hi guys
does someone heard anything about Houdini engine plugin for Blender?
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I don’t know the details, but right now it’s impossible by the GPL license that kill a lot of opportunities for blender. Same happens few before with substance.
As far as 10 sec of google research showed me, there is currently no plug-in and official is not planned. But there are no contraindications to create one.
You can also use the Houdini Engine API to create your own plug-ins for proprietary applications.
CUSTOM PLUG-INs |
The Houdini Engine API can be used to create plug-ins for any number of applications. If you are interested in creating a plug-in for your favorite app, you can get started right away! To explore the Houdini Engine API and to create your own plug-in, visit github.com/sideeffects. There is sample code from our other plug-ins to show you how to get started.
We have open sourced code for 3 of Houdini Engine plugins: Maya, Unity and Unreal. You can use these as a reference as well.
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Open source does not mean GPL compatible. GPL is (for better or worse) a viral license. Without more info there’s no way of knowing whether or not it could be integrated with the existing API without the use of more complicated cross-process communication (sockets, etc.).
what about Houdini to Blender connector (ODFORCE) & BA Thread: Houdini to Blender connector
ps
viral license is an occluded mind (dark & closed)
Hmm… no legal advice here, but I think this should be theoretically possible if you are just making an interface that allowed Blender to run parts of Houdini (assuming whatever Houdini is licensed under allows this).
It’s doing the opposite that would be legally problematic, as-in writing a software to let Houdini run parts of Blender. That might be considered “linking” under the GPL (as in linking GPL code to non-GPL code, a big no no).
Generally going more permissive to more restrictive is okay as you don’t need to change licensing terms. It’s going more restrictive to more permissive that creates a legal quagmire.
Is the problem not so much the GPL license, but rather a lack of a C++ plugin api? It would seem to me if Blender could be extended with C++ plugins, this would not be a problem as the Houdini Engine license would live independent of Blender.
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Ahh, forgot about this thread. No, I don’t think a C++ plugin API is the issue here, it would still be the GPL license on Blender’s code. The issue with C++ plugins is the plugin API would still be accessing GPL’d code which would mean the API and any plugins using it would also have to be licensed under the GPL. That would put you back at square one. I’m not overly knowledgeable on code licensing, but I think you would need some kind of abstraction layer (or interchange format) separating the Blender interface from the actual GPL’d code to be “legally” in the clear.
I should have mentioned this in the last reply, but even though extending GPL code to access non-GPL’d code is theoretically possible, it’s still a legal grey area (i.e. untested in court). Several articles I read said it should be technically legal, but “technically legal” or “legal in theory” aren’t great selling points for commercial companies with a lot amount of money riding on their projects
There are a question I would like to ask. Why do we need a houdini engine plugin ? Are we here talking about getting all the fluid, pyro options work inside Blender? Don’t think that is possibel. And then there are legal issues involved. Using Alembic gives us the fluid, the pyro exporter gives us the fire / smoke inside blender. When it comes to fluid there are no problem to import that, even the particles from Houdini comes with it, the problem is how blender can use these particles. That is probably a question for another thread.
It is not only about fluids. It is like houdini in Blender. For example you can make House digital assets, take it into BLender, and tweak parameters like you are in Houdini. Engine is not exchange format only.
Hi!
Any updates on a Blender Houdini Engine ?
Can’t wait to pack HDA to be used in Blender… (As modifiers or wherever…)
This could be promising: https://github.com/eliemichel/HoudiniEngineForBlender
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Is there a blender version already compiled with Open Mesh Effect modifier? I would really like to try it out but I’ve never compiled Blender myself. And I don’t want to spend that much time to learn how to do it if I can avoid it.
What’s the situation of this project anyway. It seems promising…
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