Houdini 20.5 Nodes Geometry nodes

Labs PCG Export (Beta) 1.0 geometry node

Takes a point cloud with attributes and exports them as 2 CSV files to be used with Unreal Engine PCG system.

Since 20.0

This node exports 2 CSV files that are plugged into the Houdini Import DataTable Blueprint inside a PCG graph in Unreal Engine 5.2 and up. It can export attributes such as Positions, Rotation, Scale, Mesh, Material and Custom ones. These attributes are then read inside the Unreal Blueprint to reproduce the Copy to Points node functionality with a piece attribute that decides what mesh should be copied to what point.

Warning

The Unreal Engine Houdini Import DataTable Blueprint needs to be fixed once it is downloaded as part of the SideFX Labs Unreal Plugin.

When opening the Houdini Import DataTable Blueprint for the first time, Unreal may not be able to find the node called Break CSV Point Format. (This is likely a known issue on the Unreal side.) All you have to do in that case is to recreate it and rewire it to the other nodes.

In case the Break CSV Point Format node does not exist in the search, you can copy and paste the content from the text file “Break CSV Point Format node as text.txt” into the Houdini Import DataTable Blueprint to recreate the node.

Parameters

Export PCG Data

Exports 2 CSV files with relevant data for Unreal Engine PCG.

Export Paths

Enable Mesh Export

Enables the Mesh Data Table Export.

Mesh

The file path for the mesh info CSV file.

Enable Material Export

Enables the Material Override Data Table Export.

Material

The file path for the material info CSV file.

Input Attribute Names

Mesh ID

The attribute name which will be used in Unreal PCG (Static Mesh Spawner) to spawn meshes.

Set Rotation By

Set the rotation either from the orientation, or the normal and up attributes.

Orient Attribute:

Normal and Up Attributes:

Orient

The attribute name which will be used in Unreal PCG (Static Mesh Spawner) to rotate meshes.

Normal

The name for the normal attribute which will be converted to orient in Unreal Engine.

Up

The attribute name for the up attribute which will be converted to orient in Unreal Engine..

Scale

The attribute name which will be used in Unreal PCG (Static Mesh Spawner) to scale meshes.

Uniform Scale

The attribute name which will be used in Unreal PCG (Static Mesh Spawner) to scale meshes uniformly, however, pscale will be multiplied by scale, and only scale will be exported.

Materials

Material 0 ID

The attribute name which will be used in Unreal PCG (Static Mesh Spawner) to override material slot 0.

Material 1 ID

The attribute name which will be used in Unreal PCG (Static Mesh Spawner) to override material slot 1.

Material 2 ID

The attribute name which will be used in Unreal PCG (Static Mesh Spawner) to override material slot 2.

Material 3 ID

The attribute name which will be used in Unreal PCG (Static Mesh Spawner) to override material slot 3.

Material 4 ID

The attribute name which will be used in Unreal PCG (Static Mesh Spawner) to override material slot 4.

Material 5 ID

The attribute name which will be used in Unreal PCG (Static Mesh Spawner) to override material slot 5.

Custom Floats

Custom

The attribute name which will be used in Unreal PCG for custom purposes.

Custom 1

The attribute name which will be used in Unreal PCG for custom purposes.

Custom 2

The attribute name which will be used in Unreal PCG for custom purposes.

Custom 3

The attribute name which will be used in Unreal PCG for custom purposes.

Unreal Engine Content Plugin and Guides

The Unreal Blueprint files required to import the CSV files into PCG.

Geometry nodes