workflow houdini tips

[nilsoncardososa]

I have some doubts on how to work with houdini.
Example 1: I modeled a very detailed car, applied all the materials. How do I reuse in future projects, without having to apply all the materials again. How to work: Save the car in a .hip file and use merge to import the car with the textures and materials already configured, or, create an asset .HDA and import that hda when I need it.

Example 2: I have several furniture models already configured with their proper materials and textures, what would be the way to save these models for use in future projects, what would be the best way to import some of these models into new projects?

I would like to workflow houdini tips
Thank you

Edited January 3, 2019 by nilsoncardososa

[kiryha]

The HDA is a usual way of scene data exchange in Houdini. So create HDA from your asset (car, furniture etc) and store it in some common location accessible from different Houdini projects. HDA can include materials as well. 
 

[nilsoncardososa]

Kiryha, thank you very much for the information.
In case of several models, Example: I have 50 models of cars, I save one hda for each car, or create an hda with all cars, and create a switch parameter to show only the selected car?

Another question: I can configure for example 100 detailed trees in a single hda, so I would make the choice using a switch. If so, would that be too heavy on the scene or does houdini just reference the models?

Edited January 3, 2019 by nilsoncardososa

[Mark01]

Do you set projects when you start a project? This helps to contain all the information within the project cleanly.

Take a look:

 

[nilsoncardososa]

hi Miles, I define the project.
My question is regarding the models to be used in future projects.
What I want to do is: create a library of templates already set with the textures and materials, leave everything saved in a folder, and when I need to use one of these templates I just import to the new project. Asset .hda would be the solution to this. My question now is if I have to save a template by hda or if I can separate by theme (cars, stones, furniture) and save all models in only one hda and use a switch to choose which model to use.

[kiryha]

Asset and project structuring depends on the type of projects you are doing. If you are doing arch viz you could store all cars as one asset and load the necessary car with a switch, in other cases, it might be more practical to store each car as an individual asset. I would say that usually assets are stored separately combining only variations of the same asset (you have a separate file for each fruit — apple, banana, lime and each fruit can contain several variations in one file). There is no general recipe for each pipeline, you have to develop a structure that fits your requirements.

Probably you can find something useful in my notes about assets and project structuring and pipeline developing for animation feature. 

One more issue related to a common asset library is that you will have assets outside of your project and potentially it could bring a problem because not all paths in you project will be relative to the current project.

Edited January 3, 2019 by kiryha

[nilsoncardososa]

Kiryha, now it's clear, thank you very much.