI_PATH;C:....Documents\houdini18.5\packages\content_browser_0.4.1;& is set.
Ok, I am seeing the same thing. This seems like a Houdini bug. If you add even an empty directory to the HOUDINI_PATH it does the same thing, even though you can select it to save the preset to. I'll post a bug report to SESI. In the mean time, if you set "Save Preset To" to "$HOUDINI_USER_PREF_DIR" then it should work the same way as without WCB in HOUDINI_PATH.
Hey, MirHadi, the problem seems to be due to duplicate "&" in the HOUDINI_PATH. I think this might be added automatically now, so maybe this is what is happening to you too. Try to remove ";&" from the WCB line in the houdini.env file and see if it starts working again as expected. I was planning on updating the install process to use packages instead of editing houdini.env with the next Houdini version, which should avoid this problem, but I guess I should move it up.
ophiuchus42 Try to remove ";&" from the WCB line in the houdini.env file and see if it starts working again as expected
hello no, that doesn't work for me, in fact I'd done it before, even tab the & to see if It works but no success. using package is a great idea, the best way to implements tools for Houdini. I'm using Mops and few others through packages and they work great.
Hi, MirHadi. Could you try setting it up using a package? I want to make sure that this avoids the problem and will also give you something better to work with. Remove the line from houdini.env and create a .json file in $HOUDINI_USER_PREF_DIR/packages (i.e. C:\Users\me\Documents\houdini18.5\packages\WormholeContentBrowser.json), put this in the contents (using a similar install location to what you posted previously):
BTW, where does it store those thumbnails of geos? I suspect that is why lots of errors rises when opening a scene complaining about not being able to move cache files from here to there!.. that is what I'm thinking, I might be wrong!
The generated thumbnails go into the preview cache. This isn't ideal, but it is how it works now. You can see where the preview cache is on disk by looking in the configuration dialog (the gear button) in the Cache tab. What are the errors you are seeing?
Unable to move the cache: 0 Unable to move cache folder C:\Users\...\AppData\Local\houdini\QtWebEngine\Default\GPUCache to C:\Users\...\AppData\Local\houdini\QtWebEngine\Default\old_GPUCache_002 Unable to create cache Shader Cache Creation failed: -2 Unable to move the cache: 0 Unable to move cache folder C:\Users\...\AppData\Local\houdini\cache\QtWebEngine\Default\Cache to C:\Users\...\AppData\Local\houdini\cache\QtWebEngine\Default\old_Cache_000 Unable to create cache
I don't know what causes it! maybe, maybe it's from MOPs?!!
I'm pretty sure this isn't WCB or MOPs. This is related to QtWebEngine, which is based on the chromium web browser (as is chrome) and Houdini uses it to display help documentation. After a little investigation I found that you get that error if you open chromium web browser in two separate processes. I can get the same error if I open two instances of Houdini and open the Help pane in each. I get those errors when the second one opens. Does this sound like what you are seeing?
I don't think there is anything that can be done about it, except to not open more than one help browser at a time. From what I saw it looked like a fix might be forthcoming with Qt6, but I really doubt Houdini will move to that any time soon.
I installed plugins called "Houdini Expression Editor" and "Houdini Node Bookmarks" from CG Toolbox. after that I get these errors! is it related to those installation?!
Traceback (most recent call last): File "C:/Users/.../Documents/houdini18.5/packages/content_browser_0.4.1/python2.7libs\wormhole\content_browser.py", line 522, in icon key = str(file_info.filePath()) UnicodeEncodeError: 'ascii' codec can't encode character u'\xe1' in position 44: ordinal not in range(128) Traceback (most recent call last): File "C:/Users/.../Documents/houdini18.5/packages/content_browser_0.4.1/python2.7libs\wormhole\content_browser.py", line 350, in data return self.iconProvider().icon(file_info) File "C:/Users/.../Documents/houdini18.5/packages/content_browser_0.4.1/python2.7libs\wormhole\content_browser.py", line 522, in icon key = str(file_info.filePath()) UnicodeEncodeError: 'ascii' codec can't encode character u'\xe1' in position 44: ordinal not in range(128) Traceback (most recent call last): File "C:/Users/.../Documents/houdini18.5/packages/content_browser_0.4.1/python2.7libs\wormhole\content_browser.py", line 350, in data return self.iconProvider().icon(file_info) File "C:/Users/.../Documents/houdini18.5/packages/content_browser_0.4.1/python2.7libs\wormhole\content_browser.py", line 522, in icon key = str(file_info.filePath()) UnicodeEncodeError: 'ascii' codec can't encode character u'\xe1' in position 44: ordinal not in range(128) Traceback (most recent call last): File "C:/Users/.../Documents/houdini18.5/packages/content_browser_0.4.1/python2.7libs\wormhole\content_browser.py", line 320, in run image = self._file_preview.generate_preview_icon(self.file_info) File "C:/Users/.../Documents/houdini18.5/packages/content_browser_0.4.1/python2.7libs\wormhole\houdini.py", line 1261, in generate_preview_icon definitions = self.hou.hda.definitionsInFile(file_info.filePath()) File "C:/PROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/Houdini 18.5.499/houdini/python2.7libs\hou.py", line 46316, in definitionsInFile return _hou.hda_definitionsInFile(self, file_path) hou.OperationFailed: The attempted operation failed.
and for the first time I pasted the contents of these plugins, It complained about "PARMmenu.xml" or something like that. don't know what's going on:S
