Hello all,

I'm experiencing troubles with Renderman for Houdini : I can't render, which is annoying. Nothing would launch, be it rendering in the Houdini rendering viewport, rendering in IT, or exporting RIBS.

I'm using Houdini 18.0.287, and Renderman 23.2, on a Windows10 environment
I checked a few points :
1/ Renderman works just fine in Maya - so no Rman install or licence problem

2/ My Environment Variables are OK :
- RMANTREE = C:\Program Files\Pixar\RenderManProServer-23.2\
- RFHTREE = C:\Program Files\Pixar\RenderManForHoudini-23.2\

3/ My houdini.env file is as follow :
RMANTREE=“C:\Program Files\Pixar\RenderManProServer-23.2”
RFHTREE=“C:\Program Files\Pixar\RenderManForHoudini-23.2”
RMAN_PROCEDURALPATH=$RFHTREE\18.0\openvdb;&
HOUDINI_PATH=$RFHTREE\18.0;&
PATH=$RMANTREE\bin;&

Ok, now when I launch Houdini :
1/ the Renderman menu and shelf are fine. The R23ROP icon creates the RIS in OUT context, and in the SHOP is the RisNet with the PXrPathTracer.
2/ The OpenIT button launches IT
3/ If I create a geoSphere (for example) and click the Rman shelf AddSpareParameters, the new parameters appear in the ParameterView.
4/ I can create lights both via the icons or via the tab menu.
5/ I create a Camera and am able to add the specific Spare parameters (rman parameters for motion blur, Dpeth of field, etc.)


Thus, so far so good. But. When I select my sphere and use the renderman shelf Surface icon, I get an error message :
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “rman_pxrsurface”, line 3, in <module>
File “C:/Program Files/Pixar/RenderManForHoudini-23.2/18.0/python2.7libs\menutools.py”, line 69, in createBxdf
mat = hou.node(“/mat”).createNode(“pxrmaterialbuilder”, type)
File “C:/PROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.287/houdini/python2.7libs\houpythonportion\ui.py”, line 851, in decorator
return func(*args, **kwargs)
File “C:/PROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.287/houdini/python2.7libs\hou.py”, line 9251, in createNode
return _hou.Node_createNode(*args, **kwargs)
OperationFailed: The attempted operation failed.
Invalid node type name

Rather stangely, if I create a Material Network, I can create a PxrSurface and assign it to my Sphere. With Drag n' drop.

In the Houdini RenderView, if I try to launch a render, I get a warning, red letters on the upper side of the rendering viewport : Warning : RfH: invalid camera path
My camera seems to be fine though… Nothing fancy.

The IPR shelf button does nothing, doesn't event launch IT.
The Ris Render button does nothing, the Ris ViewRib shows me an empty file

I know I must be missing something basic somewhere, as I was able some times ago to use Renderman21 with Houdini 16.5 and 17.x

Does anyone has a clue ?
Thanks.


Yann.
Take care of yourselves. A little paranoïa can help.

IIRC, the “pxrmaterialbuilder” VOP is implemented in C++ in RfH. The traceback indicates that this VOP is not available. So most likely there is binary incompatibility between the installed RfH and H18.0.287.

There was a similar post about such incompatibility here:
https://www.sidefx.com/forum/topic/72221/ [www.sidefx.com]

Actually, I just checked RMan's support page:
https://rmanwiki.pixar.com/display/RFH23/Installation+of+RenderMan+for+Houdini [rmanwiki.pixar.com]

It states that RenderMan 23.2 is compatible only with H18.0.391. So you will need to install a newer version of Houdini.

Ok, many thanks for you answer.
Sorry for not checking thoroughly in the Renderman forums
I'm downloading the latest version (will take a while with by back-country dsl connection, though…) and will test it.

Thanks you !
Y.