I made a scene and when trying to render it
she gives me this error
//
Error while populating shelf with shelf tool assets.
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “<stdin>”, line 1, in <module>
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.496/houdini/python2.7libs\shelfutils.py”, line 183, in populateShelfFromJSON
_ensure_toolbar_dir_exists()
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.496/houdini/python2.7libs\shelfutils.py”, line 279, in _ensure_toolbar_dir_exists
toolbar_dir = hou.homeHoudiniDirectory() + “/toolbar”
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.496/houdini/python2.7libs\hou.py”, line 61639, in homeHoudiniDirectory
return _hou.homeHoudiniDirectory(*args)
UnicodeDecodeError: ‘utf8’ codec can't decode byte 0xc4 in position 24: invalid continuation byte

Exception in thread Thread-2:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “C:\PROGRA~1\SIDEEF~1\HOUDIN~1.496\python27\lib\threading.py”, line 808, in __bootstrap_inner
self.run()
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.496/houdini/python2.7libs\hou.py”, line 62137, in __threadRun
self.__run()
File “C:\PROGRA~1\SIDEEF~1\HOUDIN~1.496\python27\lib\threading.py”, line 761, in run
self.__target(*self.__args, **self.__kwargs)
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.496/houdini/python2.7libs\hdefereval.py”, line 141, in <lambda>
thread = threading.Thread(target=lambda: function(*args, **kwargs))
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.496/houdini/python2.7libs\hdefereval.py”, line 161, in thread_code
it.next()
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.496/houdini/python2.7libs\sas\localassets.py”, line 365, in check_for_shelf_tool_assets
asset_info_file = shelfutils._shelf_tool_assets_info_file()
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.496/houdini/python2.7libs\shelfutils.py”, line 283, in _shelf_tool_assets_info_file
return hou.homeHoudiniDirectory() + “/toolbar/shelf_tool_assets.json”
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.496/houdini/python2.7libs\hou.py”, line 61639, in homeHoudiniDirectory
return _hou.homeHoudiniDirectory(*args)
UnicodeDecodeError: ‘utf8’ codec can't decode byte 0xc4 in position 24: invalid continuation byte

Error while checking for updates
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “<stdin>”, line 1, in <module>
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.496/houdini/python2.7libs\sas\localassets.py”, line 84, in wrapper
return decorated_function(*args, **kwargs)
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.496/houdini/python2.7libs\hdefereval.py”, line 193, in wrapper
_run_main_thread_worker_thread_code(it)
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.496/houdini/python2.7libs\hdefereval.py”, line 152, in _run_main_thread_worker_thread_code
it.next()
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.496/houdini/python2.7libs\sas\localassets.py”, line 265, in check_for_asset_updates
installed_assets_info = _read_installed_assets_info()
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.496/houdini/python2.7libs\sas\localassets.py”, line 657, in _read_installed_assets_info
_ensure_asset_store_dir_exists()
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.496/houdini/python2.7libs\sas\localassets.py”, line 667, in _ensure_asset_store_dir_exists
if not os.path.exists(_installed_assets_info_file()):
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.496/houdini/python2.7libs\sas\localassets.py”, line 731, in _installed_assets_info_file
return asset_store_dir() + “/” + _current_user_dir() + “/installed_assets.json”
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.496/houdini/python2.7libs\sas\localassets.py”, line 735, in asset_store_dir
hou.homeHoudiniDirectory() + “/asset_store”)
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.496/houdini/python2.7libs\hou.py”, line 61639, in homeHoudiniDirectory
return _hou.homeHoudiniDirectory(*args)
UnicodeDecodeError: ‘utf8’ codec can't decode byte 0xc4 in position 24: invalid continuation byte
//
And when the program starts, this code gets out
when I try to change the Unicode to the United States, it ceases to perceive the icons and gets even more errors

I had the same problem. It happens when you have non-latin characters in your user account name. Your account and computer name should always be in latin characters. It's important for many programs to work properly, not only houdini.

I have windows 7 so I looked up how to make changes here.
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/dbf6dff3-a706-4047-8dbf-58b879a9af0b/how-to-rename-a-default-user-directory-after-changing-computer-name?forum=w7itproinstall [social.technet.microsoft.com]

“First of all change your user account name by accessing the Control panel. Click Start Menu then Control Panel.
On the Control Panel Windows click on user account name link
Type in your new user account on the box bellow your profile picture and then click on the “Change Name” Button
The next step would be to change your folder profile. First of all you need to create a new account with administrator rights to execute the next steps. This new account is only needed to change the folder profile name. You may remove this account after you use it to change the folder profile name. To create a new account click Manage Another Account > Create a new Account
Type in the new account. Make sure you assign “Administrator” right for this new account.

Log off your computer and then log in with the newly-created account
Open Windows Explorer and then navigate to C:\users
Right click on the folder you want to rename and change it to the same name as your new user profile with which you log in to your Windows 7
At this point you have successfully renamed your Windows 7 user folder but to avoid possible error you need to perform a registry edit. Go to registry editor by typing “Registry” (without quote) in Start Menu. Navigate to the following registry value:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList .
Righ click on the profile list and navigate to “Find” Menu
Type in your old user in the search box and then hit ‘Find Next”. Navigate to the “ProfileImagePath” located on the right pane of the registry editor and click twice on it
Edit the registry value to rename it to your new user profile.

Done”

Note that you have to make changes in registry, so it's not safe. But in my case it worked.

Hello!

I've encountered the same problem, but the solution mentioned above didn't help me out.

MAKE SURE that the project path contains folders ONLY in latin, no other languages are allowed.
One of my folders was in Russian and as soon as I changed it to English ecerything worked just well!

Thank you! Yes, it really helped me. Now i get no mistake and everything works smoothly!

Hi, I am having the same issue on a Mac version 18.5.633. Any Mac users have a solution? Getting desperate,,, Thanks.

I also have this problem. I know that on an older version (19.0) that I still have, it works but when I do it on Houdini 19.5 it doesn't work anymore and I get the error.

I also have this problem, mine was due to no camera data being present on a specific frame when trying to render.