Difference between Copy reference and Copy relative reference

[onkardahare]

hi, i am working on houdini. Can someone help me understand the difference between Copy reference and Copy relative reference? I am confused when and in  which particular scenarios should i use either of them? 

please help.

any inputs will be appreciated.

[haggi]

The difference is the path. "Copy reference" uses the absolute path to the attribute "/obj/geo1/pointsfromvolume1/particlesep" whereas "Relative reference" uses a relative path like "../pointsfromvolume1/particlesep". An absolute path will work everywhere in a network. e.g. if you copy a sop node and paste it into another network it will still work because it has an absolute reference. If you copy a sop with a relative path an paste it into another network the referenced node may not exist there an therefore the node may not find the correct reference. I think it is more a personal preference which one you use.

[pineapplepixels]

Using relative reference instead of using the absolute reference in a file node was the reason my file path kept passing a 0 and breaking my sim. 

 

Possible search terms to try and save someone a headache:

houdini file node defaulting to 0 when referencing parameter