Hi all,

So I installed the Houdini Creation Desk http://houdinicreationdesk.ipage.com/ [houdinicreationdesk.ipage.com], but what I get looks pretty much like the GUI that's shown on this website's front page.
What I'd like would be similar to Jordi's PDF, houdiniguides_chapter1_generalconcepts.pdf , at page 10.
I managed to add tabs in the right half, but not in the left half despite a long clicking Frenzy! :x And then when I restart Houdini, the tabs I added are gone :evil:
So do I have to dig in the docs to customize everything or is there something I did wrong to set it up quickly?

Second question: why do I have to download a full preference folder, and replace all my user pref folder, just for a single GUI layout? In Softimage, for a GUI layout, one just had to put a single file in a folder, not a full set of files and folders…

And last question: can this preference folder be moved to somewhere else? I don't like prefs to sit in my document folders, it should logically go in C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Sidefx

Thanks all
David

Hi,.

I'm fighting too

for the first tabs, well just retry… or click the plus icon right to the network tab ?

for the layout, no it's just one file, on you HOME config dir /desktop

for moving the pref folder, you'll find in you HOME documents/houdini an houdini.env file, on this one add a line like this for a master pref folder, overinding the one in your documents with a “HSITE” variable:

HSITE = Cmy/new/config/directory

and duplicate all the file from you documents, now you have a sharable config folder like a softimage workgroup

or i think you can create a windows environment $HOME variable

http://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini13.0/basics/config [sidefx.com]

now, all this are conf files and i would really like a small tutorial making a .bat file or something helping to automate this and definitly use the $JOB variable to work like softimage with projects folders…

Here are my config files for Houdini so you can install them… please be aware you may want to fiddle with it as this is my personal setup.

Hope it helps.

Ahhh looks good 8) Thanks again Jordi.

Thanks Nnois for answering me. So I only needed the Creation_Desk.desk file from Jordi? Nice to hear. In this case why the Creation Desk website gives the whole pack of prefs to put in the “home” folder?

As I'm still a newbie in Houdini, I was wondering if anyone could answer the 2 other questions as well … ?

I have noticed there's also another folder in “my documents” : .config
What I'm trying to do is to relocate this folder, along with the “houdini13.0” folder, to another place…

I managed to add tabs in the right half, but not in the left half despite a long clicking Frenzy! And then when I restart Houdini, the tabs I added are gone

Houdini doesn't save your layout unless you explicitly tell it to (Windows > Desktops > Save Current Desktop (As)), or you have Autosave Desktops on. You can turn Autosave Desktops on in Windows > Desktops > Desktop Manager, then Options > Auto save desktops. This option used to be On by default, but too many users were wrecking their desktops, so it was decided to switch its default state to Off. If you prefer this workflow, you can turn it on and see how it works for you.

And last question: can this preference folder be moved to somewhere else? I don't like prefs to sit in my document folders, it should logically go in C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Sidefx

This was recently added to the dev version of Houdini as an environment variable, but it's not available in H13.0.

Thanks Twod for the desktop saving tips!
So I understand it's not possible to move these 2 folders in H 13?
Also thanks for taking the time to answer me. A community where developers contribute feels just like home

So I understand it's not possible to move these 2 folders in H 13?

No, but I'll check with the dev that added the feature and see if it'd be reasonable to backport to H13.