I have created a file containing a lot of geometry processing and would like to use a cache OP so I don't have to wait 15 mins for the geometry to update. I have stuck a cache OP on the end of the OP tree but when I try and reload all geometry it tells me it cannot be cooked. I would much appreciate any help?

Thanks very much

The Henster

Hi.

Just out of curiosity, are you doing any sort of complex animation with lots of expression that'd made cooking slow? Or were you just modeling?

Anyhow, if you were just modeling, you can simply “lock” next to the last SOP that you like. When you lock your SOP, the geometry information will be stored and thus no longer procedural for that SOP. Be warn, tho, that this method can also mean much bigger HIP file size.

Another method is that you can simply output your geometry as .geo (ASCII) or .bgeo (binary) and then load the geometry back into Houdini with File SOP.

If you have an animated geometry, you can use the Geometry ROP to output a sequence of geometry file, and read it back in with File SOP. Depend of how you do this, you may or may not have motion blur with this method. (It still won't be too big of a problem in many cases if you don't have motion blur – because you can trick Houdini to calculate motion blur)

Anyhow, I think that these two ways can still optimise your cook time a bit. I am sure there are bunch of other ways I haven't know about or just forgot at the moment…

Take care,
Alex

I have 6 growing lsystems of 4000 generations each being projected and trimmed out of a 50/50 grid. The solution saving the animated geometry sounds like a winner. I had no idea you could do that.

Thanks very much for your help.

The Henster