I am trying desperately to export Objects from Houdini in a format that ZBrush can handle, for painting. Well after searching the forums, nothing works. So I decided to try doing the reverse, creating the object in ZBrush and exporting it to Houdini. Well I keep getting this error. Any information would be appreciated.

It really would help if you could inform everyone what build of Houdini / OS you are using and what format you have tried to export out of Houdini and the error with it.
I have not used Z brush but I have no problems writing out geometry from Houdini.

r

Does this happen with the latest daily build?

I am using Houdini 10 Build 249.5
Windows Vista,
Core 2 Quad @2.66GHz
Dual Nvida GeForce 8800GT
SLI enabled
Physx
4 GB RAM

Sorry I forgot to post that information. It has been a long day.

Many times when I export from Houdini it will create a .obj file with a size of 0 kb and of course that means it dosen't hold any information. I have tryed creating a geometry node in the output network and rendered the file from there. That dosen't work either. I have right clicked in network and did the Save Geometry from there as well. Still saves a 0 kb file. So I have given up trying to export

The error I show is from trying to import a .obj file created in ZBrush. It should just be the object, no UV no texture. Just a basic box. I have followed the instructions in both the Houdini forums and the ZBrush forums, but really no luck.

What I am trying to accomplish is a work flow like this:
In Houdini, create the basic object (which Houdini excells at, especially for mechanical components). The export the .obj file.
In ZBursh, digitally paint and texture it, save the UV image.
Back in Houdini import the textured Object and apply the UV.
Export it from Houdini into Torque with variables attached.


I have done it once with a simple syphere but I am unable to reproduce the results.

try this…

http://learning3dfromscratch.blogspot.com/2009/06/zbrush-to-houdini-texture-and-normal.html [learning3dfromscratch.blogspot.com]

The “invalid node name” warnings make me suspicious.
Does the node you export from get the yellow warning cross-hatching and display any warnings?
You could try renaming the node to see if that helps.

I think also Houdini can get upset if you have a different version of Python installed.

Thanks for the link Arctor. I will try that over the weekend some time and get back to you with the results. It's a busy time of year and I dont have the chance to dink with it immeadiately.

Jesta I'm not sure you're understanding my post. I only get the error when IMPORTING an OBJ. However I might have been missing a step and I will try following the guide as exactly as possible. So that could be my fault.

However when Exporting an .obj I don't have any errors, but it does produce a file that has a size of 0kb. Which obviously contains no information so it makes it impossible to transfer out of Houdini and into anything else.

The fact that you can't seem to import or export anything, seems to indicate a failure somewhere.
Objs should easily import in and out of Houdini. Have you tried importing a “safe” model? If that fails you may have a more serious issue.

Is it possibly a permissions issue? I have seen it before where a file is created, but no data is actually written into it. Perhaps try writing the file to a more public area on disk.

Try just manually putting down a File SOP. Code was added at some point during H10.0 to adapt the obj filename as the name of the object node it created. I think that's what causing the problems.

Sorry for the long delay in responding, I was off at a training session. So I think the issue was that the OBJ I was trying to import was past the poly count Houdini could handle. I am now porting in lower resolution files.

The current issue is in exporting the Obj file. (See above for what I have tried before)

In the photos I have imported a rabbit object I created in ZBrush. I have stripped off the UV's in Houdini and I want to re-export the file, as explained in the link above. (Thanks again for that!!!) But again still saving as 0kb files. I have no problems with permissions, and it is a frequently used area, filled with files for this Obj. I have tried messing with all the check boxes and no combination seems to work.

Any ideas?

Does it work if you write out a .bgeo file? Are you using a 64-bit version of Houdini?