Houdini Node Color Lab Lets You Organize Nodes By Color

One thing when working with nodes, is that it will always lead to the need for some sort of organization and management. When you are working, slowly adding nodes bit by bit, it is pretty easy to understand what is going on with node networks. However, put it away for a while and revisit the network later, and you really have to scratch your head to understand what is going on.

Aiding in making node networks more clear in Side Effects Houdini, FX Technical Director at Rising Sun Pictures, Manuel Tausch shares a little Houdini Shelf Tool that he created.

Manuel employed Python, PySide and JSON to create a tool that can enhance Houdini color layout management, adding to Houdini’s own functionality.

Node Color Lab lets you color code nodes that can improve the HIP file structure and readability. Simply select the nodes that you want to color and click. A node type dictionary will be written to the disk using the JSON Python module. The Node Color Lab’s interface gets rebuilt using a second dictionary as you color your nodes.

Once updates in the Node Color Lab’s interface have been saved, you can start to drop new nodes that will automatically pick up the assigned color. Manuel Tausch offers the Node Color Lab as a download on OdForce. Check out the Houdini Node Color Lab here.

Using Python, PySide & JSON to enhance Houdini color layout management.
Shelf tool has been shared on Odforce