I am trying to learn how to write (code) vex shaders in houdini and when I try to follow along with the pdf that came with houdini aprentice and I type in touch or any other command that is in the pdf I get an error that says “'touch' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.” I am a windows xp user.

the answer is at 3dBuzz here [sv3.3dbuzz.com]

How do I set up the environment variables and how do I get people to answer a question in terms that someone like me can understand? I don't know anything about coding. I do, however know how to read plain english and I am looking for tutorials or web sites to go to that will explain it to me taking into account that I don't understand.
I was getting responses in a language that I don't understand so I came here.

Google Search: “Environment Variables Windows XP”
1st hit.
http://www.windows-help.net/WindowsXP/howto-04.html [windows-help.net]

Google Search: “touch command”
3rd Hit.
http://nscp.upenn.edu/aix4.3html/cmds/aixcmds5/touch.htm [nscp.upenn.edu]

I don't mind answering questions all day long but looking around first for the answer can save you some time.

I'm not being mean. One of the most important things to learn in life is how to learn. The internet is full of understandable anwsers to questions, and generally you can learn a bunch of other stuff in the process.

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day.
Teach a man to fish and he will never be hungry (for fish). :wink:

jim.

there is a discussion about environment variables here:
http://www.sidefx.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=979 [sidefx.com]

but I think the posts at 3DBuzz are a pretty good place to start….

as I said there…post specific problems and you'll get specific answers
you don't really need to use cygwin….
you can just use Notepad to write your vex files, just be sure to save them as *.vfl before you compile them…

Wolfwood
Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day.
Teach a man to fish and he will never be hungry (for fish). :wink:

jim.

No, give a man a fish and he eats for a day.
TEACH a man to fish and he'll spend all of his time in the basement tying flies.
LOL