I am totally new to 3d modeling in general and think I am gonna pretty much exclusively learn Houdini.

However, I purchased a model from 3dexchange and want to import it into Houdini (Apprentice). The model is in various formats, including dfx, obj, iwo, 3ds, mb.

Can someone tell me how to import it or where to find out how?

I tried import geometry and nothing shows up in the viewport, but there is a preview option before importing and I can sorta see the shape of the object I am trying to import.


Thanks for any help!

Under the create tool bar in the main menu. Select the FILE operation to import in your geometry. .Obj works very well

R

Thanks.

Does it normally take a long time? I have a window that says “Evaluating Python”. It has been going 10 minutes without any progress bar.

I am running ubuntu with quadcore and 8800gtx.

As with anything that depends on the hardware you are using and the poly count of your .obj model. I have not seen any posts refering to any problems.

r

When loading a .obj, there is actually an external programme used to convert the geometry.

I recommend doing this “manually” in the shell, then you get a Houdini native .bgeo which will load in a File SOP without slow conversions (next time).

If you model name is: MyModel.obj do this in a shell that has had Houdini initialized in it:

gwavefront MyModel.obj MyModel.bgeo

If the above takes a long time, then it's a pretty big model!

Give it a try

Cheers,

Peter B

I finally got the model to import. I first tried obj and had a bunch of issues with primitive group selection and just used dxf file–which worked great, just no UVs

Anyway whenever I import the model (obj or dxf) is is about 100x the size of my construction plane. I am not sure the best way to scale it down? There is an option on file with pre-transform, etc. But not sure if this is best way?

Any suggestions?


Thanks.

One other idea that may or may not work. If you have 3DS Max, then you can try loading the .3ds file in that and then saving it out as an FBX file, which then gets imported into Houdini.

Is the FBX format better? Also is there any way to get actual materials with any export from any other app?

I am just wondering if you modeled/uv/textured/shaded something in Maya would you always have to retexture/uv/shade in houdini if you wanted to render it in Houdini?



Thanks again

FBX import in Houdini is in early release ‘test’ mode, but it's pretty nice.

It does it's best to setup shaders that are along the lines of the original, but of course it's a different renderer, you can't just swap over. Different renderer - different shaders.

UVs from Maya come over fine with both obj and FBX.

Cheers,

J.C.

Thanks for all the help.

Another quick question, after the import, I end up with one geometry, but it appears to have primitive groups defined. Is there a node that would help me convert some of these primitive groups into their own Houdini geometry?

I am guessing that I would want separate geometry objects if I was to animate or use dynamics?


Thanks again for all the help!!!

That is one of my gripes as well. There should be a script or something.

Jason Iverson had a script that broke out Prim groups into their own objects.

If I had Houdini available I'd whip one up, but alas, I don't

Cheers,

Peter B

Thanks! Just found script on exchange. Will try it out.

Would it be possible to make a similar script in python? The one on exchange is an Hscript–I think. Was thinking that it might be cool to have a shelf item to do it or something.

Also, would I run the hscript outside of Houdini? Or is there some command line inside houdini. Sorry, tried reading docs on this but didn't make it clear–think I do it outside.


Thanks