Hey there, it's been a looong time since I've setup Cygwin, and I honestly don't remember which libraries I was recommended to be using at the time. Can't seem to find the email where I had received that advice either.

Can anyone recommend which libraries should be installed with Cygwin? I for sure want to be using the hdk along with makefiles but hones not really sure that I have any other use for it aside from launching houdini with a &

Oh, I guess I used to use it for opening / making .tar.gz files as well.

Here's the info I gave you way back.

Installing Cygwin is straightforward. Installing with the default options is fine for many tasks but you will want to install some modules beyond the defaults.

To install Cygwin, go to the main cygwin website http://cygwin.com [cygwin.com] then download the cygwin installer (setup.exe). Launch the cygwin installer. You will be presented with the Cygwin Setup installer.

Choose A Download Source page, choose Install from Internet then Next.
Select Root Install Directory: C:\cygwin, for All Users, Unix / binary option
Select Local Package Directory: C:\Documents and Settings\user_name\Desktop
Select Your Internet Connection: Direct Connection
Choose A Download Site: Pick whatever is closest as a guideline.
After pressing accept to the last page above, the installer will be populated with all the possible packages available for Cygwin.

Start with the default installed packages (contained in the Base Category) along with the default View based on Category then add the following on top of that exsiting selection of packages to get a good complement of shell tools:

Archive
- p7zip
- unzip:
- zip:
Editors
- vim:
and/or
- emacs:
Interpreters
- python2.6:
Net
- openssh:
- rsync:
Shells
- tcsh

Press Next to install the packages. This will take several minutes.

Complete the installation. When finished you will have a cygwin launch icon on the desktop. To launch the cygwin shell, simply double click on it.

Sourcing Houdini Environment

To source in the Houdini environment so you can type houdini at the shell prompt to start Houdini, type the following:

cd /cygdrive/c/Program\ Files/Side\ Effects\ Software/Houdini<version_number> source houdini_setup cd ~

Note when typing in the path above, the default Cygwin shell has tab file completion. At any time when you are typing a path, you can hit tab to complete the path. If it doesn't return a result, hit tab again to get a directory listing to help you qualify the path.

Now you can type houdini at the command line and start houdini.


On to the c++ compiler for HDK I wouldn't install the cygwin gcc c++ compilers but install the MS Visual c++ express compilers.

Install the express version of Microsoft Visual C++ Express. I believe that if you are working in Houdini 11, you need the 2005 version. I'll let others chime in if 2008 works.

Thanks Jeff! I bought the Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 already and that's good to go. As far as I know the Express edition doesn't work, but maybe I've got that wrong?

Buying VS 2005 is the best route to go on Windows for c++ development.

You can use any version of VS you want(Iam not sure with express). But you need to install WinSDK 6.0 and use this SDK from VS.

cybermax
You can use any version of VS you want(Iam not sure with express). But you need to install WinSDK 6.0 and use this SDK from VS.

Having a b*tch getting VS2010 to work. Does VS2008 work? if so, I'm going that route.

No, you MUST use the same compiler for the HDK that Houdini was built with. When you download the Windows Houdini installer, it is labelled “VC8”. This means Visual C++ version 8 -> Microsoft Visual C++ 2005.

I am not getting the same feedback through Cygwin like in Linux terminal, for example if I render an image with statistics on 3 and alfred enabled I don't get the progress like in Linux, is there any workaround that?

How does it differ from Linux? When I try rendering using a Mantra ROP with the command set to “mantra -Va1”, the output from Mantra should go into the MMB info on all platforms. Try changing the Properties > Statistics > Render Output paramter to “Don't capture render output”.

Oh Yeah! We are in business!

I don´t know exactly which tip worked but it did the trick.

Thanks dude!