Houdini to Maya Point Converter

PointConverter.py and PointImporter.py are programs I created for the
purpose of bringing point cloud data and particle simulations from
SideFx Houdini into Autodesk Maya.

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Copyright © 2013 Craig Barnett
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This program is to be distributed only by the owner. It was created
in the hope that it will be useful to artists, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY.

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Craig Barnett,
302 W 40th St Apt A, Savannah, Ga 31401
mailto: craigbme@hotmail.com
http://www.bhvfx.com
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This script was developed to conveniently and quickly bring point cloud
data or simulations from Houdini into Maya. The reasons I did this were
to allow for better integration with your scene without a lot of post
work and without the problem of matching lighting. You gain the benefits
of being able to use the vast collection of Maya compatible renderers
with your simulation along with easily having multiple simulations in one
compact and fast scene.

Read First:
------------
*These tools can be used to bring point cloud data from SideFx 
 Houdini into Autodesk Maya.
*Currently this only works with Houdini's .bgeo or .pc filetype    
 but will hopefully work with more soon.
*If you are using Houdini 12 or newer you will need to 
 add .classic to the extension (.pc.classic or .bgeo.classic). 
 Houdini now uses binary files instead of ascii, .classic forces
 it back into ascii mode.
*As of now it only transfers point location and id attributes, if 
 no id exists it will create ids in order of location.
*For the second tool to work you must have Autodesk Maya installed, 
  either versions 2012 or 2013. Other versions are untested.

Three Easy Steps:
-----------------
1. Export your point cloud from Houdini into a file/files.
2. Run the Point Converter tool and select your point cloud files   
   from step 1. Give it a name, project directory, and range.
3. Run the Point Importer tool, select project directory, name 
   from previous step, and range.

Important Notes:
----------------
*This tool will create empty cache files for frames not in your  
 sequence.
*For example, if you import frames 30-50 into Maya, 1-29 will    
 automatically be empty cache files.
*A series of folders will be created in the directory you choose 
 if they don't already exist.
*Those folders are called scenes, particles, data and backup.
*Cached simulations must go in the particles folder of your project 
 directory.
*The scenes folder is for your save files. The data folder and backup
 folder are for backups of the cache and scene.
*If you modify the cache in the particles folder, you can replace the
 cache with the original in the data folder.
*It will set the current scenes project folder to whichever 
 folder you choose as the directory.
*Changing the name of the scene will normally break the cache, so 
 in order to keep backups, rename the old files instead of the new 
 ones.
*In order to change the Maya version or Autodesk directory 
 location set during installation, navigate to the install 
 folder, typically "C:\Program Files (x86)\PointImporter" and 
 open the file config.ini with any text editor, like notepad or 
 wordpad. Then change the version and save it. Depending on your 
 setup you may need administrator rights to change this file 
 after installing.
*If the simulation doesn't appear when you open the file try 
 going to File in the title menu and click on "Set Project...". In 
 the following dialog navigate to your Project Directory created
 earlier. Afterwards make sure you reset the timeline before hitting
 play again.

Using Multiple Caches:
----------------------
*When running the Point Converter Tool simply make sure you 
 change the name to something different. If you do not change
 the name it will overwrite the previous cache.
*Do NOT name your cache the same as a particle simulation you 
 already have in your scene. Doing so will erase said particle
 simulation and overwrite it with the cache.

Tutorial:
---------
1. Export your point cloud from Houdini as either a .pc or .bgeo   
   (pc.classic or bgeo.classic if using Houdini 12 or newer) or 
   use the example files located in the install directory in 
   examplefiles.zip.
2. Install both programs to the directory of your choice. For the 
   Point Importer Tool be sure to specify the Autodesk directory 
   and then the Maya version.
   Example:   ( C:\Program Files\Autodesk ) and ( Maya2013 )
3. Run the Point Converter Tool and enter the following 
   information:
   1: Start Frame, That is the first frame you want the cache to    
      start on, typically 1.
   2: End Frame, The frame the cache will end on.
   3: Name of Point Cloud, The name of the cache that will be 
      used in Maya and in the Point Importer Tool.
   4: Select .pc files, Select the files you exported from  
      Houdini.
   5: Select Project Folder, Either an existing project folder 
      containing a scenes folder along with a Maya scene or just 
      another folder of your choosing.
4. Click the Create PDC button and wait for it to finish, the 
   computer may become unresponsive while this is in process. 
   A black window should popup and print out the process of your
   files, it will print "All threads done" when it's complete.
5. Open the Point Converter Tool and enter the following 
   information:
   1: Do you have a previous scene?, Check yes if you would like 
      to bring the cache into an existing Maya Scene. Check no if 
      you would like to bring the cache into an empty scene.
   2: Select Existing Scene:, You only need to fill this in if  
      you answered yes to the previous question. If you answered 
      yes click browse and open the Maya scene file. Only .ma 
      and .mb are supported but others may work.
   3: Select Project Directory, Select the same project folder 
      from the previous program. If you would like to create or   
      use your own custom Project Directory just make sure it has 
      folders named scenes, particles, and data. Also make sure
	  that the .pdc files you have are in the data folder. Normally
	  you would use the same directory as you defined in the previous 
      program.
   4: New Scene Name:, This will be the name of the new file 
      saved in the Scenes folder of your Project Directory 
      containing your cached particles. Caution: Using an existing
	  name will overwrite it.
   5: Cache Name:, This must be exactly what you typed in for the  
      previous program. If your using custom particles already 
      cached and in the data folder this should be the name of 
      those files with the word shape. 
      For example: "myCacheShape.250.pdc" would simply be 
      "myCache"
   6: End Frame:, This should be the last frame of the cache. If 
      you only want to import part of your simulation you can use 
      less. Custom start frames for importing isn't allowed due 
      to bugs with Maya. All this will be handled automatically 
      depending on what you selected in the previous program.
6. Click the Create Button:, This may take some time depending on   
   the size of your cache files and speed of your hard drive. 
   You will know it's done when your save file that you named in 
   the previous step, appears in the Scenes folder of your 
   project directory. Once done you are free to delete the data 
   folder in your project directory to free up space or keep it 
   as a backup in case you corrupt or change your simulation. If 
   you do, simply copy the files from the data folder over to the 
   particles folder overwriting existing files.
7. Open your scenes file in Maya and press play to enjoy your 
   simulation. If the simulation does not appear it's most often 
   due to the scenes project settings. To fix this in Maya simply 
   click on File in the title menu, then click on "Set Project...". 
   In the window that appears select the project directory from 
   before. Afterwards make sure you reset the timeline to reload 
   the cache before you hit play again.