The environment variable for RfH must be listed first. For example:

HOUDINI_PATH=$RFHTREE/16.5:&


You must remove any prior installations of the alpha RenderMan for Houdini 22.4 or it will fail to render.

RfH for Houdini 17.5 is now supported for build 17.5.360 from 22.7+


  • Rendering with RenderMan will not operate on Houdini Apprentice editions, see Side FX's website for options that allow Third Party Rendering
  • Houdini Indie is only compatible with 17.5, you must be using at least version 17.5.210 or higher

RenderMan for Houdini is installed using the RenderMan Installer, which manages the downloading, installation and licensing of RenderMan Pro Server (the actual renderer) along with all bridge products.


After installing the plugin, Houdini requires a modification to the Houdini environment in your home directory to load the RenderMan plugin. Houdini specific environment variables can also be set in the houdini.env, found in the following locations for each operating system:

Windows: %HOME%\Documents\houdiniX.X\houdini.env
Mac: ~/Library/Preferences/houdini/YY.Y/houdini.env
Linux: ~/houdiniYY.Y/houdini.env

NOTE: When you run a new version of Houdini for the first time, you may have to run it twice before the houdini.env files appear in the locations mentioned above, once created you can add the lines mentioned below.


You need to edit the houdini.env file with a text editor and place the following lines below in that file before you start Houdini. This only has to be done once for each new major version of Houdini that is being used.

EXAMPLES

For example on Linux, one would edit this file in: $HOME/houdini16.5/houdini.env:

RMANTREE=/opt/pixar/RenderManProServer-22.5
RFHTREE=/opt/pixar/RenderManForHoudini-22.5
HOUDINI_PATH=$RFHTREE/16.5:&

On Windows with 17.0, one would edit the file in: \Users\myself\Documents\houdini17.0\houdini.env:

NOTE: Windows uses a semi-colon instead of a colon to separate the HOUDINI_PATH!

RMANTREE="C:\Program Files\Pixar\RenderManProServer-22.5"
RFHTREE="C:\Program Files\Pixar\RenderManForHoudini-22.5"
HOUDINI_PATH=$RFHTREE\17.0;&

Finally an example on OS-X with 17.5, one would edit this in: /Users/myself/Library/Preferences/houdini/17.5/houdini.env:

RMANTREE=/Applications/Pixar/RenderManProServer-22.5
RFHTREE=/Applications/Pixar/RenderManForHoudini-22.5
HOUDINI_PATH=$RFHTREE/17.5:&