HOUDINI_DISABLE_CONSOLE
If set, disables creation of floating consoles on Windows
machines.
HOUDINI_TEXT_CONSOLE
If set, instead of creating a floating console, a normal window
shell will be created on NT machines.
HOUDINI_WINDOW_CONSOLE
On the Windows operating system, the setting of this environment variable
will force the creation of a floating console regardless of whether its
output is redirected. This is only necessary for broken shells that
incorrectly start up Houdini window applications with redirected output.
At the time of this writing, only cygwin-compiled shells require this.
HOUDINI_VERBOSE_ERROR
Print out unexpected file save errors to the console as well as
displaying them in error boxes.
HOUDINI_OLD_SPINNER
If set, the old style interrupt dialog graphic will be used (i.e.
the spinning pie).
HOUDINI_OLD_CONST_BEHAVIOUR
If set, the old behaviour dealing with constant() expression segments
is used instead. The old behaviour allows changing the value of a
constant() expression channel segment at any given frame within it, not
just at its boundaries.
HOUDINI_DISABLE_CPUID
If set, Houdini will not try to detect the CPU type of the
machine. Attempts to detect the CPU type will cause I386 and
earlier machines to crash.
HOUDINI_DISABLE_XMMX
If set, disable MMX support for VEX.
HOUDINI_COREDUMP
If set, on Unix systems, Houdini will attempt to dump a core
file instead of simply exiting on signals SIGILL, SIGEMT, SIGBUS
or SIGSEGV. Please see signal(5) for more information.
HOUDINI_DSO_ERROR
Cause DSO/DLL errors on plug-ins to be printed out to the console.
This can help in debugging custom operators.
HOUDINI_TIFF_BOTTOMLEFT
Older versions of Houdini generated TIFF files with the first
scanline of data representing the bottom of the image. This
control can be turned on to replicate the behaviour of older
versions of Houdini.
HOUDINI_TIFF_SAMPLEFORMAT
If set, the TIFF SAMPLEFORMAT tag will be output in all cases.
This may cause older versions of the TIFF library to print
warnings/errors about unknown tags.
HOUDINI_DISABLE_IMAGE_DSO
formats will be installed.
HOUDINI_THREAD_IMAGE
If set, some old-style compositing operations will be
multi-threaded. On some platforms, this can provide a performance
boost. However, on other platforms, this can cause a performance
hit. This also affects Houdini applications like ipaint.
HOUDINI_LMINFO_VERBOSE
Typically, Houdini will print out warnings at start-up time if
licenses are due to expire shortly. If this control is set to 0,
then no warnings will be printed out when applications start.
HOUDINI_NOHKEY
Setting this environment variable will no longer cause the license
manager to start when a license check fails.
HOUDINI_JITTERY_CAMERA
Setting this environment variable will prevent the direct
assignment of the camera transform to the GL view transform. This
will cause the camera to jitter in some cases. It, however, fixes
reversed-perspective problems with the ES Tornado 3000 video card.
HOUDINI_VEX_OLD_DERIV
If set, VEX will compute non-centered derivatives. This provides
backward compatibility with pre-4.1 versions of mantra.
HOUDINI_DISABLE_UNSAFE_VEX
There are some optimizations made in the VEX engine which were
deemed to be potentially unsafe when they were implemented. These
optimizations should work properly, but this environment variable
provides a mechanism for turning these optimizations off. The
optimizations are typically non-critical optimizations. As a
note, any VEX code which is fixed by setting this variable should
be sent to the Side Effects Software support team.
HOUDINI_OGL_ALPHA_PIXMAP
If set to 1 on Linux, this will allow the OpenGL ROP to render alpha
planes.
HOUDINI_OGL_SOFTWARE
Force Houdini to use software OpenGL rendering.
HOUDINI_OGL_HARDWARE
Force Houdini to use hardware OpenGL rendering.
HOUDINI_OGL_FAST_ORDER2
NURBS and Bezier surfaces which have an order 2 basis (linear) in
each dimension will be rendered with a lower level of detail if
this control is set.
HOUDINI_OGL_TEXT_SPACE_FIX
Fix display of text for some graphics boards
HOUDINI_OGL_DISABLE_SMOOTH_STIPPLED_LINES
This disables rendering of stippled lines using anti-aliasing. Notably,
Oxygen GVX1 Pro video cards can have trouble doing this.
HOUDINI_OGL_ENABLE_PBUFFER
Enable OpenGL p-buffer support. This accelerates off-screen
rendering on some IRIX platforms. However, it may also cause
errors on Octanes.
HOUDINI_OGL_OVERLAY_SUPPORT
Force Houdini to use overlay support on Windows machines
HOUDINI_OGL_DISABLE_RASTER_IN_OVERLAY
Skip rendering raster icons in overlay planes. This can
significantly speed up the drawing of op menus containing
bitmap icons on some platforms.
HOUDINI_OGL_INT_RASTER_ZOOM_ONLY
Used for troubleshooting image zooming problems, particularly in
MPlay and COPs. Set to 0, 1 or 2.
0 If non-integer zooms are supported by the video hardware,
non-integer zooms are used (default). If non-integer zooms
are not supported, the result is exactly the same as if this
variable was set to 1.
1 Forces Houdini to use only integer zooming, even if supported
by the hardware. Software zooming is used in combination with
integer zooming to produce non-integer zooms, at a slight
performance hit.
2 Never use hardware zooming. Software zooming only. Incurs a
substantial performance hit, but may be necessary on some
video cards that do not do zooming properly.
HOUDINI_OGL_MARQUEE_FIX
When set this will change the order the lines are drawn for the
picking marquee (ie, the box drawn during box pics). On some
systems, such as SGI Octanes with V6 graphics, this may prevent
the pick box from leaving garbage on the screen.
HOUDINI_HIP_FROM_PATH
When loading .hip files, force the Houdini HIP variable to the
path of the HIP file specified rather than the HIP variable set
HOUDINI_VIEW_RMAN
This variable specifies the command to run when "View: RMan" is
chosen from the viewport rendering menu.
HOUDINI_THUMB_RENDER
This provides a default value for the -r option of the thumbrender
application. This application is used to render thumb-nails for
the SHOP palette.
HOUDINI_VIEW_MANTRA
This variable specifies the command to run when "View: Mantra" is
chosen from the viewport rendering menu.
HOUDINI_DISABLE_EXPORT_RENAME
This variable disables the immediate recooking of exported CHOPs whenever
a new node is created or when an existing node is renamed. For example,
if you have a chop that is exporting to /obj/geo*, then it requires
recooking if an object is renamed from /obj/foo to /obj/geo1. To disable
this behaviour, set this environment variable to 1.
MANTRA_FORCE_RAY
Force mantra to use ray-tracing (same as -r option)
MANTRA_DISABLE_FOGBOX
When rendering fog, mantra will create a matte shaded
object automatically so the fog will be picked up in the
background. Setting this variable disables this feature.
MANTRA_CULL_0AREA
Obsolete control
MANTRA_RAYDUMP
Obsolete control
HOUDINI_HSVCOP_COMPAT
Obsolete control
HOUDINI_COP_FAKE_MOVIEREAD
Obsolete control
HOUDINI_RMAN_INCLUDE_FIX
Setting this variable will cause the order of pre/post includes to
be different when generating RIB. This allows for proper motion
blur of RiReadArchive geometry read using the include files.
HOUDINI_MI_DISABLE_FLIP_RMAP
When auto-generating reflection maps for MentalRay, one of the
images is flipped by default. Setting this variable will turn the
flipping off.
HOUDINI_DISABLE_SAVE_THUMB
Disable saving of thumb-nails in .hip files. This makes .hip
files smaller and faster to save/load.
HOUDINI_UI_COREDUMP
Prevent Houdini from trying to saving a .hip file when a crash is
detected. Instead, Houdini will simply crash.
HOUDINI_ENABLE_FPS_SCALE
If enabled, it will stretch all keys in your animation so that the time
at the start of the last keyframe is the total animation length when you
change the frame rate of your animation. Usually, when you change your
animation frame rate, the last keyframe will end up at a fractional
keyframe of your new frame rate because each frame in Houdini is actually
a (1/FPS) seconds in length. Note that when you do this, the actual timing
of your animation will be changed when you modify your frame rate.
HOUDINI_X11_SYNCHRONOUS
Force Unix X11 servers to be synchronous. This may affect
performance.
HOUDINI_IPLAY_FLIP
Causes iplay to flip all images vertically
HOUDINI_VIEW_METACAM
Specifies operator types that contain a camera or light and that need to be
locked to the view in a special way. When a camera is inside an OTL and it
is locked to the view, the view attempts to modify the camera parameters
to align the camera view to itself. However, if a camera is inside an OTL,
its parameters are locked and cannot be changed and the camera view will not
be aligned with the viewport.
To allow alignment of cameras and lights with the view when they are inside
an OTL, we can modify the OTL transform parameters such that the camera
or light inside it is aligned with the viewport (when the camera is
locked to a viewport). The locked viewport will modify the camera's parent
(OTL) transform parameters, instead of trying to change (usually locked)
transform parameters of the camera object (which lives within the OTL).
Such OTLs are specified in the HOUDINI_VIEW_METACAM
variable. The variable contains a list of space delimeted words and if the
operator type name contains any of them as a substring then the OTL parameters
are modified (instead of the camera parameters) to orient the camera
such that its view is the same as the viewport.
An OTL can register itself when loading or when first instance is created by
appending its name to this variable in the appropriate script:
setenv HOUDINI_VIEW_METACAM = "$HOUDINI_VIEW_METACAM my_magic_otl_substring"
HOUDINI_SKIP_NAME
Avoid printing viewport name in Houdini
HOUDINI_DISABLE_DISPLAYLIST
Disable optimized rendering of geometry. This will cause Houdini
to use less memory at the expense of OpenGL rendering speed.
HOUDINI_DISPLAYLIST_DELAY
How many redraws must occur with static geometry before it is
cached inside a display list. The default value is 2.
HOUDINI_DISABLE_POLYTESS_CACHE
This disables the caching of the tesselation for shaded polygons.
Setting this will decrease memory usage at the cost of degraded
performance.
HOUDINI_TOP_POS_SINGLE_PASS
Set this environment variable to force only a single pass for
drawing the wireframe outside of stamped projections in the
TOP texture positioner view. Otherwise multiple passes are used
to only draw the frame outside of the stamped projection.
HOUDINI_IPLAY_IP
Force "ip" image device to use iplay instead of mplay. This
behaviour can be overridden using the HOUDINI_IP_COMMAND and
HOUDINI_IP_COMMAND_FLIP controls.
HOUDINI_CONSOLE_LINES
Number of lines to store in the Windows console
HOUDINI_INTERRUPT_THRESH
Timeout before the interrupt dialog appears to interrupt long
operations.
HOUDINI_TEX3D_USAGE
Amount of memory used by 3D texture maps in VEX.
HOUDINI_RAT_USAGE
Amount of memory used by RAT textures in Houdini and renders.
This amount is specified in mega-bytes. For example, setting the
control to 32 will limit Houdini/Mantra to use 32 Mb of RAM for
RAT file texturing.
HOUDINI_MDISPLAY_WAIT_TIME
Number of seconds to wait before deciding that iplay could not be
started.
HOUDINI_OVERRIDE_XRES
Specifies the horizontal resolution of your monitor in pixels.
Houdini will not create any windows wider than the value specified
here. You can use this value to force Houdini to only use a
portion of your screen.
HOUDINI_OVERRIDE_YRES
Specifies the vertical resolution of your monitor in pixels.
Houdini will not create any windows taller than the value specified
here. You can use this value to force Houdini to only use a
portion of your screen.
HOUDINI_OVERRIDE_WIDTH
Specifies the width of your monitor in millimetres. You can use this
value to modify the pixels-per-inch value calculated by Houdini.
Setting this value to be larger than your actual monitor size will
cause Houdini to display smaller fonts. You can also use this value
if the value calculated by Houdini seems to be incorrect.
HOUDINI_OVERRIDE_HEIGHT
Specifies the height of your monitor in millimetres. You can use this
value to modify the pixels-per-inch value calculated by Houdini.
Setting this value to be larger than your actual monitor size will
cause Houdini to display smaller fonts. You can also use this value
if the value calculated by Houdini seems to be incorrect.
HOUDINI_UISCALE
This specifies a fixed scale factor to adjust the dots-per-inch
Houdini uses for displaying ui. A value of 100 will provide the
default of 85 dpi. A value of 200 will have all fonts and icons
twice that size, and 50 will make them half that size. A value of
-1 will cause the dpi to be calculated from the monitor's
dimensions and resolution, or by HOUDINI_OVERRIDE_*.
By default the value is 100.
HOUDINI_SCRIPT_DEBUG
If set, errors will be printed when loading dialog scripts and
scripted operators.
HOUDINI_RMAN_CURVE_STEP
Overrides the step size when writing RiCurve primitives for RIB
MANTRA_COLOR_CACHE
Specifies the storage for color caching when rendering.
MANTRA_GRID_CACHE
Specifies the number of micro-polygon grids stored in RAM.
MANTRA_PSOUP
Specifies the number of primitives in a single object before the
object is considered to be polygon soup and memory optimizations
are invoked.
MANTRA_RAY_CACHE
Specifies the storage size for caching of ray tracing geometry
when rendering.
HOUDINI_MANTRA3_CACHE
Obsolete control
HOUDINI_UI_QUEUE_SIZE
Specifies the size of the UI event queue. Increasing this can
help prevent queue overflows.
FPS
This variable is used by iplay to set the default frames per
second. It is automatically set by the OpenGL output driver.
HOUDINI_PERFORMANCE_SIZE
Specifies the number of lines that the performance monitor keeps.
HOUDINI_ABEKAS_PAL_XRES
Overrides the default resolution of the abekas image device.
HOUDINI_ABEKAS_PAL_YRES
Overrides the default resolution of the abekas image device.
HOUDINI_GAUSS_EXP
Specifies the exponent for the Gaussian filter kernel. This
affects any Gaussian filtering (image scaling, rendering, etc.)
HOUDINI_MITCHELL_B
Specified the B parameter of the Mitchell filter kernel. This
affects any Mitchell filtering (image scaling, rendering, etc.)
HOUDINI_MITCHELL_C
Specified the C parameter of the Mitchell filter kernel. This
affects any Mitchell filtering (image scaling, rendering, etc.)
HOUDINI_CHOP_OLDNOISE
The noise CHOP in Houdini5 and greater has a new method for
computing random values. This produces different results than
Houdini4, but is more consistent on different hardware
platforms. If this variable is set, the noise CHOP in Houdini5
will generate same values as Houdini4.
HOUDINI_CHOP_LINEWIDTH
This variable controls the line thickness in the CHOP viewer.
HOUDINI_CHOP_UNITS
This sets the default parameter for the Units parameter of CHOPs.
HOUDINI_CHOP_IMAGE
This variable can be set to point to an image file which is
displayed when the CHOP viewer is disabled.
HOUDINI_CINEON_WHITE_POINT
Defines the white point for reading and writing cineon files.
This value is not used if a LUT file is used.
HOUDINI_CINEON_FILM_GAMMA
Defines the film gamma for reading and writing cineon files.
This value is not used if a LUT file is used.
HOUDINI_CINEON_FULL_RANGE
If set, the generated LUT from the CINEON_WHITE_POINT and
CINEON_FILM_GAMMA is not clipped above the white point; the
full range of the cineon data is preserved. Only used by the
Houdini 4.0 Compositor.
HOUDINI_CINEON_RENDER_LUT
Defines the default render LUT filename for reading and writing
cineon files.
HOUDINI_CINEON_PREVIEW_LUT
Defines the default preview LUT filename for reading and writing
cineon files. Only used by the Houdini 4.0 Compositor.
HOUDINI_IMAGE_DISPLAY_LUT
Defines the default display LUT filename for displaying images in
the compositor's viewer and mplay.
HOUDINI_IMAGE_INSPECT_LUT
Defines the default inspect LUT filename for inspecting images in
the compositor's viewer and mplay.
HOUDINI_LOD
This is an Level of Detail number, such as 0.01 or 1.0. It becomes
the default LOD for new windows. Higher LODs will result in more
accurate drawing of curves and surfaces, however at a corresponding
cost in display speed. By default, it is set to 1.0. If you find
yourself having to constantly change the View Parameter:Viewer:LOD
setting, you might save some work by just making your default a
better value.
HOUDINI_WF_GAMMA
Specifies the gamma value written out to Wavefront .rla files.
EDITOR
Houdini will use this variable to determine which external graphical
editor to invoke when editing text. The editor should run in the
foreground.
If the VISUAL environment variable is set, then it is used instead of
EDITOR and started as a graphical process. In other words, the VISUAL
environment variable will override this and thus have no effect if VISUAL
is also set. If both the VISUAL and EDITOR variables are _not_ set, then
the following command lines are used:
Windows: notepad
Solaris: dtpad
Linux: /usr/bin/gedit
Irix: jot -f
This environment variable may be used by applications other than Houdini.
VISUAL
Houdini will use this variable to determine which external editor
to invoke when editing text.
If this environment variable is not set, then the EDITOR environment
variable is used. See the help for the EDITOR environment variable to see
what are the defaults if both are not set.
This environment variable may be used by applications other than Houdini.
HFS
The path where Houdini is installed.
Houdini reads the configuration information from $HFS/houdini.
SHELL
When Houdini starts external applications, it uses the SHELL
variable to determine how to start them.
This may be used by applications other than Houdini.
HOME
This variable determines your "home" directory.
This may be used by applications other than Houdini.
Houdini mostly uses files in $HOME/houdiniVERSION, where VERSION i
the current version number (ie: $HOME/houdini6 or
$HOME/houdini6.1)
HSITE
The HSITE variable is a path to the site-specific Houdini
conifguration information. This allows a site to have a common
set of defaults and files. It is, by default, in the HOUDINI_PATH
between HOME and HFS. To change global configuration information,
you should use this rather than editting the contents of
$HFS/houdini.
Like HOME, Houdini uses $HSITE/houdiniVERSION, where version is
the current version number (ie: $HSITE/houdini6 or
$HSITE/houdini6.1)
JOB
This variable is often used as a path to the current job. It is
not used by any of the default Houdini paths.
HOUDINI_TEMP_DIR
Specifies a directory where Houdini will generate temporary files.
HOUDINI_UNDO_DIR
Specifies a directory where Houdini will store undo information.
If not specified, the temporary directory will be used.
HOUDINI_CONDENSE_HIP
If this variable is set Houdini will attempt to make paths entered
"friendly" by replacing portions of filename paths with $HIP if
it's appropriate. This behaviour is off by default.
HOUDINI_MESSAGE_COMMAND
An external program which Houdini uses to display graphical
messages.
HOUDINI_CONFIRM_COMMAND
An external program which Houdini uses to display confirmation
boxes.
HOUDINI_ERRORLOG_FILENAME
If set to a valid file name, Houdini will log all errors of severity
above HOUDINI_ERRORLOG_LEVEL to this file.
HOUDINI_ERRORLOG_LEVEL
The minimum error level that Houdini will write to the error log file
specified by HOUDINI_ERRORLOG_FILENAME. Valid values are integers
between 0 (all errors will be logged) and 6 (nothing will be logged)
inclusive. Default value is 3.
Error levels are defined as follows: 1, message; 2, prompt; 3, warning;
4, abort operation; 5, fatal error.
HOUDINI_DEFAULT_TEXTURE_COLOR
Specifies the default color to use when texture maps cannot be
found while rendering. This can be specified as a single string
containing four floating point numbers representing the red,
green, blue and alpha components of the default color. For
example:
setenv HOUDINI_DEFAULT_TEXTURE_COLOR "0 0 0 0"
to set it to zero black.
HOUDINI_VEX_DEFAULT_AMBIENT
The default VEX ambient light shader. If no shader can be found
for an ambient light source, this shader will be applied at render
time.
HOUDINI_VEX_DEFAULT_LIGHT
The default VEX light shader. If no shader can be found for a
light source, this shader will be applied at render time.
HOUDINI_VEX_DEFAULT_MATTE
The default VEX matte surface shader. This shader is used at render
time to provide a background surface if there is fog applied to a scene.
HOUDINI_VEX_DEFAULT_OGLSURF
The default VEX surface shader for displaying objects in VEX shaded
mode in the object viewport.
HOUDINI_VEX_DEFAULT_OGLSEL
The default VEX surface shader for displaying selected geometry in
VEX shaded mode in the object viewport.
HOUDINI_VEX_DEFAULT_PHOTON
The default VEX photon shader. If no photon shader can be found,
this shader will be applied at render time.
HOUDINI_VEX_DEFAULT_SHADOW
The default VEX shadow shader. If a light source is casting shadows,
but no shadow shader is found, this shader is applied at render time.
HOUDINI_VEX_DEFAULT_SURFACE
The default VEX surface shader. If no surface shader can be
found, this shader will be applied at render time.
HOUDINI_OGL_DBL_BUFFER_FIX
Some graphics boards (notably quadro and geforce) boards have
problems writing simultaneously to the front and back buffers. By
setting this variable to 1, Houdini will only write to one buffer
at a time.
HOUDINI_COPY_SUFFIX
When copy/pasting, this variable can be used to create
user-specific temporary files.
HOUDINI_RMAN_CURVE_BASIS
Specify the curve basis when generating RiCurve primitives in a
RIB stream. This should be one of "linear" or "cubic".
HOUDINI_COP_DISK_DEFAULTNAME
Obsolete control
HOUDINI_MANTRA3_SHADOW
Obsolete control
HOUDINI_MANTRA3_REFLECT
Obsolete control
HOUDINI_RI_SHADERPATH
When the shader path is not specified in the RIB output driver,
this environment variable is checked. If this variable exists,
it's value will be output to the RIB stream. If the variable
doesn't exist, then no shader path will be output to the RIB file.
HOUDINI_RI_TEXTUREPATH
When the texture path is not specified in the RIB output driver,
this environment variable is checked. If this variable exists,
it's value will be output to the RIB stream. If the variable
doesn't exist, then no texture path will be output to the RIB file.
HOUDINI_RI_EYESPLITS
When the eye splits are not specified in the RIB output driver,
this environment variable is checked. If this variable exists,
it's value will be output to the RIB stream. If the variable
doesn't exist, then no eye-split information will be output to the
RIB file.
HOUDINI_FILE_VIEWER
Specify an external application to view files.
HOUDINI_CHECK_XFORM
When generating scripts for renderers, if this variable is set,
the transforms on objects will be tested to see if they are
singular (i.e. whether there are zero scales). If the transform
is singular, the object will not be output.
The value of this variable is the threshold at which the transform
is considered zero. Thus, the variable should be set to some very
small floating point number.
HOUDINI_STPATH
Specify a path to search for the source to a shader when editing
shader code from pop-up dialog scripts.
HOUDINI_STEDIT
Specify an external application to edit shaders with.
HOUDINI_DOUBLEBUFFER
This variable can be set to either ON or OFF. It will force
houdini to run in either single or double buffer mode.
HOUDINI_WORKSHEET_BOXPICK
This environment variable is used to override using the left mouse
button for box picking in the network worksheet. Can be set to
either "middle" or "right".
HOUDINI_DEFOPTYPEPREFIX
When you convert a subnet into a new operator type, this prefix,
if present, will be used for guessing what the basename of the new
operator should be. If not present, the username is used.
For example, setting this to "foobar_" will ensure all operators
created will have their basename type prefixed by foobar_. This
can be used to ensure conflicts don't occur with other projects
operators.
HOUDINI_VRML_CONVERT
External application to convert Inventor format to VRML format.
HOUDINI_VRML_CONVERT2
External application to convert Inventor format to VRML 2 format.
HOUDINI_ABEKAS_LOGNAME
Specify the user name for logging into an abekas frame recorder.
HOUDINI_ABEKAS_LOGPASSWD
Specify the password for logging into an abekas frame recorder.
HOUDINI_MD_COMMAND
Specify the external application used by the md image device to
read images from stdin and display them in a persistent frame
buffer device (i.e. mplay).
HOUDINI_MD_COMMAND_FLIP
Specify the external application used by the md image device to
read images from stdin and display them upside down in a
persistent frame buffer device (i.e.
HOUDINI_MPLAY_LOCKPATH
Specify a directory to create the mplay lockfiles. These files
will normally be created in the user's HOME directory. The value
of this variable should point to a directory where lockfiles can
be created (i.e. /tmp or c:/temp).
HOUDINI_IP_COMMAND
Specify the external application used by the ip image device to
read images from stdin and display them in a viewer (i.e. iplay).
HOUDINI_IP_COMMAND_FLIP
Specify the external application used by the ip image device to
read images from stdin and display them upside down in a viewer
(i.e. iplay).
USER
information from the login session. This variable represents the
name of the user logged in.
HOUDINI_OS
The OS that Houdini believes it's running on. Possible values of
this variable are currently defined as "Windows", "Linux",
"Solaris", or "IRIX".
HOUDINI_PATH
The path of directories where Houdini looks for configuration
files.
HOUDINI_OTL_PATH
The path of directories where Houdini looks for OPlibraries files
for loading OTL files at startup. Note that the OTL files themselves
can be anywhere. Houdini only does a directory search for OPlibraries
files, which just contain a list of OTL file names.
HOUDINI_SCRIPT_PATH
The path of directories where Houdini searches for scripts. This
includes .cmd files for hscript, .class files for the java command,
.tcl and .tk files for the tcl and tk commands, and command scripts
for the Alfred Output Driver.
HOUDINI_CLIP_PATH
The path of directories where Houdini looks for .clip and .bclip
channel files
HOUDINI_CUSTOM_PATH
The path of directories where Houdini looks for custom panel
information.
HOUDINI_DESK_PATH
The path of directories where Houdini looks for desktops
HOUDINI_DSO_PATH
The search path for loading custom plug-ins (Dynamic Shared
Objects or Dynamic Link Libraries).
HOUDINI_GEOMETRY_PATH
The search path for geometry files.
HOUDINI_MACRO_PATH
The search path for toolbar macro files.
HOUDINI_STOOLBAR_PATH
The search path for factory and custom toolbars used in the viewports.
This path may be different from the one defined for the network pane.
(see HOUDINI_TOOLBAR_PATH). If you think you have set the path correctly
and the toolbar menu does not list any toolbars, ensure that "Show custom
toolbars" is enabled in Houdini's Preferences dialog.
HOUDINI_TEXTURE_PATH
The search path for loading images. This includes .rat files and
other 2D formats as well as .i3d 3D texture files.
HOUDINI_TOOLBAR_PATH
The search path for factory and custom toolbars used in the network
pane. This path may be different from the one defined for interactive states
(see HOUDINI_STOOLBAR_PATH). If you think you have set the path correctly
and the toolbar menu does not list any toolbars, ensure that "Show custom
toolbars" is enabled in Houdini's Preferences dialog.
HOUDINI_VEX_PATH
The search path for VEX code. Setting this path will override the
default path of $HOUDINI_PATH/vex/. Searching for the dialog
scripts is independent of VEX searching and is controlled by the
HOUDINI_PATH.
HOUDINI_OUTLINEFONT_PATH
This is the path searched for Adobe Type 1 or True Type fonts used
in the font SOP, font COP
HOUDINI_BACKUP_DIR
This is the directory used to store the backed-up hip files when the
"Numbered Backup" save option is set.
HOUDINI_BACKUP_FILENAME
A template for the filename used for file backups when the
"Numbered Backup" save option is set. Two variables are required:
$BASENAME, which will be replaced by the name of the file being saved
without its extension; and $N, which is replaced by the backup number.
$N can be followed by a single digit which is interpreted as the number
of digits to be used in the backup number; numbers with fewer digits than
this will be padded with zeroes. Default value is '$BASENAME_bak$N'.
HOUDINI_AUTOSAVE_FILENAME
A template for the filename used for auto save file backups when the
"Numbered Backup" auto save option is set. Two variables are required:
$BASENAME, which will be replaced by the name of the file being saved
without its extension; and $N, which is replaced by the backup number.
$N can be followed by a single digit which is interpreted as the number
of digits to be used in the backup number; numbers with fewer digits than
this will be padded with zeroes. Default value is '$BASENAME_auto$N'.
HOUDINI_MAX_BACKUP_FILES
Setting this environment variable will limit the number of backup files
Houdini creates when the "Numbered Backup" save option is set. Setting
this environment variable to 0 will disable the limit and Houdini will
write as many backup files as resources permit (default).
HOUDINI_NO_SPLASH
Setting this environment variable will disable the Houdini splash screen
from being displayed.
HOUDINI_BUFFEREDSAVE
When enabled .hip files are first saved to a memory buffer and
then written to disk. This is useful when saving over the network
from Windows 2000 machines, or other places where seeking to the
network is expensive.
HOUDINI_UI_SATURATION
Reduces or increases the color saturation of Houdini's user interface.
The default is 1 (as is), values less than one reduce the coloring of the
UI, 0 produces monochrome UI and values greater than 1 super-saturate
Houdini.
HOUDINI_UI_BRIGHTNESS
Defines the brightness factor of the houdini UI (default 1).
First the HOUDINI_UI_GAMMA (default 1) is applied, followed by the
HOUDINI_UI_CONTRAST (default 1) and finally and finally the brightness.
HOUDINI_UI_CONTRAST
Defines the color contrast of the houdini UI (default 1).
First the HOUDINI_UI_GAMMA (default 1) is applied, followed by the
contrast and finally HOUDINI_UI_BRIGHTNESS (default 1).
HOUDINI_UI_GAMMA
Defines the gamma factor applied to the houdini UI (default 1).
First the gamma is applied, followed by HOUDINI_UI_CONTRAST (default 1)
and finally HOUDINI_UI_BRIGHTNESS (default 1).
HOUDINI4_COMPATIBILITY
When this is enabled, some of the quirks of Houdini 4 are turned
on. This is designed to be used to allow old hip files to be
loaded. Support for these inconsistencies is not guaranteed in
future versions of Houdini. Currently, this will:
- Change the order of points in Spheres, Tubes, Torii, and
Circles under certain orientations.
- Reverse the direction of the Clip SOP's "distance"
parameter.
- Revert to the old capture region weighting method
HOUDINI55_COMPATIBILITY
When this is enabled, some of the quirks of Houdini 5.5 (and earlier) are
turned on. This is designed to be used to allow old hip files to be
loaded identically. Support for these inconsistencies are not guaranteed
in future versions of Houdini. Currently, this will:
- Not always use the shortest path rotation blending the PolyWire
SOP and Composite CHOP
- Revert to the old boneangle() behaviour of calculating the angle
between the two negative z axes of the given bones
(Note that usually this expression would have been used as
(180-boneangle(...)) which can easily be converted into the new
behaviour by no longer subtracting from 180)
- The Switch Operators in POPs, SOPs, COP2s and SHOPs will not
consolidate null inputs.
- When globbing channel patterns, the order will be reverted back to
reverse creation order. This affects the Fetch CHOP, and the
following hscript commands: chls, chread, chwrite
- The "tmgls -l" hscript command will revert to showing paths that
start with /Director.
- Revert to the old behaviour where when Houdini is told to look at
something with an up vector that is parallel to the target
direction, we do nothing. This affects all of Houdini. This includes
(but not limited to) the Look At parameter in all operators,
the mlookat() expression function, and the lookat() VEX function.
HOUDINI6_COMPATIBILITY
When this is enabled, some of the quirks of Houdini 6.0 (and earlier) are
turned on. This is designed to be used to allow old hip files to be
loaded identically. Support for these inconsistencies are not guaranteed
in future versions of Houdini. Currently, this will:
- With soft transforms (SoftPeak, SoftTransform, and Soft
Options in the Edit SOP that are not applied) and Ignore
Connectivity Off, connectivity does not respect the soft
radius. In Houdini 6.1 and later, two points are connected
only if there is a sequence of edges within the soft radius
that connects them. In 6.0 and earlier, or with this flag
on, they are connected if there is any sequence of edges
that connects them.
- The Fetch CHOP will create the order of its fetched tracks in the
following order:
- animated channels (in the parmeter order of fetched operator)
- chop data tracks
- non-animated parameters (again in parameter order)
HOUDINI6_FILTER_COMPATIBILITY
There was a large bug found in the low level filtering code in
Houdini6.1. Fixing this bug caused the results of filtering to
change quite dramatically from previous versions. To maintain
previous behaviour, this control can be set. However, use of this
control is discouraged since the filtering was incorrect before
the fix. This control may be removed in future versions of
Houdini.
HOUDINI_SAVE_EXTRAINPUTS
This option is only required if you wish to load hip files in versions of
Houdini prior to 5.1 with pre-generated naming dependencies. Naming
dependencies are always regenerated when an operator cooks.
When this is enabled, extra inputs of operators are saved. In versions
prior to Houdini 5.1, these were saved and reloaded so that naming
dependencies could be maintained without cooking. eg. Renaming an
operator will also rename all channel references to it. This was because
naming dependencies would only be generated when an operator cooked and
loading a hip file does not necessarily cook the operators. This is
especially true if loading a file in hscript.
Starting with Houdini 5.1, naming dependencies are generated regardless of
whether an operator is cooked and so saving extra inputs are not needed.
Furthermore, when loading hip files, extra inputs are now silently ignored
if they happen to exist.
HOUDINI_HIPEXT
When this variable is set, Houdini will no longer add the ".hip" extension
from the Save dialog.
HOUDINI_ACCESS_METHOD
This value can be 0 (the default), 1, or 2. It selects the method used
by Houdini to check file and directory permissions under Windows. 0 checks
the permissions of the current user against the Windows user and group
permissions set for the file in question. This method may be slow on
machines that use a network login server. 1 uses a different method for
checking the Windows user and group permissions, but relies on
functionality that is broken in Windows 200 Service Pack 2. Method 2 simply
checks the file attributes. This method is fast, but ignores the user
and group permissions, and so may report that some files or directories
can be written to when actually they cannot.
HSCRIPT_SAFEQUIT
If this variable is set, the quit command in hscript will prompt
the user to verify that they want to quit.
HOUDINI_IRIX_OSTRSTREAM_MAX_SIZE
This variable is used to specify the maximum size when using a "dynamic"
ostrstream. It is only used when running on an IRIX machine and is
necessary to work around a bug which prevents these streams from growing.
The default value is 5242880 (5M), and the minimum acceptable value is
8192 (8K). Try increasing this variable when saving, such as writing
OTLs, is failing on an IRIX machine.
PathExpansionHelp
Special characters in path definition are:
@ - Typically expands to the HOUDINI_PATH. Thus, if the
HOUDINI_PATH was set to:
$HIP
$HFS/houdini
$HOME/houdini
a path defined as "@/vex" would expand to the paths
$HIP/vex
$HFS/houdini/vex
$HOME/houdini/vex
= - This expands to the $HIP variable. This path will always
point to where the currently loaded hip resides.
& - The ampersand character expands to the "default" path.
For example, to add a directory to the a path without
worrying about what the default path should actually be,
simply set the path to: "/mypath;&". This will search
the "/mypath" path first, then search the default path.
^ - Some paths are used for multiple directories. For
example, the HOUDINI_VEX_PATH is used to define the
search path for Surface, Displacement, Sop, etc. VEX
shaders. For VEX, the ^ symbol expands to the shader
type. Thus, if the HOUDINI_VEX_PATH variable is set to
something like "/usr/local/vex;$HOME/vex/^", when
loading Surface shaders, the following directories will
be scanned:
/usr/local/vex
$HOME/vex/Surface
and if Sop shaders are being searched for, the
following paths will be searched:
/usr/local/vex
$HOME/vex/Sop