This document applies to installation of RenderMan 23.5 and higher.

For information on older versions of RenderMan 23, please see this document.


  • RenderMan for Houdini (RfH) 23.5 currently only provides support for the following production Houdini versions and changes the installation details:
    • RenderMan 23.5
      • 17.0.506
      • 17.5.460
      • 18.0.460
      • 18.0.499
      • 18.0.532
      • 18.0.566
      • 18.0.597
      • 18.5.351
  • Rendering with RenderMan will not operate on Houdini Apprentice editions, see Side FX's website for options that allow Third Party Rendering


The environment variable for RfH must be listed first in the houdini.env file. (Windows requires a semi-colon) For example:

HOUDINI_PATH=$RFHTREE/18.0.532:&


RenderMan for Houdini 23 with Solaris now requires an additional line in the configuration file:

RMAN_PROCEDURALPATH = $RFHTREE/18.0.532/openvdb:&


RenderMan for Houdini 23 on Windows now requires an additional line in the configuration file:

PATH=$RMANTREE\bin;&


Additional instructions and details are found below in this document.


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\houdiniXX.X.X\houdini.env
Mac: ~/Library/Preferences/houdini/YY.Y.Y/houdini.env
Linux: ~/houdiniZZ.Z.Z/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/houdini18.0/houdini.env:

RMANTREE=/opt/pixar/RenderManProServer-23.5
RFHTREE=/opt/pixar/RenderManForHoudini-23.5
RMAN_PROCEDURALPATH=$RFHTREE/18.0.532/openvdb:&
HOUDINI_PATH=$RFHTREE/18.0.532:&

On Windows with 18.0, one would edit the file in: \Users\myself\Documents\houdini18.0\houdini.env:

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

RMANTREE=C:\Program Files\Pixar\RenderManProServer-23.5
RFHTREE=C:\Program Files\Pixar\RenderManForHoudini-23.5
RMAN_PROCEDURALPATH=$RFHTREE\18.0.532\openvdb;&
HOUDINI_PATH=$RFHTREE\18.0.532;&
PATH=$RMANTREE\bin;&

Finally an example on OS-X with 18.0, one would edit this in: /Users/myself/Library/Preferences/houdini/18.0/houdini.env:

RMANTREE=/Applications/Pixar/RenderManProServer-23.5
RFHTREE=/Applications/Pixar/RenderManForHoudini-23.5
RMAN_PROCEDURALPATH=$RFHTREE/18.0.532/openvdb:&
HOUDINI_PATH=$RFHTREE/18.0.532:&


If using a different version of Houdini than the above examples of 18.0.532, you would substitute the version used, such as 18.0.460 or 18.0.499

Note that any version of Houdini being used must be explicitly set using the entire version number, such as 17.5.460 instead of 17.5