Hi all! I'm making my first non-tutorial shelf tool and I just wanted to ask about the best practices for how to set everything up. It is a similar flow to the Flames tool in the Pyro FX shelf.
So the basic flow of the tool will be this: User selects a Geometry OBJ User clicks my shelf tool which does this:
An HDA is added on to the end of the SOP network inside the selected OBJ Two DOP networks are created at the OBJ level which have parameter references to the HDA
So my question is, should I be hard coding everything in python other than the HDA? As in, the script content of the tool would be to get the selection, add the HDA onto the end and then create the other (DOP) networks with python code. Or is there some better way to do this? I'm also a little unsure of the best practices in terms of calling in and executing outside scripts vs. just putting the code straight into the tool.
Hi, Your workflow seems logical . I would use the shelf tool to execute your tool and create the HDA nodes. Your HDA nodes can use python, which is basically going to pull in pre existing houdini hda assets like the solvers and set a few parameters and have an interface. Unless of course you want to make some scratch solvers.
On a side note I often take an existing internal houdini otl and use a shelf tool to set values / paths etc. As taking an existing otl and wrapping it up in your own otl can become a nested mess ! .
