HoudiniEngineForUnreal Versions Save

Update 3 of the Houdini Engine for Unreal for Houdini 20.0. The plugin is now linked to Houdini 20.0.688 / HAPI 6.2.0.

Source and binaries are included for: UE5.2, and UE5.3 on Windows, Mac OS (intel and Apple silicon).

Please note that the source code available in the 5.0 branch is compatible with UE 5.0, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, and 5.4. Binaries for UE5.4 will be provided in the next release - as the plugin currently compiles but is untested with 5.4.

Also, please remember that the plugin's binaries AND source code are always available with the launcher/installer for a given version of Houdini. If you install or want to use a daily build of Houdini, please use the version of the plugin binaries/source code included with it.

New features / Changes:

• Added support for Unreal 5.4. As mentioned above - the 5.4 plugin compiles but is currently not fully tested.

• Added support for the plugin's content examples. The content examples are available as a content plugin that can be downloaded on their git repository: https://github.com/sideeffects/HoudiniEngineForUnreal-ContentExamples

• Added support for baking outputs to a single actor rather than multiple actors. This is controlled by a setting in the Houdini Asset Component next to the bake setting.

• Added support for baking of geometry collections.

• Added buttons for selecting the temporary cook folder and bake folder.

• Added a new Log Command: Houdini.DumpGenericAttribute This can be used to list all properties/generic attributes for a given class, listing the expected unreal_uproperty_XXX attribute names and types, and if the system supports it. Usage example: Houdini.DumpGenericAttribute StaticMesh

• Improved the logic used for finding uproperty attributes.

• Changed options for exporting layers from Unreal to Houdini to allow more control over which landscape layers are sent.

• Improvements and bug fixes for ramp parameter details UI. The ramp curve editor can now be opened in an external window for easier use.

• Fields in the parameter UI remain focused after an HDA is cooked, making it possible to edit and navigate the Unreal details UI using the keyboard only.

• Nanite FallbackTargets are now automatically set for given Nanite Fallback Values.

• Added support for setting the CenterAdjust property on a Spline Segment Mesh.

Bug Fixes:

• Button strip parameters now work correctly in the details UI.
• String parameters with the tag "unreal_ref" have an updated UI in the details view which matches the native UE5 object picker. They previously missed buttons to navigate to the currently selected object and it in the Content Browser.
• Fixed an issue where proxy meshes would not have Unreal's color-per-vertex gamma correction applied.

Version 2.1.2 - Houdini 20.0.653

Update 2 of the Houdini Engine for Unreal for Houdini 20.0. The plugin is now linked to Houdini 20.0.653 / HAPI 6.2.0.

Source and binaries are included for: UE5.2, and UE5.3 on Windows. UE5.1 and UE5.2 on Mac OS. UE5.2 on Mac OS (Apple Silicon).

Please note that the source code available in the 5.0 branch is compatible with UE 5.0 , 5.1, 5.2 and 5.3.

Also, please remember that the plugin's binaries AND source code are always available with the launcher/installer for a given version of Houdini. If you install or want to use a daily build of Houdini, please use the version of the plugin binaries/source code included with it.

New features / Changes:

• UI: The focused parameter in the details panel is maintained after modifying a value/cooking. This makes manually entering values in the parameter easier.
• UI: Improved details panel refresh logic.
• Param: Added support for Horizontally Join to Next Parameter option to Details UI
• PDG: TOP nodes/networks are now lexicographically sorted in the PDG Assewt Link UI.
• Added missing lock/unlock icon for Float3 parameters

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed an issue where height fields that were not of the correct Unreal size would be offset when imported into Unreal.
• Fixed Button Strip parameters not behaving as expected
• Chaos/Geometry Collection: Values for the "unreal_gc_collisions_implicit_type" now follow the same order as their corresponding menu entries in Unreal: 0 = Box, 1 = Sphere, 2 = Capsule, 3 = Level Set, 4 = None, 5...
• Added a safeguard to prevent the renaming of HoudiniToolsPackage, as this silently disables them. Renaming them to anything but "HoudiniToolsPackage" is now not supported.
• Prevent the plugin from looking for HDA's ToolsPackage when cooking as this would generate a lot of unnecessary load warnings in the cook logs.
• Fixed reimport failing for .bgeo.sc files.

Version 2.1.1 - Houdini 20.0.625

Update 1 of the Houdini Engine for Unreal for Houdini 20.0. The plugin is now linked to Houdini 20.0.625 / HAPI 6.2.0.

Source and binaries are included for: UE5.2, and UE5.3 on Windows. UE5.1 and UE5.2 on Mac OS. UE5.2 on Mac OS (Apple Silicon).

Please note that the source code available in the 5.0 branch is compatible with UE 5.0 , 5.1, 5.2 and 5.3.

Also, please remember that the plugin's binaries AND source code are always available with the launcher/installer for a given version of Houdini. If you install or want to use a daily build, please use the version of the plugin binaries/source code included with it.

New features / Changes:

Landscapes

• Added checkbox to export height only when importing to Houdini from Unreal.
• Added more control over which landscape layers are sent to Houdini from Unreal. The user can now specify if Edit Layers and/or Paint Layers can be sent to Houdini. Removed the previous option to send the combined height-only data, as this can be achieved by disabling Edit and Paint layers simultaneously.
• Added a new attribute unreal_landscape_layer_normalize to control how layer data is normalized if outside the range 0 to 1. By default is it clamped, setting 1 will normalize the data. Changed deprecated weight layer blend to use Target, rather than Edit, layers.

Baking:

• Baking outputs from a HoudiniAssetComponent will no longer replace assets when both of the following conditions are met:
  • The default bake name is being used (for example, no custom name has been set with unreal_output_name), and it is the first time that the HoudiniAssetActor is baking the specific output object.
• When baking an output asset the default bake name now includes the HoudiniAssetComponent's GUID (if a custom bake name was not set in the output details panel or via attributes). This makes the default bake name unique to that specific HoudiniAssetActor, preventing situations where baking could replace assets baked from different instantiations of the same HDA from different levels when using the default bake name.
• Added support for baking data tables.
• Added support for tokens when specifying the bake world outliner folder.

Skeletal Mesh:

• SkeletalMesh input now send two packed prims to the HDA input: the mesh data (mesh, colliders, LODs, sockets) as Base.shp and the capture pose data as Base.skel.
• Updated the UnrealToKineFX HDA to split/unpack the new SkeletalMeshinput data.
• Fixed scale on the Skeletal Mesh input Capture Pose to match FBX imports.
• Fixed unreal_skeleton attribute value for AnimSequence inputs.
• Skeletal Mesh output now translate the Rest Geometry and Capture Pose from packed primitives (similar to the input change above). Packed primitives from multiple skeletal meshes can be merged together into a single output.
• Updated the KineFXToUnreal HDA to match new output requirements.
• Added support for Houdini/Unreal materials to Skeletal mesh output.
• Added Skeletal Mesh output UI.

Animation:

• Animation sequence now translate to motion clips directly. Added support for AnimSequence outputs to the HAC details panel.
• Add support for serializing AnimCurves as fbx_custom_attributes when sending/receiving AnimSequences / motionclips.
• Add support for setting "Default" collision profile on static mesh components.
• Removed Static Mesh Method as it conflicts with other Proxy Mesh settings in the HDA. Added a Boolean property to control whether or not to use deprecated Raw Mesh mesh generation functionality.
• Improved BGEO importer (used for PDG, direct imports and NodeSync) by adding support for Data Tables, Skeletal Meshes, Geometry Collections, and Animation Sequences.

Input:

• Improved the UI for editing rotations in Geometry input transforms.
• The plugin now exports Level Instance and Packed Level Actor content with world input in the new input system.
• Added the "Export Level Instance Content" world input option to the input UI / details panel. This option can be used to enable or disable exporting of Level Instance / Packed Level Actor content with world input. The option is enabled by default.
• The default value for bPreferNaniteFallbackMesh and UnrealSplineResolutionsnow respect the default value set in the plugin's settings.
• Added support for exporting Bool/StaticSwitch material parameters when sending assets with the "export material parameters" option enabled.

Public API:

• Added support for enabling / disabling, and querying the enabled state, of the cook triggers (On Parameter/Input Change, On Transform Change and On Asset Input Cook) of a HoudiniAssetActor to the Public API. The AssetWrapper's set functions will now properly mark HDAs as modified if necessary.
• Added access to the "DoNotGenerateOutputs" option on the Asset Wrapper.
• Added access to bImportAsReferenceRotScaleEnabled, bImportAsReferenceBboxEnabled,bImportAsReferenceMaterialEnabled, bExportMaterialParameters to the Input Wrappers.
• World Inputs - Added access to bDirectlyConnectHdas, bExportEditLayers and bExportPaintLayers.
• The Public API's PDGCookOutputsForNetwork and PDGCookNode functions now return true only if a cook was successfully started. If the PDG graph was already cooking, they will now return false.

Bug fixes:

• Fixed an issue where the wrong camera transform could be sent to Houdini from Unreal.
• Fixed an issue where height fields with non-default grid spacing would be scaled vertically when imported to Unreal.
• Fixed an issue where HDAs would recook when loading a sub level containing an HDA which references an actor in the same sub level.
• Fixed a crash that could occur when recooking a SkeletalMesh output.
• Fixed an issue where a new output SkeletalMeshComponent was created for each cook/recook of the same SkeletalMesh output, instead of reusing the previously created SkeletalMeshComponent.
• Fixed a bug where custom collision meshes from a HoudiniAssetActor's temporary output would not be baked when baking the output of the HoudiniAssetActor.
• The new input system now correctly identifies variations of input objects that are affected by the following input settings: "Export Individual Paint Layers (Landscape)" "Export Landscape Materials (Landscape)" "Export Landscape Tile UVs (Landscape)" "Export Landscape Normalized UVs (Landscape)" "Export Landscape Lighting (Landscape)" "Export Selected Landscape Components Only (Landscape)" "Use Legacy Input Curves" "Unreal Spline Resolution" "Export Material Parameters"
• Fixed a build error with UE5.0 due to a missing #include directive.
• Fixed a bug where incorrect input nodes could be deleted when resending input data when using the new input system.
• Fixed an issue where the landscape translator did not delete its previous input node when the landscape is re-exported using the new input system.
• Fixed an issue, in the new input system, when updating connections to merge SOPs where some old / out of date object merge nodes remained connected and were not deleted.
• Fixed crash when saving a level after the Wrapper deletes the Houdini Asset Actor.
• Fixed an issue where the input object state in the HAC was not always saved when using World Partition, or one file per actor. The package of the HoudiniAssetActor is now marked as dirty when:
  • world inputs are updated,
  • an input object is sent to Houdini, and an input object is set on a HAC input.
• UE 4.27 only: Fixed a bug when baking a static mesh, where if it uses a temporary output mesh as its complex collision mesh, the collision mesh was not baked.
• When baking a skeletal mesh the skeleton is now also baked if the skeleton asset is a temporary output. Skeletal mesh output and baking now supports output attributes, such asunreal_temp_folder and unreal_output_name.
• Fixed vertex colors not being converted to linear space when importing from Unreal.
• Skeletal Mesh input now exports the mesh using the FSkeletalMeshImportData (the source geometry), if available in the bulk data, to Houdini via FMeshDescription. This also fixes an issue where Skeletal Mesh UVs were not exported to Houdini correctly.
• Fixed an issue where the static mesh and materials used by a foliage type was not baked when the foliage type was baked. Baking now also checks if a temporary asset was created by the HoudiniAssetComponent that is being baked (using the GUID saved in the temporary asset's metadata) before baking the object itself.
• Fixed an issue with baking foliage where material overrides would be lost: material overrides are now applied to the cooked foliage type instead of directly on the instanced foliage components (component level overrides were lost if any modification was made to the foliage type that result in an update to the components). If an HDA outputs foliage via an existing foliage type asset(unreal_instance is set to a foliage type asset and not a static mesh),then baking will bake to a new foliage type asset if the cooked foliage type has been modified (for example, generic uproperty attributes are used to change properties of the cooked foliage type, or material overrides are applied).
• Don't created layer info assets for landscape material layers if they layer is not present in the HDA. Do not copy user specified landscape layer info objects to the bake folder.
• Fixed issues when translating Houdini materials to UE materials: Diffuse values were incorrectly used for specular. We now properly use "reflectivity" for specular value/maps.
• Fixed the diffuse map sometimes being used for normal maps.
• Fixed emissive/metallic values not being properly created.
• Fixed an issue where collision-only meshes were still visible in the scene.
• Fixed an issue where Houdini Static Mesh components are not deleted when recooking.
• Fixed world input objects not being properly created in Houdini when invalid characters are present in the actor or component's name when using the new input system.
• Fixed a crash when a landscape is input to an HDA and the landscape has a missing layer info on a paint layer.
• Fixed data layers not propagating to PDG assets in Unreal.
• Fixed an issue when adding to a World input's selection with the new input system activated: previously selected Actors were ignored.
• Optimized and improved SlateNotifications and DetailsPanels updates as they were sometimes significantly slowing the plugin.
• Reduced notification spam, all notifications now clearly indicates which HDA they're coming from.
• (UE5.2+) Fixed a crash when creating Geometry Collections with more than one UV set.
• Limited the number of Landscape Spline control points input from Houdini to Unreal to 1000. This prevents a crash in Unreal when saving a map with a large number of control points.
• Fixed a crash when cooking if an HDA input straddles a world partition boundary.
• Fixed a warning when exporting landscapes with the old Unreal input system.

Version 2.1.0 - Houdini 20.0.506

First release of the Houdini Engine for Unreal for Houdini 20.0.

The plugin is now linked to Houdini 20.0.506 / HAPI 6.0.0.

Source and binaries are included for: UE4.27, UE5.2, and UE5.3 on Windows. UE4.27, UE5.1 and UE5.2 on Mac OS. UE5.2 on Mac OS (Apple Silicon).

Please note that the source code available in the 5.0 branch is compatible with UE 5.0 , 5.1, 5.2 and 5.3.

What's new:

• Full support of World Partition in UE5.
• Support of import and export of Data Layers to and from Houdini.
• Heightfields now fully support World Partitioned Landscapes.
• Foliage instancing is now fully supported within World Partition.
• HLOD Layers settings can be imported and exported as attributes.
• The new Houdini Tools panel helps keep your HDAs organized and accessible in your Unreal Engine project.
• Added support for presets of an HDA’s parameters, inputs, and properties.
• Landscape Splines are now supported for import and export.
• New reference-counted Input system that reproduces the Unreal hierarchy in the Houdini Engine session. This system is faster as it prevents duplication of data on the Houdini side.
• Input types have been condensed and UI redesigned.
• (beta) Houdini Node Sync lets you easily send/fetch data to/from Houdini when using Session Sync, and now fully supports more inputs/outputs types and options.

Compatibility changes:

Please note that some input types have been deprecated in the H20 plugin:

• Landscape input and Asset input have been merged with WorldInputs
• Geometry Collection, Skeletal Mesh inputs have been merged with Geometry Inputs.

If you had HDAs using such inputs in the level, upgrading to the H20 plugin will automatically change your input types and options to the corresponding ones.

You will also receive deprecation warnings if you were using those deprecated input types with the Public API.

When upgrading from previous versions of the plugin (H19.5 and before), it is highly recommended that you delete the previous version of the Houdini Engine plugin installed on your project before upgrading to the H20 version, as some files have been removed.

A huge thanks in advance to all of you, for all the crazy things that you'll be creating with Houdini 20 and UE!

Version 2.0.19 - Houdini 19.5.752

Update 19 of the Houdini Engine for Unreal Plugin.

The plugin is now linked to Houdini 19.5.752 / HAPI 5.0.8.

Source and binaries are included for: UE4.27, UE5.2, and UE5.3 on Windows. UE4.27, UE5.1 and UE5.2 on Mac OS. UE5.2 on Mac OS (Apple Silicon).

Please note that the source code available in the 5.0 branch is compatible with UE5.0 , 5.1, 5.2 and 5.3.

Changes:

• Added support for Unreal 5.3

UI:

• Added the "Houdini" section category (aka details panel "filters"). Enabling it will only display the Houdini engine details category in the details panel. (Houdini Engine, Parameters, Inputs, Outputs, PDG Asset Link, Handles)
• Parameters and Inputs can now be searched by name or label. Most of the plugin's UI is now searchable via the details panel's search box.

Inputs/Outputs:

• Added support for exporting Skeletal Mesh's LODs to Houdini.
• Added support for exporting Skeletal Mesh's Sockets.
• Added support for exporting Skeletal Mesh's simple colliders.
• The "clear all" button on geometry inputs now still leaves a default, empty input.

Landscape/World Partition:

• Added supported for importing level instances into Houdini from Unreal.
• Added supported for instancing level instances exported from Houdini. docs
• Added support for HLOD Layers. (via the "unreal_hlod_layer" atribute)
• Added ability to lock and unlock landscape edit layers via attributes. docs
• Added support for user-specified bake folder when baking landscapes.

Other:

• Added support for enums when using "unreal_property_XXX" attributes.
• Added component level material and physical material overrides when using world inputs with the new input system.

Bug fixes:

• Fixed a bug with the PDG Asset Link where if there is a bypassed node in the TOP network, or a TOP node that contains child nodes, then OnPostTOPNetworkCookDelegate was not called.
• Fixed an issue where Map Check would fail after reloading a map containing a Physics Volume instancer.
• Prevent a warning log message when an instancer that spawns actors (via HoudiniInstancedActorComponent) is destroyed. For each spawned actor we check that the actor's world is still valid/non-null before destroying the actor.
• Fixed an issue with instancer output where if both unreal_material and unreal_material_instance attributes are present, then empty string unreal_material values would override non-empty string unreal_material_instance values at the same index.
• Fixed a bug where the separate InstancedStaticMeshComponents of split instancers (unreal_split_attr) could get assigned the same material, or incorrect materials, even if each split had a distinct material assigned via unreal_material or unreal_material_instance.
• Fixed transforms not updating when a camera actor is assigned to an input.
• Fixed UE5.3 build warnings.
• Fixed a bug caused by UE5.3 that broke the drag and drop of an asset from the content browser to the level viewport. Houdini assets are now instantiated as HoudiniAssetActors in the level as expected.
• Added comments to the Public API InstantiateAsset, CreateWrapper and CreateEmptyWrapper functions, as well as the Blueprint and C++ examples, about the Public API not managing the lifecycle of UHoudiniPublicAPIAssetWrapper after creation, and the need to use a UProperty/Blueprint variable to prevent garbage collection.
• Fixed paint layers being incorrectly sent to Houdini with non-square landscapes.
• Fixed a bug where curve inputs were not being connected to the input Merge SOP when using the new input system.
• Added export of input mesh name when exporting simple collision shapes.
• Fixed build errors on Linux (UE5)
• Fixed build warnings related to deprecated function calls when compiling against UE 5.3
• Fixed ramp values not being editable when the Enter key is pressed to enter values.
• Fixed a bug with static mesh input when colliders are being exported (when not using the new input system) where after the physical material Attrib Wrangle is created, the remaining nodes of export data for the static mesh, such as sockets, would be connected to the Attrib Wrangle instead of to the Merge SOP.
• Fixed an issue in the new input system where node ID re-use could result in deleting the wrong nodes in the Houdini session when recooking an HDA actor.
• Fixed an issue in the new input system where recooking HDA actors that use the same assets in their inputs could result in the object merges using old / incorrect node paths in the Houdini session: these paths are now updated when uploading inputs to HoudiniGeometry input transforms are now applied when using Blueprint assets as geometry inputs with the new input system.
• Fixed Physics Volume instancers not baking correctly.
• Fixed multiparms not resetting in the details panel.
• Fixed parameter details not displaying correctly if tabs are hidden.
• Fixed multiple paint layers in the same edit layer not being cleared when modifying landscapes.
• Fixed missing material slot prefixes with material attributes in skeletal mesh input Material parameter attributes are now created when "Export Material Parameters" is selected with skeletal mesh input
• Fixed an issue where the collider creation of skeletal mesh input could fail if one or more body setups have simple physical materials
• Fixed an issue in the new input system with component level material and physical material overrides where group filters were preventing the overrides from being applied in some cases
• Fixed a bug where the Houdini Session crashed when using "Export Input asReferences" on world inputs with the new input system.
• Fixed a crash when baking landscapes twice that use temporary cooking layers.
• Fixed multi parameter blocks not expanding.
• Fixed a rare crash when changing maps with an HDA loaded.
• Fixed an issue with the PDG asset link where the references that the asset link, and related data structures, keep to work result output actors, objects and bake outputs were not always saved correctly, predominantly when using One File Per Actor in UE5.
• Fixed a crash when there is a duplicate layer when exporting height fields.
• Fixed a bug where cooked / temporary output HoudiniInstancedActorComponents, HoudiniMeshSplitInstancerComponents and SplineComponents on the HoudiniAssetActor were not cleaned up when duplicating the actor.
• Fixed folders not expanding on parameters detail panel when using widgets.
• Added ability to attach foliage instances to actors in Unreal.
• Fixed an issue where instanced mesh transforms could be stored in the wrong order, causing custom attribute data not to align correctly.
• Fixed a crash / ensure() condition failure when rebuilding / cooking HDA actors with instancer output in UE5.
• Work around for Houdini Asset Component properties not expanding correctly in Editor Utility Widgets.
• Fixed a bug where the PDG post bake delegate could be called before all relevant work items are baked in the PDG asset link when the TOP network contains dynamically generated work items.
• Auto-baking with the PDG asset link now has a new option (enabled by default) to also bake work items from TOP nodes with some failed work items. Previously if a TOP node had any failed work items none of its work items would be auto-baked.
• Fixed an issue where components created during output processing were not always saved correctly when using one file per actor / external actor packages in UE5.
• Updated how input object settings are stored internally in UHoudiniInput and UHoudiniInputObject.
• Fixed visibility not being applied correctly to landscapes imported into Unreal.
• Fixed a possible null pointer reference when deleting a StaticMeshComponent from an Actor used as a world input.
• Fixed an issue in the new input system where the input objects would not always be marked to be rebuilt / retransmitted to Houdini when required.
• The new input system now sets the display flag of the top level subnets that represent the content browser to off. This hides the shared input assets that the system creates that were visible and clustered together at the origin.
• Fixed an issue when editing the value of the "Unreal Spline Resolution" property, on the input details panel on the HoudiniAssetComponent, where the value would be reverted upon pressing Enter.
• Removed the need for having a 'S' after tagS when setting actor/component Tags via the unreal_uproperty_tag / unreal_uproperty_ActorTag or unreal_uproperty_ComponentTag attributes.
• Fixed a crash when setting up material for a specific slot on instancers, without having an attribute set for the previous material slots .ie, set unreal_material3 (for slot3) without having set unreal_material1/unreal_material2.
• Fixed an issue with the new input system when sending Unreal spline components.
• Fixed crash in World Partition levels when passing a Blueprint to a Houdini Asset and Playing.
• Fixed a regression that caused previous output data to not be reused when recooking an HDA. This, for example, prevented previous instanced actors to be reused deleted.
• Fixed an issue that caused reused/new instanced actors to not call PostEditChange after a recook. This caused issue, for example, when instantiating NavMesh modules, as the nav mesh was only properly updated for new actors, not for reused one that were simply moved to their new transform.
• Fixed baking issues in landscapes where Unreal would not show updates.
• Fixed a crash when specifying an invalid material instance to the landscape code.
• Fixed landscape parent actor getting dirtied when using temp layers.

Update 18 of the Houdini Engine for Unreal Plugin.

The plugin is now linked to Houdini 19.5.640 / HAPI 5.0.7.

Source and binaries are included for: UE4.27, UE5.1, and UE5.2 on Windows. and Mac OS.

Changes:

• Added support for Unreal Engine 5.2

• Various updates to the source code and includes to fix compile issues when building the plugin with no-pch/non-unity builds of UE5.2.

• Added the ability to set a custom $HOME directory in the plugin settings. It is then used by HAPI, but also Houdini/Session Sync when using the "Open In" commands. This is helpful when having HE under source control, as it allows custom nodes to be detected properly.

• Tags can now be modified via generic attributes on any type of actors, not just Landscapes. When modifying tags on actors, it is possible to modify the component tags by naming the attribute "unreal_uproperty_ComponentTagsXXXX".

• Inputs now have a "rebuild" button next to the input type combobox, that allows you to force update/resend the input's objects.

• Handles now display their name and type on the editor viewport.

• Added support for Data Layers in Unreal 5.2 and later.

• Added support for Material instances in landscapes.

• Improved removal of existing foliage when baking. Only the instances baked by Houdini will be removed.

• Fixed wrong transform being set for landscapes when using the old input system.

• Fixed an issue where cooked landscapes would be deleted correctly.

• Update Landscape imported in Unreal to work better with World Partitioned Levels. Support for World Composition removed in Unreal 5 versions of the plugin.

• Stopped foliage removal dirtying all Instanced Foliage Actors in a scene

• Fixed an issue World Partition Landscapes would be offset if partially loaded in Unreal.

• Fixed incorrect material assignment when using instancers.

• It is now possible to use/mix both material override attributes (unreal_materialX) and material instance attributes (unreal_material_instanceX) with instancers.

• Fixed Houdini Asset Component properites not serializing correctly.

• Fixed bug that caused incorrect vertex colors/alpha on imported Static Meshes.

• Fixed bug that caused incorrect vertex colors overrides on Static Mesh Components.

• Fixed an issue that caused mesh socket scale to be ignored when attachingActors. We now force the relative scale of the attached Actors to the scaledefined on the sockets.

• Fixed potential crash with Toggle parameters and the PDG asset link.

• Fixed an issue when importing BP as reference: We were only importing the BP's component as reference, not the BP itself.

• Ported attribute transfer optimizations from Unreal 5.0 to Unreal 4.26 & 4.27

• Fixed default object path parameters on OBJ HDA (lookatpath, lookupobjpath..) arent incorrectly considered as inputs anymore.

• Fixed crash when using the new input system with UE5.2.

• Fixed incorrect drawing of tabs parameters in UE5.

• Fixed unnecessary error logs with input and parameter detail, physical materials.

• Fixed unnecessary invalid session error logs when fetching license type beforestarting the session.

• Fixed issues that caused transform handles to not handle rotations properly.

• Fixed an issue that caused incorrect values being used when manually enteringscale/rotation for handles in the details panel.

• Fixed generated material instances not always being properly baked for instancers.

• Removed the "Update Input Landscape" feature as it was non longer needed/used. Please use Landscape Edit Layers instead.

• Fixed a regression that caused a crash when using geometry inputs.

Update 17 of the Houdini Engine for Unreal Plugin.

The plugin is now linked to Houdini 19.5.569 / HAPI 5.0.7.

Source and binaries are included for: UE4.27, UE5.0, and UE5.1 on Windows. and Mac OS 11.

--- UE5.2 preview 1 binaries of the plugin for windows are also available for convenience --- --- The plugin hasn't been thoroughly tested on UE5.2 preview 1, use at your own risk ---

Changes:

• Added missing support for Data Table output with PDG. (merged PR#235 on behalf of @ethan-tqa)

• "Replace Previous Bake" will now remove foliage instances when the Foliage Type is specified for an instancer when baking.

• Fixed crash when trying to repopulate foliage UI.

• Fixed an issue where foliage would remain in Unreal after deleting an HDA output.

• Fixed a bug that caused materials to be ignored on point instancers.

• The Material Slot wasn't properly appended to mesh materials ([X]Material) when not importing the materials parameters.

• Fixed potential crashes when using HoudiniAsset in BP.

• Fixed an issue when using foliage in commandlets.

• Removed unnecessary cook call with Houdini curves.

• Fixed an issue where cooked landscapes in UE5 are not deleted when the HDA is recooked

• Fixed an issue that caused landscape inputs to trigger unnecessary checkouts when reading landscape data.

• Optimized string transfer to Houdini from Unreal. This significantly improves cooking times thanks to a much faster data transfer.

• Fixed build errors with UE5.2 preview 1. The plugin's source code can now be built with UE5.2 preview1.

Version 2.0.16 - Houdini 19.5.534

Update 16 of the Houdini Engine for Unreal Plugin.

The plugin is now linked to Houdini 19.5.534 / HAPI 5.0.6.

Source and binaries are included for:

UE4.27, UE5.0, and UE5.1 on Windows. UE4.27, UE5.0 and UE5.1 on Mac OS 11. UE5.1 for Apple Silicon

Changes:

• Added a new export option to inputs: "Export Material Parameters". When disabled, the plugin will not be sending each material parameter found in the input object's materials as attributes. This can help drastically reduce cook times when sending big meshes, with materials that have a lot of exposed parameters.

• Data Table Input: enum values are now sent as strings, not ints.

• Added support for all types of image packing (RGB, BGR, RGBA, ABGR, etc..) when creating textures from Houdini. This fixes a crash when trying to create a texture that wasn't packed as RGBA.

• (UE5) Fixed regression that caused Foliage Types to be instantiated as meshes if the "unreal_foliage" attribute wasn't set.

• (UE5) Fixed incorrect instances transforms when using Foliage (either by instancing FoliageTypes or by using the unreal_foliage attribute).

• (UE5) Fixed regression that prevented ProxyComponents from being properly cleared.

• Fixed an issue when baking Static Mesh (created from packed "one instance instancers"). It caused the first mesh to be baked multiple times, and the others to be ignored.

• Fixed potential crashes when loading a new map.

• Fixed potential ensure failures/crashes with the PDG Asset Link when baking to Actors.

• Fixed regression that caused an infinite cook loop when using splines in world inputs.

• Fixed a double transform issue when "import input as reference" is enabled.

• Fixed a regression that caused the plugin to not automatically refine meshes when saving the level on World Partition World.

• Fixed a regression that broke the "Proxy refinement by timer" option.

• Fixed an issue that prevented Data Tables with only one row to be sent to Houdini.

• Fixed world inputs ignoring changes in scale value on Spline Components.

• merged PR#221 from @yuhe00: Fix compilation error when building for Android platform with clang 14.0.

• merged PR#230 from @fullike: Fix baking fails if OutputComponents has no elements.

Version 2.0.15 - Houdini 19.5.493

Update 15 of the Houdini Engine for Unreal Plugin.

The plugin is now linked to Houdini 19.5.493/ HAPI 5.0.5.

Source and binaries are included for:

• UE4.27, UE5.0, and UE5.1 on Windows.
• UE4.26, UE4.27 and UE5.0 on Mac OS 11.

Changes:

• Added support for UE5.1. Both UE5.0 and UE5.1 use the same source code/branch.

• Added support for outputting Data Tables assets. See the documentation for more information.

• Added a "Prefer Nanite Fallback Mesh" option to Geometry Inputs / NodeSync. If checked, the plugin will use the fallback mesh (proxy) for any Nanite mesh sent to Houdini.

• World inputs now add the "unreal_level_path" and "unreal_actor_path" when sending their input objects as references.

• Added support for Foliage in World Partition worlds.

• Added support for specifying the material slot when using the unreal_material attribute with point instancers (unreal_instance). You can specify the material slot to override by adding its slot number to the attribute name: unreal_materialX.

• When importing meshes to Houdini, we now prefix the unreal_material attribute string with the material slot index if the mesh uses more than one material. This prevents the plugin from merging material slots that use the same material, or the plugin reordering material slots.

• Imported material parameters now also add their material slot number to the attribute name (unreal_material_X_PARAM_NAM). This prevents overwriting values when separate materials use a material parameter with the same name.

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed crash when actors are renamed.
• Added support for streaming landscape proxies in levels with world partition enabled.
• Fixed landscapes not being shared when importing landscape tiles in World Partition Levels.
• Fixed crash when importing foliage into World Partition levels.
• Fixed an issue that would cause build failures on some Linux platforms.
• Fixed Houdini-generated materials remaining in the temp directory when baking their corresponding meshes.
• Fixed shared landscape import into Unreal when using streaming proxy names.
• Fixed issues when rebuilding assets that use other HoudiniAssetComponent in World Inputs. Issues would happen either when rebuilding the assets with the input OR the asset selected in the input.
• Fixed the Houdini Asset Component returning incorrect bounds. This caused issues when framing ('F') the HAC.
• Fixed a bug that would cause incorrect material assignments for high poly mesh inputs.
• Added support for multiple foliage actors for World Partition.
• Added Support for multiple components on output objects. This is needed to properly support foliage instancing in UE5.
• Fixed a crash in Unreal 5.1 when creating landscapes.
• Fixed all foliage types being removed when an HDA is added.
• Fixed an issue where loading normal maps.
• Fixed an issue that could cause the plugin to add empty mesh sections to output meshes.
• Fixed stale instancer output data not being properly cleaned up upon cooking. This issue could cause level data to bloat unnecessarily.

Version 2.0.14 - Houdini 19.5.435

Update 14 of the Houdini Engine for Unreal Plugin.

The plugin is now linked to Houdini 19.5.435 / HAPI 5.0.1.

Source and binaries are included for UE4.26, UE4.27, and UE5.0, for both Windows and Mac OS 11.

Changes:

• Added forward compatibility for UE5.1 to the 5.0 plugin source code. The 5.0 plugin source code can be used to build the plugin with UE5.1.

• Fixed invisible colliders (collision_geoXXX groups) being ignored by MeshProxies if no visible/rendered mesh was present in the output. The ProxyMesh output UI will indicate if colliders were found (even if they are unused by Houdini Mesh Proxies).

• Fixed an issue that caused Houdini-generated materials to appear white due to the emissive color.

• Added support for the "emissive intensity" material parameter on Houdini Materials.

• Improved positioning of the generated material nodes.

• Added proper type conversions when using a data table as geometry input for Houdini assets. Numeric types, vectors, rotators, transforms, and colors are now converted into a corresponding Houdini number or tuple. Previously, all DataTable values were imported as string attributes.

• Houdini Indie: Fixed a bug that caused the Input/Param/Handle UI to be displayed with only the Indie license warning even if no Inputs/Parms/Handles were present in the HDA.

• Fixed a bug that caused the output details UI to show the previously refined StaticMesh after the HDA was recooked, and a new ProxyMesh was used instead. The output UI was displaying a "Bake" button instead of a "Refine" button, and pressing that Bake button would actually Bake the previous SM instead of refining and baking the newly generated proxy mesh. The output UI now properly displays the proxy mesh and refine button after cooking a previously baked HDA.