LeoBounce
Turn off your antivirus before updating or installing Houdini Launcher.

Thank you! This issue has vexed me for years!

raincole
I honestly don't remember the last time my Blender crashed. Houdini still crashes weekly when I'm lucky.

There are certainly some cool Blender features I would love to see in Houdini, but Blender's stability (or lack thereof) is definitely not one. Not sure what version of Blender you are using but my vanilla installation of Blender 3.4 (with no addons) crashes far more often than Houdini when doing anything beyond basic modelling. Good luck trying to keep Blender alive for more than 15 minutes when doing even the most basic RBD sim, haha. Houdini is no crash juggernaut (looking at you, UV tools), but saying that it is less stable than Blender is laughable.

d3dworld
Greetings,
Everything said in this thread did a great job of pushing me away and killed what motivations left in me to start learning.

Kind regards.

Sorry to hear you go. Aside from our complaints, Houdini is a great product overall and it will still be around when you come back some day

Tser

citizen

asorgejr

Very good list. When it comes to modeling>symmetry, I wish the mirror SOP would be fixed before adding more features around this.
The way the seam consolidation is handled is absolutely atrocious, no other 3d DCC solves this so poorly. When you finish a re-topologized character for example and mirror it, you have to disable the useless "Consolidate Seam" and manually select the medial borders of each half and fuse them.

I use the Mirror sop all the time when I model, if there was a snap to the points of the mirrored side, that would be nice, but all in all it does what I need.

I agree it's sufficient in the early stages but if you are making edits to a model with UVs using the mirror sop is not much help at that point:


If they integrate symmetry into topobuild it would be a major improvement for the modelling workflow

citizen
But there's, it's what "Consolidate Seam" supposed to achieve, only it doesn't work in a very useful way, by snapping the points of the newly created half to the original, instead of (or in addition to) snapping midway. There should be additional options like in the Fuse SOP, with "average value" set as default.

Agreed, that would be super useful.

Throwing my hat into the ring, here's what I would like to see:


Modelling:
1. SYMMETRY SYMMETRY SYMMETRY!
Better support for symmetry in the viewport. Compared to other DCCs, Houdini is dead last when it comes to modelling with symmetry.
Here are the symmetry features I would love to see:

• Selection symmetry. (and not in a per-tool sense, globally at any context). This one exists in practically every other DCC and it is surprising that when they overhauled the selection system a few years back this feature didn't make it in.
  
• Symmetry in Topobuild. It's the one drawback that keeps me using the edit node way more often than I should be.
  
• Symmetry in the Curve tool.
  
• Factory defaults for symmetry axis should be X for all tools. Many brush tools default to Z for symmetry axis. This makes no sense from an artist's perspective.
  

2. Soft transform in Topobuild.
Being able to soft transform points/edges/polys with a falloff controlled by the scroll wheel. I know the edit node already does this but it would be nice to be able to do it all from Topobuild.

3. Fix the sculpt tool. I know that there are far better packages out there for sculpting - ZBrush, Blender to name a few, but in those occasional scenarios where I need to make a small adjustment that doesn't necessitate a round trip to another software it would be a big help. The sculpt tool in is current state is completely broken. It is unintuitive and even after spending more time than necessary messing with parameters it still barely functions.


KineFX:

1. "Rig Constraints" node for designing rig controls.
   I love the KineFX Skeleton node, why not make a counterpart for adding constraint handle geometries to a rig? The workflow could be exactly the same with the simple addition of selecting from a set of packed primitive shapes to represent your rig controls. Perhaps adding a 4th "constraints" input/output on all KineFX nodes so you can make isolated modifications on constraint geometry/transform relationships.
   
2. Make a custom rigging context or overhaul VOPs to better fit this purpose.
   Using VOPs feels like a total hack in its current state. I don't want to set up my rigging constraints in some submenu of VOPs in an unconstrained context they call the "Rig Attribute VOP". Using CHOPs was no bargain but at least it was a sensible context for rigging and transform relationships. I like the fact that KineFX operates as a flattened hierarchy and all the data is visible in the Geometry Spreadsheet, but I would be perfectly happy if Houdini did some behind-the-scenes magic to make constraints "just work". If they truly intend to replace the old (and reliable) OBJ/CHOPs rigging system with KineFX, they need to make some additions to the KineFX data model with regard to transform relationships.
   
3. Rig Tree window usability improvements:
   Make the indents smaller between hierarchy levels. The indent is huge and makes navigating deep hierarchies a pain.
   Better exception handling. When that window is open, the amount of Python errors I get is ridiculous.
   

Solaris:

1. Address the poor performance of the Layout node. It is SLOW. Complex components (even with optional payloads) take forever to load from the database and even minor manipulations using the layout brushes can take forever. To make matters worse, it is uninterruptible and freezes the main thread so you're doomed if the layout node doesn't like your asset. I'm not sure how they achieve such stellar performance with the tool in their presentations but even when I try to use fairly low-poly Megascans assets, the tool locks up pretty quick.
   
2. Solaris export rops. I am a big believer in USD as an interchange format, but sometimes there's just no way to export to some other package with crappy (or no) support for USD. Having a GLTF and FBX ROP for exporting a stage would be quite useful.
   
3. Complete the tooling for round-tripping between contexts: obj->stage->obj. Houdini does a pretty great job with the first (obj->stage) but there is no support for the opposite (that I know of). I had to write a mountain of hacky python code in a shelf tool to accomplish the job.
   
4. Documentation in the shell for the pxr Python module. Not sure if this one is possible since it is third-party source code, but even just having typing info for the many, many functions within pxr module would be incredibly useful.
   

Other stuff...
Houdini Engine for Blender.
It seems like Blender is going to absorb most of the market share in the coming years (that is if AI doesn't wipe everyone off the market). Having a Houdini Engine modifier within Blender would be a wonderful life raft to have. I find myself being contracted more and more often by companies which use a Blender-centric pipeline. Considering Blender has virtually no ability to stream files other than sparse support for Alembic and VDB, doing interchange from Houdini/Maya to Blender can be such a pain, re-importing and manually reassigning each and every material every single time I have to make a change for a client. Ranting aside, if I could save even 20 minutes a week with Houdini Engine in Blender it would be a great success.

As much AI tooling as possible.
AI is a looming threat to everyone in the animation/VFX industry. If you can't beat em, join em.
The more AI tools in Houdini, the better IMO. I would love to see stable diffusion in COP2 and generative AI in SOPs.

That's about all I can think of at the moment.

Rocksteadyop
Hello,
I'm having the same exact same problem. I've downloaded Houdini FX Version 18.0.287, using the apprentice licence. Watched 3 tutorials and read 4 articles saying approximately the same, but there's no “game dev tools” in the shelves or anywhere else.
I've restarted Houdini 5 times already.

EDIT: After installing manually, I tried to use the updater in the gamedevtools shelf which finally appeared
Houdini console opens and I get a very long error message.

erator.

opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_box_clip’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_building_generator::4.0’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_building_generator_utility’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_cable_generator’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_calculate_occlusion’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_calculate_occlusion::2.0’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_calculate_slope’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_curve_sweep’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_cylinder_generator’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_decal_projector’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_delete_small_parts’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_delight’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_destruction_cleanup’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_destruction_cleanup::2.0’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_detail_mesh’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_dirtskirt’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_disc_generator’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_edgegroup_to_curve’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_edge_color’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_extract_borders’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_extract_filename’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_extract_silhouette::1.0’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_flowmap’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_flowmap::2.0’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_flowmap_guide’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_flowmap_obstacle’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_flowmap_obstacle::2.0’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_flowmap_obstacle::3.0’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_flowmap_to_color’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_flowmap_visualize’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_gaea_tor_processor’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_gaea_tor_processor::2.0’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_gameres::2.0’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_gameres’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_goz_export’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_goz_import’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_group_attribute_borders’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_group_by_attribute’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_group_curve_corners’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_group_edge_loop’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_group_expand’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_group_uv_borders’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::inside_face_uvs’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_instant_meshes’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_instant_meshes::2.0’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_lod_create::2.0’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_lod_create’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_lot_subdivision’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_make_loop’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_mapbox’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_maps_baker’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_maps_baker::2.0’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_maps_baker::3.0’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_mark_seams’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_measure_curvarture’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_measure_curvarture::2.0’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_merge_small_islands’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_mesh_slice’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_mesh_tiler’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_min_max_average’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_multi_file’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::niagara_impacts’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::niagara_interpolate’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::niagara_rbd_split’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::niagara_rop’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_obj_importer’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_osm_buildings’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_osm_import’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_path_deform’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_physics_painter’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_polydeform’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::procedural_smoke’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_quadrangulate’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_quickmaterial’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_quickmaterial::2.0’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::rbd_director’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::rbd_edge_strip’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_rbd_fracture’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::rbd_solver’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘sop_rc_register_images’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘rc_texture_model’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_remove_inside_faces’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_repair’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_retime’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_scifi_panels’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_simple_baker::2.0’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_simple_baker’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::simple_rbd’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_sketchfab_output’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_skinning_converter’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_snow_buildup’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_soften_normals’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sphere_generator’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_static_fracture_export’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_straighten’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_straight_skeleton_3d’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_sweep_geometry’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_terrain_layer_export’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_terrain_layer_import’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_terrain_segment_rop’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_terrain_texture_rop’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_thicken’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_trace_psd_file’ has the same name as an existing operator.

opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_trace_psd_file::2.0’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_turntable’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_unreal_pivotpainter’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_uv_stack’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_uv_transfer’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_uv_unitize’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_visualize_uvs’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_voxelmesh’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::coord_swizzle_quaternion::1.0’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_exoside_quadremesher’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_distance_from_border’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_quadrangulate::2.0’ has the same name as an existing operator.
opalias: The alias ‘gamedev::sop_symmetrize’ has the same name as an existing operator.
ERROR in search: Error parsing ‘/nodes/sop/gamedev–sop_flowmap_obstacle-3.0’
Exception in thread Thread-2:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “C:\PROGRA~1\SIDEEF~1\HOUDIN~1.287\python27\lib\threading.py”, line 801, in __bootstrap_inner
self.run()
File “C:/PROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.287/houdini/python2.7libs\houdinihelp\api.py”, line 549, in run
indexer.update_with(w, pages)
File “C:/PROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.287/houdini/python2.7libs\bookish\search.py”, line 465, in update_with
writer, pages, update_paths, needs_delete=changed
File “C:/PROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.287/houdini/python2.7libs\bookish\search.py”, line 494, in index_paths_with
for doc in self.documents(pages, path):
File “C:/PROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.287/houdini/python2.7libs\bookish\search.py”, line 401, in documents
jsondata = pages.json(path, postprocess=False)
File “C:/PROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.287/houdini/python2.7libs\bookish\wiki\wikipages.py”, line 611, in json
self._pre_pipeline.apply(jsondata, wcontext)
File “C:/PROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.287/houdini/python2.7libs\bookish\wiki\pipeline.py”, line 116, in apply
v.apply(block, context)
File “C:/PROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.287/houdini/python2.7libs\houdinihelp\hpages.py”, line 324, in apply
self.apply(subblock, context)
File “C:/PROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.287/houdini/python2.7libs\houdinihelp\hpages.py”, line 311, in apply
block = self._parse_opdef(path, block)
File “C:/PROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.287/houdini/python2.7libs\houdinihelp\hpages.py”, line 296, in _parse_opdef
nodetype, version)
File “C:/PROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.287/houdini/python2.7libs\houdinihelp\api.py”, line 835, in components_to_path
parts = [“/nodes/”, table_to_dir, “/”]
KeyError: u'gamedev:op'


EDIT 2: sop_instant_meshes doesn't work, it turns the geometry black without any other modification and there's a red lock in the right bottom corner of the node.

Regarding the opalias warnings, I was having this problem as well. There may be GameDev assets in your $HOUDINI_USER_PREF_DIR/otls directory. Deleting the assets solved the issue for me.

You can implement it using python in the OnCreated script on your hda.
Add the attached script to the ‘scripts’ section of your hda. It will create a new visualizer, sets the Attribute parameter to ‘v’ and sets the style to ‘Vector Trail’.

From houdini documentation:
http://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/hom/hou/viewportVisualizers.html [www.sidefx.com]
https://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/hom/hou/ViewportVisualizer.html [www.sidefx.com]