I'm just wondering if there would be a better way to do this.

I'm using Maya to create Models since it's an environment I'm comfortable in. But at the moment, the UX for working with Houdini is a lot stronger. My pipeline is to export barebones USD files from Maya with two groups Geometry Render Version and Proxy Version. I'm taking these into Houdini, plugging them into the component builder, and building the Materials. I've attached the only way I've figured out how to get USD files accepted by the component builder in the attached image.

This pipeline is OK; It works. But I'm wondering if anyone has better solutions.

Upon export from the component builder to USD, it repackages the Geogemtry instead of referencing the USD files; this is a shame since now if I want to update that geometry, I'll have to open the Houdini file with the component builder and re-export it.

I have the exact same question, any help would be appreciated, the materials are already bound for my objects as usd, but i want them to go through component builder to organize them and save it to disk for reuse.

As far as I understand it, the component builder was made to make usd assets from none usd data. If you already have usd files you would need to create a workflow specifically tailored to what input data you have.

Mohanpugaz
I have the exact same question, any help would be appreciated, the materials are already bound for my objects as usd, but i want them to go through component builder to organize them and save it to disk for reuse.

If you have geometry with materials bound to it (i guess this means that the material itself is also in the usd file and is attached to the respective primitves), then this is pretty much (at least in parts) what the componentbuilder does. So what is the point of using the component builder if you already have a usable asset?

all usd data aren't realy as ready to use as what we build with the components builder. for example if you download a model that is in usd format but it may not have materialX shaders, it may not proxy geos, it may not have variants, so that's why I want to run it through the component builder so that it can be used in Layout LOP, or can be easily instanced, basically organized for reuse inside houdini.

in my case I have asset with material assignments to it but the material itself is just usd preview surface with just basecolor applied, it has like 20 materials. i have built mtlx equalants with same name and path. and sublayered it to the asset. but I was stuck when I was trying to run it through component builder for generating proxy mesh and setup variants.

I have anyways figured out a technique to keep the material assignments intact when doing this. I will post a video about it when I get time.

Have you tried switching the Component Geometry node into "Referenced Files" mode instead of "Internal SOP Network" mode? Then you can just point to the Maya-generated render and proxy USD files and they should be referenced into your asset.

mtucker
Have you tried switching the Component Geometry node into "Referenced Files" mode instead of "Internal SOP Network" mode? Then you can just point to the Maya-generated render and proxy USD files and they should be referenced into your asset.

Hi Yeah I recently figured that out. Thanks for pointing it out.
That is definitely helpful.