ParticleSkull Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 (edited) Hey guys, where does Houdini save the simulation cache files? I'm pretty new to houdini so i'm not sure if it's the right question. What happened is that, yesterday, i've let houdini simulating something for almost an hour and, when i realiseded, it had only half of the sim done. By half i mean the second part. It looks like it have simulated some frames and, because of cache space, it began to delete the first frames to create the new ones. I think that it might be saving the cache files on my primary HD, which is pretty small, so maybe the solution for it would be change where those cache files are saved, in this case to my seconday HD?EDIT: In case you have the same doubt, here's a tutorial showing how to save your sims to disk. Thx,Alvaro Edited January 26, 2015 by ParticleSkull 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ahmed Saady Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 well , file cash saved in what you out path into then after it finish you can see the path, if you forget where you saved them then go to the same rop out not that you cashed your sim from then see where is your path file. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Netvudu Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 (edited) From his post, I´m afraid Alvaro didn´t cache his files at all. Alvaro, if you don´t want to use just your RAM cache (so, 99% of the time) there are two ways to cache sims. If you are just interested in the result of the sim on your geometry, then most people use a "ROP output file" or a File Node at SOPs, or a Geometry ROP. With any of those you are saving the geometry or volumes, resulting from the sim. For lucky commercial license users, there´s another alternative in the form of .sim files saved from a File DOP, to restart simulations half way, but I think that´s not possible with an Indie license (which I understand why it´s done, but it´s a major pain, because you cannot use Initial States) If they´re scared about people exploiting licenses, SESI should at least have a .simlc format for Indie users. Edited January 17, 2015 by Netvudu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParticleSkull Posted January 18, 2015 Author Share Posted January 18, 2015 Thx guys,Javier, you're right. I wasn't caching it at all. I just found this at sidefx.com - https://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini13.0/dyno/cache - and it looks like what you said about the 'ROP output file". I'll give it a try and hopefully it will work just fine.Thx again,Alvaro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tar Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 H14 has made this very easy - the 'Output' node in Dops has 'Save to Disk' or 'Save to Disk in Background' Then at the Scene level, on the AutoDopNetwork node, just check 'Playback Simulation' at the top of the parameters. When you then dive into the AutoDopNetwork a red 'Network in Playback Mode' will appear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParticleSkull Posted January 18, 2015 Author Share Posted January 18, 2015 Hey Marty, it sounds awesome! Altough i just made some tests and couldn't make it work. For some reason my files are not being saved. Do I have to enable something to save the .sim files? Sorry if it's something obvious. I'm very new to Houdini so i'm not used to everything on it.Also, Javier, couldn't make the Rop Output File work eighter. I think that this H14 Output node stuff looks much easier so i'll give it a try first.Thx,Alvaro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tar Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 (edited) It will work automatically by creating a folder named 'sim' where the .hip file is. You must be using Apprentice then; that won't save .sim files - you need Indie or Fx, and maybe standard Houdini .... you can always save out the .bgeo files though. Edited January 18, 2015 by tar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParticleSkull Posted January 18, 2015 Author Share Posted January 18, 2015 True, I am using the Apprentice version. So I just managed to save the .bgeo files and it's working just fine. Thx a lot guys!Best,Alvaro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParticleSkull Posted January 26, 2015 Author Share Posted January 26, 2015 I've realised that we can actually save the simulation to disk using a file node. Easy stuff Just recorded a tutorial about it to: Thx for your help guys.Best,Alvaro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Netvudu Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 I said it on post #3! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParticleSkull Posted January 26, 2015 Author Share Posted January 26, 2015 Hell yeah, you're right. What happened is that i didn't really knew what is a File node so, i think, i've missed cos i was really enterteined looking how to work with ROP output file. Next time i'll pay more attention to this stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atom Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 The File node also has a Read,Write and Automatic drop down setting. When you know your are going to Write the final sim data, set it to Write. Then when the sim has completed set it to Read. This is kind of like a lock to prevent future overwrites on an expensive sim. While you are still tweaking parameters leave it on Automatic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParticleSkull Posted January 27, 2015 Author Share Posted January 27, 2015 Nice, thx man! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayman Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 You can also try FileCache - it has Geometry ROP build-in, so you can cache without updating the UI. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParticleSkull Posted January 28, 2015 Author Share Posted January 28, 2015 Nice! Can you tell more about this? Where can I find this FileCache and where should I add it?Sorry if this is too obvious but i'm very new to Houdini. Everything works in a too different way of the softwares i'm used to.Thx PavelBest,Alvaro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayman Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 (edited) Its a combination of File SOP and ROP Output Driver - so instead of using these 2, you may put this one as it contains both of them. You can use it as the regular File node (H14 only) or I prefer just to check Load from disk and press Render when I want to cache something. Edited January 28, 2015 by rayman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParticleSkull Posted January 28, 2015 Author Share Posted January 28, 2015 Maybe i don't have it here 'cos i'm working with apprentice? Is it a node called FileCache?Here's a snapshot of what I have:https://www.dropbox.com/s/1jd6tpxfln5roa0/fileCache.jpg?dl=0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayman Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 I`m sorry. It is a SOP node, so you have to use it outside DOP context. I prefer to import the geometry/fields back to SOPs and cache them in .bgeo format. This means that you may not cache .sim files with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParticleSkull Posted January 28, 2015 Author Share Posted January 28, 2015 Got it! Just did a test here and worked just file at Geometry level Thx Pavel! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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