Hi !

I'm working on a quite heavy scene and I've noticed when I select a node with display or template flags off houdini still cooks it to show a “thumbnail” of the node in the viewport.
On heavy scenes it's quite annoying Is there a was to change that behavior ? Can't find it in the preferences but maybe I'm missing something !

Cheers !

Oh and, I'd like to keep the Auto Update mode ON, I'd like just to force only nodes with display flags ON to cook …

Bypass does that. shift-B on the node

Thanks but actually I want the node not in Bypass mode, but I'd just like that when I select that node it's not cooked

You can do that if viewport is not visible. I hide viewport with a Ctrl + B on parameter or other one pane. It's very useful if you need to open a file without cooking you scene.

Thanks fsimerey, good to know ! So no “Don't-ghost-selected-node” option somewhere ..

If you RMB click on the Select Geometry tool (2nd icon down on the left toolbar), you'll get a menu with a radio list at the bottom - “Show Display Operator” and “Show Current Operator”. Change this to show the display operator, and it won't display the current geometry in the viewport when you select a SOP.

You made my day sir Cheers !!

twod
If you RMB click on the Select Geometry tool (2nd icon down on the left toolbar), you'll get a menu with a radio list at the bottom - “Show Display Operator” and “Show Current Operator”. Change this to show the display operator, and it won't display the current geometry in the viewport when you select a SOP.

How do I do this in Houdini 16.5?

It hasn't changed in 16.5:

malexander
If you RMB click on the Select Geometry tool (2nd icon down on the left toolbar), you'll get a menu with a radio list at the bottom - "Show Display Operator" and "Show Current Operator". Change this to show the display operator, and it won't display the current geometry in the viewport when you select a SOP.

my goodness, thank you!!! This was driving me insane!

Just re-installed Houdini recently, I thought the cooking was broken :o
Can "Show Display Operator" be the default?
Selecting a node to move it or edit parameters doesn't mean you want to cook it.
or maybe it's just me?
And you have to restart Houdini for that cooking behaviour to change. not super intuitive.

bunker__
Just re-installed Houdini recently, I thought the cooking was broken :o
Can "Show Display Operator" be the default?
Selecting a node to move it or edit parameters doesn't mean you want to cook it.
or maybe it's just me?
And you have to restart Houdini for that cooking behaviour to change. not super intuitive.

I totally agree — I’ve brought this up multiple times in beta programs and filed RFEs (#74849: 9 years old). To me, selection and cooking should be two completely separate operations. Most of the time, it doesn’t even make sense to cook selected nodes. For example, if you select multiple nodes, what are you supposed to see? Nothing actually appears in the viewport. Same with volumes — if the display flag is off, you see absolutely nothing, yet you're still forced to wait for the node to cook.

Even the current “Show Display Operator” setting is broken IMO. If you're in a tool mode where guides need to be shown, then yes, it should cook. But right now it doesn't, which breaks that workflow too.

Ideally, there should just be one smart mode that does the right thing based on context — display when it matters, stay idle when it doesn't.