I'm trying to wrap my head around the Parameter Spreadsheet because I need to edit multiple objects from an imported FBX. But as usual the Docs are useless, I can't seem to find much info about it and things are far from intuitive.

Is it even possible to add a "clean" node to 150 objects in the Parameter Spreadsheet, and edit the attributes to be removed ?

Or am I knocking at the wrong door ??

If anyone could shed some light on this I'd be very grateful.

Thanks.

As far as I know there is no way to add nodes through the Parameter spreadsheet, only to edit the parameters of existing ones. Adding 150 nodes would be done through a Python script.

You could however create a node setup that imports an object through Object Merge and then clean it, duplicate it 150 times and edit the Object Merge's paths and the Clean parameters through the Spreadsheet.

Hey thanks, that's what I was afraid of.

Seems without scripting you quickly run into a wall in Houdini.

That's not been my experience, maybe if you give more info about your problem me or somebody else can propose another way to do it.

Well, it's a very basic problem to be honest, and I'm amazed it's still an issue in Houdini.

It's just an FBX with a lot of geo nodes or objects that I need to render with Redshift, but I need to clean the material override properties somehow for the Redshift material to have an effect.

And because strangely enough one can't edit or even select multiple SOP's simultaneously in Houdini it's an issue I run into a lot.

Every time I need to edit multiple SOP's for any reason at all I run into this and most of the time I bite the bullet and edit them one at a time manually.

But that goes for any SOP, for instance; it's often not smart to transform an object at the Geo level because you'll run into problems later on, so it's better to add a transform node.

But that will cause the same problem if one needs to edit multiple Transform SOPs at the same time...you can't

Editing multiple sops in the parameter spreadsheet is entirely possible. Just enter the path to your sops in Op Mask, using * as a wildcard, enter the name of the parameter to edit in Parm Mask and edit away.

Hey thanks.

But adding a "clean" SOP is only possible with a script, or merging the objects before.

In this department Houdini reminds me a lot about Imagine on the Amiga in the '90s ;-)

So how can I merge multiple Geo nodes into a single one without creating a new Geo Node and manually adding 150 to an "Object Merge" ?

The screencap is just a simple example with 3 geo nodes, but imagine it's 150.

Hi! Basic things with Python is not that hard. Usually I check with Stackoverflow because I can’t remember everything.

Anyway, could you please make a file that manually do exactly what you want, but with 2-3 nodes. Everything need to be there.

In the picture there seem to be something hing missing.

Sorry if I don’t understand I had only appx 2 minutes to read thus.

Someone can help you, I’m positive. The case just need to be overaimplified and über clear.

Cheers!

Hey thanks.

I solved it with Bundles now, but it would be much nicer to be able to just select some Geo nodes and merge the embedded SOP's into a new Geo node.

It's a very basic problem actually, what I have is some Geo nodes with geometry as in the image I attached before, and what I like to automate somehow is what's in the image I attached now.

Great! Sorry for my a bit stupid questions but when you develop you have to think both like a computer (exact everything) and also what a human expect.

So some clarifications:
Is there one or many fbx?
Do you want 150 spheres?
Do you have a list of files or do you want say all files in a folder?

So good you found a solution, that is what matters.

Also, as a rule of thumb I don’t like to develop things that are merely ”nice to have”, unless it is used quite often.

So, if I got this right: All you have is a lot of geo nodes inyour network, you select all manually, push a button, and all are merged. Is that it?

Sorry for my stupid seemingly questions, I’m outside watching my 3 year kid, so this is just a bit casual.

It seems to me a simple thing:

1. Collect the selected node paths as relative into a list.
- split the strings at ”/” and take the last item
- Make a list called paths_list
- Then you can append all paths to the list.

2. Create a merge node, get the path to it.
- A create node method should exist in the parent node. Otherwise maybe it is easy to steal code from a shelf.
- a node’s path is: node_path = hou.node(’node_name’).path()

3. Use the methods included in the merge node an just push all items there.
- drag and drop a node in the python editor and then just write ’.’ after it. You should see the methods included. If needed prefix it with n= (drag and drop). Then write n. then methods show up.
- Use a ”for path in paths_list:” to connent each item to the merge inputs. I don’t know exactly how this method looks, but there is built in help once you try it in the Python editor.

The above is not tested, but I’d expect it to work.

In this case there's a single FBX with lot of different types of objects, the sphere's are just an example I used to simplify explaining the issue.

But even without an imported FBX it would be great to have a way to merge multiple plain vanilla Geo nodes into a single one with the click of a button. And not having to manually add them one by one, and to be honest I'm surprised stuff like this is not easier in a node based app like Houdini .

But it sounds like you are planning on developing a tool or script ? But you don't have to do that for me, I was just trying to figure if there's a way to circumvent the strange limitations of Houdini without having to learn how to write scripts.

Thanks.

Agree! I’d expect this to exist already. In the shelves system there are many tools not activated. You can check at ”merge”. Also, try selecting nodes and shift/ctrl click on a ”merge” tool, if you find, especially if it is in the shelf.

Anyway, I’d expect to be able to make a snippet of code in 30 min later. Feel free to have a go with step 1, 2 or 3.

Cheers!

But even without an imported FBX it would be great to have a way to merge multiple plain vanilla Geo nodes into a single one with the click of a button.

Just use a wild card? Put all your fbx imports inside the same "fbx_import" subnet, then Object merge /obj/fbx_import/*

Sorry for my guesswork, I had no access to a computer, but I hope you still got something out of it.

I’m starting to suspect the best solution for this are Bundles or Wildcards.

Would be nice if there were a way to automate merge nodes, but I think trying to take that road is like "pulling a dead horse" as we tend to say :-)

But muchas gracias for all the pointers.