Is there a know workflow to cook something but bake another thing with the Unreal plugin?

I want to run something that is snappy where the artist can get quick feedback while there's interaction with the HDA in Unreal but I want a more costly operation to be baked when I'm happy with the parameter tweaking.



Thanks
prb

Why not just use a toggle and switch node? You'll have one button press more but also give the user the option to see the final result before baking.

Peter_Prickarz
Why not just use a toggle and switch node? You'll have one button press more but also give the user the option to see the final result before baking.

Well I have that way as a last resort but certainly its not what is desirable for me here. With that way the user will have to fiddle with a toggle/menu to get the final version and also hit the bake button. But they don't need to see the final version before baking, they just need to bake it on a button press, but a different network than the one being cooked. If for some reason they REALLY don't like it they just delete the baked meshes.

I'm also wondering if there is something like Pre/Post scripts in ROPS, but for the HDA Bake in Unreal. That way I could indeed set a switch, bake and post bake put it back.


Cheers
prb

Maybe I can work around it if I can script the Bake action itself itself 🤔

Hi,

That's not supported, and is something that I wouldn't want to add to the plugin, as baking is supposed to provide the same output as cooking (just removed from the Houdini Asset Actor and purely "Native Unreal").

The way Peter described would be my recommendation as well, and is generally how this is handled by studios.
Adding a Preview switch (fast SOP network) that can be disabled before baking, would allow you to preview the results before the bake, ensuring that the "Slow SOP" network doesn't have any issues or requires further tweaks.

dpernuit
Hi,

That's not supported, and is something that I wouldn't want to add to the plugin, as baking is supposed to provide the same output as cooking (just removed from the Houdini Asset Actor and purely "Native Unreal").

The way Peter described would be my recommendation as well, and is generally how this is handled by studios.
Adding a Preview switch (fast SOP network) that can be disabled before baking, would allow you to preview the results before the bake, ensuring that the "Slow SOP" network doesn't have any issues or requires further tweaks.

Hi, I've done the way Peter has described before, I just wanted to avoid having to click so much, as someone that builds tools and rigs and assets, part of the enjoyment is to offer a "cool toy" to play with, and Unreal<->Houdini workflow seems to suffer a big drop in power/simplicity ratio compared to a HDA in Houdini alone, forcing one to overcomplicate the instructions to artists and have them go through quite a few hoops, scrolls, clicks and seemingly time consuming routines to start working with the provided assets.

That said, part of my request was founded on the misconception that the "Bake" action would trigger a cook execution again, which from my more thorough testing now seems to be false, therefore making the switch workflow while not the most coveted, a more logical valid option.

Thanks
prb