So I'm having issues importing and saving models in Houdini Apprentice 15.5.673 Windows 10. Half the time when I import an obj there is no mesh brought in, but there is the node indicating the model in the side panel and that the model is not hidden. Sometimes a model successfully imports, other times it doesn't. I am exporting Obj's from Blender and sometimes I have to try multiple exports for an obj to load into Houdini.

Once I've actually gotten my models imported, I save the file and close. Next time I go to open the Houdini file there is nothing there except the nodes for the meshes on the right hand side again. No models though. I've tried selecting the node for the mesh and scaling it up, but nothing appears. This is happening every time. I feel like I always have the worst of luck trying new programs and they always bug out on me half the time.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

It would indeed seem like your having a tough time. All you need to use is a file sop to read your geometry mesh, remember the geometry sits on disk and the file sop reads it. So if you move the geometry file , your file sop will not be able to find it.

Rob

Hi, there are a couple of things you can check to see what might be happening.

1. Select the file node/model. Press G in the viewport, this will focus the camera to the selected geometry.

2. Middle-click on the file node. - This will give you a pop-up box which displays information on the file (model). Check what size it is. (Houdini uses 1 unit = 1 meter) It's likely that your model is either very small or very large.

Rob

@circusmonkey: Yeah haven't moved any of the obj files at any point in time.

@robsdesign: Pressing G centers my viewport yet nothing is there. Middle clicking on the file node actually reveals an error as you can see in the screenshot below.

Hmm, after the successful atempts at loading the obj's if I edited the models in some way it properly saves and can be reloaded after restarting the program… Not sure why but here's hoping it continues to work and I don't lose my work down the road.

Here is a more detailed error report on a failed obj import:

Share your file and we can have a look.

Just a guess:

Filename of the model is set to tree$F.obj
($F is a global variable holding the current frame number.)
So when your are on frame 1, it expands to “tree1.obj”

The error states you're doing stuff with a timeblend sop. Maybe the file-sop is evaluated at another frame number than 1, so that now the file-sop is pointing to a non-valid filename (e.g. tree2.obj)?

and get rid of any spaces in the file path and file name.

Hi, as bollili says above, the $F variable might be the issue. When you select the file in the file browser, there will be a tickbox option: “Show sequences as one entry”. It's default is on, try deselecting and load in the file. (or simply remove the $F from the file string)

Thanks guys, you were right, that $F variable was the issue due to there bing a number to designate several files. So it was choosing a collection of files of say tree01, tree02, and tree03 rather than one single file. Ticking that box robsdesign did the trick! Thanks very much for all the help, glad to see there is a good community of support in this forum!