Requirements

Supported Versions

The Omniverse Houdini Connector supports the following versions of Houdini:

Version	Windows	Linux	Python Version	gcc Version (Linux only)
18.5.x	No Support	No Support	N/A
19.0.x	10, 11	Ubuntu 20.04, 22.04	Python 3.7.x	gcc 9.3
19.5.x	10, 11	Ubuntu 20.04, 22.04	Python 3.9.x	gcc 9.3
20.0.x	10, 11	Ubuntu 22.04	Python 3.10.x	gcc 9.3

Houdini Linux Requirements

• Houdini 19 and Houdini 20 will not run on glibc 2.34 distributions such as Ubuntu 21.10+ or Fedora 35+.

Packages required:

libxkbcommon-x11 libxcb-icccm4 libxcb-render-util qt5-default qtbase5-dev

Note

If you continue to encounter Qt errors on startup, then check that you have installed the Qt required packages found here: Qt for X11 Requirements

Ubuntu 18.04 and CentOS 7.9 Requirements

Note

The Omniverse Houdini connector requires libstdc++.so.6 version GLIBCXX_3.4.26+

If you are running into issues regarding libstdc++.so.6 errors on Ubuntu 18, please try:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-toolchain-r/test
sudo apt update
sudo apt install gcc-9
sudo apt install libstdc++6{noformat}

CentOS 7.9 you will need to build libraries and update their linking to support libstdc++.so.6 version GLIBCXX_3.4.26+

Environment Variables

The Houdini Omniverse Connector requires Houdini 19.x.x and/or 20.x.x to be installed on the user’s machine. Follow our Connector installation instructions to install this connector.

After running the installer from the Omniverse Launcher, you should see a packages/omniverse.json file under your Houdini user preferences directory (e.g., %USERPROFILE%/Documents/houdini20.0/packages/omniverse.json).

You can add the following flags in the houdini.env file in your Houdini user preferences directory - all optional (e.g., %USERPROFILE%/Documents/houdini20.0/houdini.env):

HOUDINI_DSO_ERROR=2 # Helps detect connector plug-in load errors.
HOMNI_DEFAULT_CONNECTIONS="localhost" # Server connections opened each time file browser is invoked. Comma separated to add multiple Nucleus server connections.
HOMNI_ENABLE_LOGFILE=1 # Log file output is on by default.
HOMNI_ENABLE_HIP_CHECKPOINTS=1 # .hip files saved on Nucleus server with checkpoints enabled is on by default
HOMNI_ENABLE_SAVE_WARNINGS=1 # When invoking Houdini file save with "Make Numbered Backups" preference on a warning is issued by default.
HOMNI_ENABLE_EXPERIMENTAL=0 # Enables experimental nodes is off by default.

HOMNI_DEFAULT_CONNECTIONS specifies the Omniverse server names that will appear by default in the sidebar of Houdini’s file browser. In this case, the default server is localhost, but you may set this to any server name, or specify multiple servers in a list delimited by semicolons (e.g., HOMNI_DEFAULT_CONNECTIONS="server1;server2;server3"). In general, you should assign to HOMNI_DEFAULT_CONNECTIONS the server or servers that you wish to navigate with the file browser.

One thing to note when you are adding connections into your houdini.env file is that connections to all servers added there will be made when the file browser is opened. One workaround to this is to not set the HOMNI_DEFAULT_CONNECTIONS variable and instead add the URL to the favorites in the file browser:

To check if the Connector is installed correctly, launch Houdini 20.0.547 and verify the following:

1. There are no dso error popups.

2. There is an Omniverse entry in the main menu bar.

3. Navigate to the LOPs stage and instantiate a File operator. Click the file chooser button to the right of the File parameter. Verify there is an omniverse:// location in the file browser side bar (omniverse://localhost in our example, since we assigned localhost to the HOMNI_DEFAULT_CONNECTIONS environment variable).

4. Navigate to a USD on the server (e.g., omniverse://localhost/NVIDIA/Samples/OldAttic/Props/ball.usd), and verify that it loads.