![]() |
Alembic Output NodeSupport for the Toolkit Alembic output node in Houdini. |

Documentation
General Use
Configuration
Installation, Updates and Development
Configuration Options
Release Notes History
This document describes functionality only available if you have taken control over a Toolkit configuration. Please refer to the Shotgun Integrations User Guide for details. This app provides a Houdini Alembic output node whose output path is prepopulated with a location based off a set of Toolkit configurations and the path of the Houdini scene generating the content.
Documentation
The Houdini Alembic Node App provides a custom Shotgun Alembic Output node which makes it easy to standardise the location where alembic files are output. It can be configured for each environment.
General Use
In order to use the Shotgun Alembic Output, save your script as a Toolkit work file first and then create a new node via the TAB menu in Houdini. This will create a node which looks similar to a normal Alembic output node:

The node can be configured with multiple output profiles, each using a different template path for where the alembic cache should be written to disk.

Rather than entering a path by hand, you just specify which output profile to use and the node will compute the rest of the path automatically. You can see the computed path in the UI.

The output alembic files will be versioned and the version number will always follow the current Houdini scene file version which will be incremented automatically when you publish using Multi Publish.
Configuration
The Toolkit alembic node provides the ability to specify multiple output profiles for an environment configuration. Here's an example of configuring the node with multiple profiles:
tk-houdini: apps: tk-houdini-alembicnode: location: name: tk-houdini-alembicnode type: app_store version: v0.2.2 work_file_template: houdini_shot_work default_node_name: tk_alembic_out output_profiles: - name: For Publishing settings: {} color: [255, 127, 0] output_cache_template: houdini_shot_work_alembic_cache - name: Local Testing settings: {} color: [0, 127, 255] output_cache_template: houdini_shot_local_alembic_cache
You can use the output profiles to alter the look of the node via the color
field, and you can adjust individual parms on the underlying Alembic node by supplying key/value pairs matching those parms in the settings
field. Finally, the output_cache_template
field drives the output path for the alembic cache written to disk.
Installation and Updates
Adding this App to the Shotgun Pipeline Toolkit
If you want to add this app to Project XYZ, in an environment named asset, execute the following command:
> tank Project XYZ install_app asset tk-houdini tk-houdini-alembicnode
Updating to the latest version
If you already have this item installed in a project and you want to get the latest
version, you can run the update
command. You can either navigate to the
tank command that comes with that specific project, and run it there:
> cd /my_tank_configs/project_xyz > ./tank updates
Alternatively, you can run your studio tank
command and specify the project
name to tell it which project to run the update check for:
> tank Project XYZ updates
Collaboration and Evolution
![]() |
If you have access to the Shotgun Pipeline Toolkit, you also have access to the source code for all apps, engines and frameworks in Github where we store and manage them. Feel free to evolve these items; use them as a base for further independent development, make changes (and submit pull requests back to us!) or simply tinker with them to see how they have been built and how the toolkit works. You can access this code repository at https://github.com/shotgunsoftware/tk-houdini-alembicnode. |
Special Requirements
- You need Shotgun Pipeline Toolkit Core API version v0.12.5 or higher to use this.
- You need Engine version v0.2.0 or higher to use this.
Configuration
Below is a summary of all the configuration settings used. These settings need to be defined in the environment file where you want to enable this App or Engine.
work_file_template
Type: template
Description: A reference to a template which locates a Houdini work file on disk. This is used to drive the version and optionally the name of output files.
default_node_name
Type: str
Default Value: sgtk_alembic
Description: A default name for Alembic output nodes created in houdini. Allowed characters include letters, numbers, periods, dashes, or underscores.
output_profiles
Type: list
Description: A list of dictionaries defining the various alembic output profiles. Each profile contains a unique name that describes the profile, the cach template for writing to disk, a color to distinguish each profile type in the node graph, and optional settings to apply to the internal Alembic node.
Release Notes
Welcome to the release notes for this tk-houdini-alembicnode. Below you will find an overview of all the changes we did for each release. We try to be as detailed as possible and include all bugs we have fixed, features we have added and things that may have changed. If you have questions about a particular release, don't hesitate to contact our support team!
v0.3.0
2017-Nov-08
Adds API to support template based workflows for publish2
v0.2.5
2016-Mar-03
Adds metrics logging
v0.2.4
2016-Jan-19
Changed node label from SGTK Alembic to Shotgun Alembic
v0.2.3
2016-Jan-07
Updated config docs.
v0.2.2
2016-Jan-07
QA: Fixed issue where renaming node did not update output path
v0.2.1
2016-Jan-06
OTL regenerated in preparation for release.
v0.2.0
2015-Dec-10
Merged updates from Pixomondo, cleanup, refactor
v0.1.1
Fixed app so that it will install with the current engine version. - Note that this app is still going through QA and is yet to be officially released!
v0.1.0
Initial release to the App Store.
0 Comments