Houdini Data Interface for UE4's Niagara

General Discussion
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#1

anubis_destruction

Hi folks,

We’re getting closer to an official release of the Houdini plugin for Niagara. I’d love to get some feedback on the tools and suggestions for improvements. I’ll use this thread to post example files and videos for anyone interested in testing this stuff out.

[EDIT] Just a quick note. Change your file extension to hcsv instead of csv or you’ll get a window popping up at import time in ue4 asking what kind of data table the file is. [/EDIT]

You will need to download the latest gamedev tools to access the extra nodes in Houdini.

The plugin comes with the latest preview release of UE4 - 4.20 preview 3

UE4 Niagara Data Interface Quick Start - This quick start video will get you setup and ready to go with the more involved stuff.

Niagara Houdini Data Interface Content Examples - There are currently 5 content examples available with the plugin. This video will give you a run down of what’s going on.

Niagara ROP - Niagara ROP walkthrough.

There are 2 example files. niagara_examples.hip includes the setups used in the content examples.
niagara_destruction_example.hip is a basic rbd setup using some gamedev tools to simplify the rbd workflow.

Mike

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#2

Thanks! Definitely going to play around with it. SO much potential in a Houdini + Niagara combo.

#3

This is fantastic! Thank you, Mike.

#4

We’re really excited to see what the community does with this combo of tools, definitely post links.

#5

Awesome! Thanks Mike!

#6

good~. thanks.
Can Niagra assign particles for every fractal chunks?

#7

I’m sorry. I don’t understand the question. Can you try rephrasing it?

#8

the question is…
is it possible to attach a particle effect to a broken piece?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZVdBNjh-tU

In Unreal, I created this because I could not attach particles to the chunks of the Fracture Mesh by default.
Please see this post below for more details.

#9

You could use the interpolate export method which will give you a position that you could attach a particle system to. It would be similar to a socket on a skeletal mesh. Or attaching a particle system directly to a bone. But this would be for cached simulations. If your question is specific to Niagara I’d ask Shaun or Wyeth over in the Niagara thread. Niagara / unreal GDC - #136 by ShaunKime

#10

this is cached simulations in Houdini.
thanks for the reply.

#11

Does anyone else have an issue where, your CSV files wont import as a Houdini CSV File?

Unreal always seems to import mine as normal data tables and doesn’t automatically recognise the CSV as a Houdini CSV. Meaning I cannot use them in Niagara?

  • Could be my unreal build but I have followed the tutorials and seem to have no luck - 4.20 unreal build
  • I’m using gamdev toolset version 1.15
#12

Hey Chris. It’s a silly thing but an easy fix - change the file to *.hcsv instead of *.csv to get around that.

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#13

Ahh thanks Mike, ive tried that and doesn’t seem to work, exports as a 1kb file from Houdini and Unreal fails to even allow me to import it - will assume my engine is missing something somewhere

#14

Do you have the fx/ houdini niagara plugin installed?

#15

Yeah I have both Niagara and Houdini Niagara but Houdini engine isn’t installed I don’t think so maybe the reason?

#16

You don’t need Houdini Engine to use the Niagara plugin. Have you tried opening the csv file in a text editor to make sure it’s writing out data?

#17

Ahh okay, Yeahhh that seems to be where its broken, my Niagara rop doesn’t seem to want to write out .hcsv successfully, as the collumns for the attributes are their but no values. But exporting a csv and manually changing the file ending may so going to try that as a work around for now (Perhaps need to update my Houdini in order to get the newer Niagara rop which perhaps is the reason my side isn’t working) -

Thanks a lot Mike!

  • So manually renaming the file after exporting it as a CSV from Houdini worked perfectly :smiley:
#18

Good day. Could you show an exemplary setup in ue4 to work with the tools that are described in this post? As I can not find information

#19

@16:00 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk3MJOqxT3g Does anyone know how to achieve an effect like this? thanks

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