Hiya,
I've dug through some old posts, but thought i'd
see if anything has changed…

Does anyone have a neatish solution for taking animated objects from
houdini to flash? (without having to crash through Swift3D or Livemotion or whatever…)

regards,
Pete

Nope, nothing has changed. Houdini does not export to Flash so you'll have to use an external application.

Cheers!
steven

Check the documentation on the WREN Render Output Operator. Wren can output a sequence of PostScript files which can be imported in Flash.
hdox/houdini/content/helpcards/out/wren.html

Can you please advise on HOW to use wren to write postscript? I have looked through help but it does not explain it.

All I manage to get is :Invalid usage for display command

How do I set the output file type and path?

I am just after a still in the first instance.


Thank you.

OK, I have managed to get a file written but it is empty when opened in Illustrator or similar. I tried writing .ps file and converting to .eps using adobe Distiller (see below) with no luck.

http://forums.odforce.net/index.php?showtopic=1492 [forums.odforce.net]

What else to try?

Any advice? I am still unable to use the postscript files wren is writing. Can anybody please tell me how to open them in Illustrator?

Thank you.

This conversation with myself is a little crazy but here it is in case someone else is interested:

A workflow to write and use Postscript files from wren, Houdini vector renderer:

1. Write a *.ps file from wren.

2. Convert to PDF using Pstill http://www.wizards.de/~frank/pstill.html [wizards.de] (with my complex file, Illustrator gets stuck, it is also larger than its Artboard and is impossible to fix, so instead…)

3. Open in Rhino and rescale to fit when asked. Export as 8.ai

4. Open in Illustrator and edit

And furthermore - all of this is not needed if you simply make sure to specify Paper Dimensions is wren output controls (thanks to the support). Then the resulting *.ps file is readily convertible into PDF with Adobe Distiller and the rest…

I found a workflow. Not perfect in any way, but it works!

Follow these steps to get vector animation from Houdini to Flash:

1) Add a camera to scene.
2) Add a Wren node in the OUT context.
3) Dropdown from Main > Command = Choose Render postscript (paper 8.5x11)
4) Set Properties > Output Picture to your_filename_$F3.eps
5) Check the “Output Postscript” checkbox.
6) Set your frame range and hit the Render button.

7) Install this script into Illustrator. I use CC 2014 myself.

Copy here: Applications > Illustrator CC 2014 > Presets > en_GB > Scripts
http://fake.ly/WxW9 [fake.ly] - importFolderFilesAsLayers.jsx
Or from this thread ( https://forums.adobe.com/thread/892733 [forums.adobe.com] )

8) Restart Illustrator and run “importFolderFilesAsLayers” script on the folder with EPS files.

This opens and imports each EPS on their own layer. Make sure the “Paste Remembers Layers” is NOT checked in Layers options.

9) Save as a single AI.

You could do some optimising here in Illustrator, decrease the file size, ungroup, release clipping mask as well, etc.

10) Open Flash and import the Illustrator file, with Layers as Keyframes option checked. There you go!

Since all lines are disconnected from Houdini Wren, you could break the symbols down in Flash and they will connect automatically.