I'm installing/setting up a Houdini FX seat today on a dedicated workstation for the first time. This will also be the new 3D project management hub. Are there any general recommendations in regard to project organization of assets, folder organization, locations that I might want to consider? I know the whole point of Houdini is to be flexible but is there anything it seems to “like” in regard to file management and/or configurations?

Obviously, this is a very personal issue and every studio will have custom workflows and storage/asset considerations (what might work for some won't work well for others.)

However, it's been a long time since I've had the opportunity to rethink project organization and although there are some fine rigid structures dictated by other 3D programs I'm not entirely sure I want to adopt those given the option.

Surely there might be some Houdini wisdom out there to consider. Or even just general practices from such a great group.

Sorry for such a broad and general question as new a member but I welcome your condescension nonetheless

there was some time ago a tutorial.

http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2262&Itemid=362 [sidefx.com]

maybe it helps. for production setups i'm not the specialist becaue i use houdini just in my spare time.

If you base everything off of where your hip files exist then it can be extremely simple since you only use $HIP to determine the base directory.

datadir = $HIP/data
picdir = $HIP/pic
etc.

It can get more complicated when using logical paths but you can always overwrite $HIP in 456.cmd/456.py

Define your env variables in the houdini.env in the Houdini Home directory or put your some env variables like Houdini_Temp_Dir in the houdini_setup_bash file in the Houdini Installation Directory ,for example I put this command in the Bash file to define different path for Houdini's Temp on the Linux :
export Houdini_Temp_Dir = “<Your_Path>”