How To Install Houdini Engine For Unreal

Installation

The Houdini Engine for Unreal plug-in is arranged together with the Houdini installer on Windows. Once the Houdini installer is started, but select the Houdini Engine for Unreal component, to ensure that the plugin files are copied to the Houdini install folder.

More on installing

The installer extracts the Unreal plug-in for all supported Unreal versions. This includes the pre-built plug-in binary, source files and resources files. The extracted files can be constitute nether the Houdini Install folder.

Notation: Only the latest two versions of Unreal are actively supported. Source code of the plugin for older versions of Unreal can be downloaded in the HoudiniEngineForUnreal github repository.

<del>ii. Copies the extracted plug-in binder into the Unreal install folder.<del>

Notation: Version 1 of the plugin has been deprecated, merely Version 2 is now bachelor.

Y'all so need to manually re-create the HoudiniEngine folder of your option, from the "engine/unreal" folder in your Houdini install directory, to the "Engine/Plugins/Runtime" directory of the Unreal Engine directory. Alternatively, the HoudiniEngine folder tin also be copied to the "Plugins/Runtime" folder of your Unreal project.

Unreal will automatically load HoudiniEngine next time it is started. If some other version of Unreal is installed afterwards, information technology will non take the plug-in automatically. The plug-in tin be installed past running the installer again.

Windows

Minimum Requirements:

Windows vii
Unreal 4.26
Houdini or Houdini Engine 19.0

Fastest way to get the plug-in working inside Unreal:

Download and launch the houdini-X.Y.Z-win64-vc14.exe installer, where X.Y.Z is the version of Houdini.
Follow the steps and make sure to select the Houdini Engine for Unreal option on the Houdini Engine installer screen.
Re-create the HoudiniEngine folder to the "Plugins/Runtime" of either your Unreal directory, or your Unreal projection directory.
Launch Unreal.

As on example, to install the V2 plugin to Unreal 4.27, yous need to re-create:

C:\Program Files\Side Effects Software\Houdini X.Y.Z\engine\unreal\4.27\HoudiniEngine

to:

C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE4.27\Engine\Plugins\Runtime\HoudiniEngine

macOS

Note: Houdini18.five does not ship with Version2 Binaries for MacOS for now. Currently, yous will have to build the plugin from the source lawmaking available on the github repository.

Minimum Requirements:

macOS/OSX 10.14
Unreal 4.25
Houdini or Houdini Engine xix.0

Fastest style to get the plug-in working inside Unreal:

Download and launch the houdini-X.Y.Z-macosx_*.dmg installer, where X.Y.Z is the version of Houdini.
Follow the steps and make sure to select the Houdini Engine for Unreal selection.
Launch Unreal

During the install:

/Applications/Houdini/HoudiniX.Y.Z/Houdini Engine/unreal/iv.25/Houdini Engine

is copied to:

/Users/Shared/Epic Games/UE_4.25/Engine/Plugins/Runtime/HoudiniEngine

Linux

As the Houdini Engine for Unreal is not officially supported on Linux, the plug-in's binaries are not available on Linux equally part of the installer. The source code is, however, available either in the engine/unreal subdirectory of the Houdini install folder, or in the Github repository and can exist compiled and used with the Linux version of Unreal.

To do so, but follow the instructions under theInstalling from Source department on the Github repository to build the plug-in.

Annotation: Do not forget to call "source houdini_setup" from the Houdini installed folder that matches the plug-in (generally /opt/hfs19.0.30). This will preclude the Houdini Engine session from failing to be created.

Verify the plug-in is loaded

Once the Unreal plug-in has been installed, you lot can verify that it has been loaded in Unreal by opening the Projection Settings window and navigating to the Plugins section. Houdini Engine volition exist listed amidst the plug-ins.

Alternatively, you can as well easily check that the plugin is easily loaded by ensuring that Unreal has a "Houdini Engine" bill of fare available in its main carte bar.

You tin also check the version of Houdini the plugin was built against and is currently running against in the Plugin Information section. The "Congenital Against" and "Running Against" version numbers should match for the plug-in to work.

First Steps

The Houdini Engine plug-in provides the ability to import data generated by a Houdini Digital Asset (.hda) straight into Unreal via custom Unreal Assets which create Actors with custom Components: HoudiniAssetComponent.

These betrayal the Digital Asset'southward Parameters and Inputs and marshall the cooked Outputs equally new Components.

More than details are provided in the relevant sections.

Building the plugin from source

Source code for Version 2 of the plugin can be downloaded from the Github repository.

You will then need to build Unreal Engine from Source. To do and so, yous can but follow this guide.

-# Within the UE4 source, navigate to the "Engine/Plugins/Runtime" binder, and re-create the plugin source, or clone the plug-in's repository into a folder named HoudiniEngine. -# Download and install the correct build of 64-fleck Houdini. To become the build number, expect at the header of Source/HoudiniEngine/HoudiniEngine.Build.cs, under Houdini Version. -# Generate the UE4 Project Files (by running GenerateProjectFiles) and build Unreal, either in x64 Debug Editor or x64 Evolution Editor. -# When starting the Unreal Engine editor, go to the Plug-ins card and brand sure the Houdini Engine v2 plug-in is enabled (in the Rendering section). Restart UE4 if you had to enable information technology. -# To ostend that the plug-in has been successfully installed and enabled, you lot tin can check that the editor's main menu bar now has a new "Houdini Engine" menu, between "Edit" and "Window". -# Yous should now be able to import Houdini Digital Assets (HDA) .otl or .hda files or drag and drop them into the Content Browser. -# Once you lot accept an HDA in the Content Browser you should be able to drag it into the Editor viewport. This volition spawn a new Houdini Asset Actor. Geometry cooking will be done in a split up thread and geometry will exist displayed once the cooking is complete. At this signal you will be able to see asset parameters in the Details pane. Modifying whatsoever of the parameters will forcefulness the asset to recook and possibly update its geometry.