Joseph Bishop

2.4.2 - Reliability, Documentation Search & Project Memory

Improved local documentation search functionality.

Fewer Wrong Answers - Parameter editing now reads the real interface - tokens, ranges, expressions and keyframes - and verifies every write. VEX, simulation and Copernicus failures report the node that actually broke, with line and column.

Performance Improvements - ChatGPT (Codex) now runs a reply's tool calls together instead of one per round trip, with visible, configurable reasoning. Busy scenes, stuck operations and MCP issues report what's happening instead of looking broken, and settings and chat history are protected against crashes.

Project Memory - 100% recall on our 28-query evaluation, up from 93%. Unsaved scenes keep their notes until you save, and a learning captured wrongly can now be deleted.

2.4.3 - Headless Mode

NodeArchitect can now drive a Houdini session with no UI open at all. Add one line to your MCP client config (or tick the box in Settings → MCP) and tools like Claude Desktop, Codex, and Cursor can build scenes, run Python, and render with Karma/husk, starting Houdini on demand and shutting it down when you're done. Ideal for render farms, CI, and automation.

Hi everyone,

NodeArchitect 2.4.1 is now available. A smaller update focused on render engine detection reliability and a few workflow refinements.

New in 2.4.1:

• Plugin detection is more reliable. Redshift, Arnold, V-Ray, RenderMan and Octane are now detected correctly when installed, fixing cases where NodeArchitect reported a working render engine as missing.
  
• Two new tools convert Principled Shaders to Redshift materials automatically.
  
• ChatGPT login now runs on Codex's app-server mode — its own persistent-connection mode — instead of launching a new process for every message. No more workaround, and it feels much more polished.
  
• Filter chat history by project. Sessions can now be filtered to the current project, not just the current file, via a new switch in the sidebar.
  

Hi everyone,

NodeArchitect 2.4.0 is now available.

This update is focused on Houdini 22 support, but it is not a hard Houdini 22-only release. NodeArchitect now detects the live Houdini build and available nodes before exposing specialised workflows. Houdini 21 continues to use compatible tools and automatic fallbacks where newer Houdini 22 functionality is unavailable, including Karma AOV output behaviour.

New in 2.4.0:

• APEX and KineFX workflows for rig inspection, skeleton debugging, retargeting and character recipes.

• Houdini 22 Copernicus workflows for terrain, pyro and material recipes.

• Solaris and Karma additions: RenderPasses, AOVs, Texture Material Library support, preview-shot setup and viewport-to-camera capture.

• PDG, ML and Gaussian Splat workflows for dataset inspection, training setup and diagnostics.

• SOP camera and implicit-surface workflows.

• Context-sensitive MCP tool discovery. The built-in agent and external clients now receive tools relevant to the active SOP, LOP or TOP context, keeping the tool list focused rather than bloated.

v2.4.0 has been smoke-tested against Houdini 22.0.368 and Houdini 21.0.700.

Download / update [bishopvfx.gumroad.com]