interface version 1
Builds Houdini scene elements from on-disk files.
This is a convenience OBJ-level operator to quickly
This object-level operator provides a convenient way for creating Houdini scene elements from multiple geometry files on disk.
This enables a basically single-click importing of multiple alembic files (cameras, geometry, animation, etc.) exported from another application (such as Maya) – practically setting up a rough version of the same Maya scene.
Additionally, hscript .cmd files are also supported (to be used for setting up animation ranges, etc.), as well as channel-type file formats.
Supported file types
| alembic (*.abc) | The main intended format for sharing geometry between applications. Also the preferred format of this operator. |
| hscript (*.cmd) | Hscript allows to set up various other aspects of the scene that are not related to geometry (e.g. frame ranges, resolutions, etc.) |
| channel (*.clip, etc.) | All channel-type formats are supported, and an individual File CHOP is created for each in a CHOP network. For supported formats, see the File CHOP documentation. |
| Other | Any other file is considered to be a geometry format and will be loaded with a File SOP. |
Warning
Geometry file sequences are not supported at the moment. (Trying to import one will have the undesirable result of creating individual objects for each file.)
Parameters
| Source Directories | A list of folders to import scene elements from. (Multiple folders allows separating of shared and shot-specific data, for example.) |
| Source File Patterns | A list of filename patterns to import (or run). Both wildcarded patterns and specific file names are valid. Also, multiple patterns can be included on a single line. Note When specifying actual file names, it’s recommended to have unique file names even between different source folders. (As the specified file will be looked for in all source folders.) Also, no whitespace is supported in file names. |
| Abc as Hierarchy | If the file name matches one of the patterns in this field, the alembic file will be imported with it’s hierarchy as Houdini subnetworks. (This can be useful for extracting individual node transformations, etc.) Otherwise, an alembic file is imported as a single OBJ (with an Alembic SOP within.) |
| Apply Preset | If enabled, all newly created nodes will have the specified operator preset applied, right after their creation. (This requires saving a preset with the same name for any involved node type.) If the preset doesn’t exist for a node type, nothing will happen. Note The preset will not be applied to nodes not directly created by this operator (e.g. nodes withing generated alembic hierarchies.) |
| Node Color | If enabled, new nodes will be created with this node color. |
| Build Path | Path to an OBJ network or subnet to import/build into. |
| OP Prefix | A name prefix added to all created operators. |
| CHOP Name | Name of the CHOP network to be created for storing channel-type loaders. (If there are no actual channel-type files, this chopnet won’t be created.) |
| Build Scene Objects | Pressing this button will run the import procedure. |
| Rebuild Existing Objects | If enabled, already existing nodes will be deleted and re-created. (Otherwise already nodes that already import existing geometry will be skipped.) |
Todo
parameter: exclusion file name pattern
Support importing of python scripts
Support geometry file sequences (if it’s still common enough)
Implement Misc Functions
Release Notes
interface version 1 —
| 2014-11-13 |
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| 2014-04-05 |
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| 2014-01-23 |
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| 2013-06-07 |
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| 2013-06-05 |
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| 2013-06-04 | First prototype. |