Hello,

Would it be possible to have a summary of the I/O capabilities of Houdini?

On the website, in Apprentice Overview section, many I/O formats are mentioned, but when I create a simple sphere and I go to menu -> File Export I see none of them, there are only FBX and Torque and both of them are disabled…

Is there a special setup to do to export a geometry? What are the export limitations? Is DWG supported?

What are the I/O differences between Houdini versions (Apprentice, Apprentice HD and commercial)?


Thanks a lot,

This might help you

http//www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini10.0/io/

http://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini10.0/io/formats [sidefx.com]

These are in addition to FBX and Torque.

Outputting geometry using other formats can be done in one of two ways. You can put down an output node at the end of your geometry chain and use it to save to disk or you can RMB-click on any node in the geometry chain and choose Save Geometry. There is also a geometry render output node in the output section that supports all the other formats.

The export menu is for more complex formats like FBX and Torque that are designed to handle complete scenes.

Thank you for the answers.

You can put down an output node at the end of your geometry chain and use it to save to disk

Hum, I don't find such a node. Do you have the exact name of it, please?

Is it possible to export nurbs so that I can use them in Rhino?


Small note about the help page:
In the page http://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini10.0/io/formats/geometry_formats [sidefx.com] I have a strange value in columns Read and Write: most of the time it is written ✓ instread of an understandable value.
I use Firefox.


Thx

The node that Rob is referring to is the ROP Output Driver.

I have notified the Documentation team about the errors on the docs page (ID=40013)

Thank you Jenny.

By using this node, can I specify the file format type? I don't see any file extensions listed in the “Show File Matching” dropdown list, in the Choose File window that opens when we click on Output File…

And when I export a .geo file from a tube, I get an error message at import (see attached image).

Do you have a suggestion for my previous question about nurbs export for Rhino?


Best,


Werwack


Suggestion:
To easily report error messages, may I suggest to implement a copy command as in Windows: when the error message window has the focus, doing a ctrl + C will copy all the window content in the form of text in the clipboard.

The ROP Output Driver will allow you to specify the file format you want - based on the options available (shown on the docs page). You just need to type the file format onto the file you are saving. For example “tube.geo”, Or if you are saving a sequence of frames; “tube_$F.geo”

The “Show File Matching” dropdown just shows you what files are already in your directory. It defaults to * - meaning “all”. If you type in something like .bgeo it will show you only the .bgeo files already saved in your directory. The “Show File Matching” dropdown filters your search.

You can certainly export nurb geometry from Houdini. I have no idea if it is a format that can be read by Rhino. Perhaps another user on this forum, that uses Rhino, and can let you know.

We do have an existing RFE (request for enhancement) requesting easier saving methods for error messages.

Please send me your .hip file that is causing these errors.

Hello Jenny,

Sorry for my late answer.
I am not able to reproduce the error I mentioned in my previous reply.

While working with the documentation I have another bug though:

In the web browser where the documentation opens, enter a word in the search field (“output” for instance is a good example for that) and click on the Find button.
The first link, All, will have 627 results and when we click on it the first text line on the right is; Page 1 of 32.
When we click on Guide for eg, which has 27 results, we have access to the page 1 of 2. Unfortunately when we click on Next Page, we get back to the All section and the first line is Page 2 of 32 (instead of page 2 of 2). We then cannot access to a part of the results in the Guide section (or in any other section with more that 1 page of results)…

This appends on Firefox and IE 8.
Houdini Apprentice 10.0.595

Moreover, on IE8, there is a problem with the display: the results are down the page, below a whole block of white emptyness.

We are currently in the process of working through a number of Docs related issues. Please test this again after our next major release.

Thank you Jenny.

By next release, you mean the 10.5?

Among the Docs related issues, would you consider adding some more details in some pages?
Indeed, while trying to learn Houdini I sometimes (hum, well, quite often I'm afraid) find the information I am looking for is not present, and it is quite frustrating because obviously we would expect it to be there.

If you plan to add some density to the reference, I can point out some places where I think it would be very helpful.

Thank you for your understanding.

Yes, next release = Houdini 11

Yes, please submit to Support@SideFx.com your RFEs (request for enhancement) for sections of the docs that need clarification. Please try to be as specific as possible.