Houdini 18, render delegate selectable but nothing visible

Describe the bug I managed to build against Houdini 18. The problem is that when selecting Arnold in the render delegate list, the viewport is completely empty. I only see the standard houdini widgets. It’s as if a completely translucent image was rendered.

Furthermore no CPU is used and I have the following in my log: 00:00:07 1060MB ERROR | [gpu] newer NVIDIA driver required: detected version 396.54, at least 418.43 needed I don’t expect a GPU render here, so I am kinda surprised if this is the actual reason the render cannot complete.

I built for Houdini 18.0.287, and Arnold 5.3.0.0.

To Reproduce Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Fire up Houdini 18
2. Select Arnold in the stage render delegate drop down

Expected behavior Something rendered.

Screenshots Screenshot 1

Used Software Versions

• Arnold: 5.3.0.0
• USD: Houdini 18.0.287 shipped version
• Compiler: gcc 7.3.1
• OS: CentOS 7
• Any 3rd-party app: Houdini 18.0.287

[skurmedel]

@suesauer Sure! We used sirpalee’s own repo as it had the fixes we required (mostly ability to set USD lib name prefix, as Houdini 18s are prefixed): https://github.com/sirpalee/arnold-usd

Here’s my not so beautiful build script (don’t know if you are familiar with Rez, hopefully you’ll get the gist of it):

# Let's die if not in install mode, because it will not be very useful.
set -e
if [[ ! $REZ_BUILD_INSTALL -eq 1 ]];
then
    echo not running rez-install;
    exit 1
fi
mkdir -p $REZ_BUILD_INSTALL_PATH;

INSTALL_PATH="$1"

function info() {
    echo "> build.sh: $1";
}

info "Install path is set to $INSTALL_PATH"

if [[ $REZ_USED_RESOLVE == *"houdini"* ]]; then
    usd_bin="$REZ_HOUDINI_ROOT/bin"
    usd_core="$REZ_HOUDINI_ROOT"
    usd_deps="$REZ_HOUDINI_ROOT/dsolib"
    usd_deps_inc="$REZ_HOUDINI_ROOT/toolkit/include"
    usd_deps_lib="$usd_deps"
    tbb_inc="$usd_deps_inc"
    tbb_lib="$usd_deps_lib"
    boost_inc="$usd_deps_inc/hboost"
    boost_lib="$usd_deps_lib"
    boost_lib_name="hboost_%s"
    usd_inc="$usd_deps_inc"
    usd_lib="$usd_deps_lib"
    usd_lib_prefix="libpxr_"
    build_procedural="False"

    # We must LD_PRELOAD libcurl because houdini's doesn't support SSL.
    export LD_PRELOAD=/lib64/libcurl.so.4
else
    usd_bin="$REZ_USD_ROOT/bin"
    usd_core="$REZ_USD_ROOT"
    usd_deps="$USD_DEPENDENCIES_ROOT"
    usd_deps_inc="$usd_deps/include"
    usd_deps_lib="$usd_deps/lib"
    tbb_inc=$usd_deps_inc
    tbb_lib=$usd_deps_lib
    boost_inc=$usd_deps_inc
    boost_lib=$usd_deps_lib
    boost_lib_name="boost_%s"
    usd_inc=$usd_core/include
    usd_lib=$usd_core/lib
    usd_lib_prefix="lib"
    build_procedural="True"
fi

info "Cloning arnold-usd from their git..."
# git clone https://github.com/Autodesk/arnold-usd
git clone https://github.com/sirpalee/arnold-usd 

cd arnold-usd

PARAMETERS=(
    "MODE=opt"
    "BUILD_SCHEMAS=False"
    "BUILD_RENDER_DELEGATE=True"
    "BUILD_NDR_PLUGIN=True"
    "BUILD_USD_WRITER=False"
    "BUILD_PROCEDURAL=$build_procedural"
    "BUILD_DOCS=False"
    "BUILD_HOUDINI_TOOLS=True"
    "USD_BUILD_MODE=shared_libs"
    "DISABLE_CXX11_ABI=True"
    "TBB_INCLUDE=$tbb_inc"
    "TBB_LIB=$tbb_lib"
    "ARNOLD_PATH=${REZ_ARNOLD_ROOT}"
    "PYTHON_INCLUDE=${REZ_PYTHON_ROOT}/include/python2.7"
    "PYTHON_LIB=${REZ_PYTHON_ROOT}/lib"
    "PYTHON_LIB_NAME=python2.7"
    "USD_PATH=$usd_core"
    "USD_BIN=$usd_bin"
    "USD_INCLUDE=$usd_inc"
    "USD_LIB=$usd_lib"
    "USD_LIB_PREFIX=$usd_lib_prefix"
    "PREFIX=$INSTALL_PATH"
    "BOOST_INCLUDE=$boost_inc"
    "BOOST_LIB=$boost_lib"
    "BOOST_LIB_NAME=$boost_lib_name"
    "USD_1910_UPDATED_COMPOSITOR=True"
)

PARAMETERS_STR=""
info "Will scons with:"
for p in ${PARAMETERS[@]}; do
    echo "   $p"
    PARAMETERS_STR="$PARAMETERS_STR $p"
done

info "Calling scons..."
info "########################"
./abuild $PARAMETERS_STR -j 8
info "########################"
info "Scons complete"

Basically the if branch where it looks for houdini in the resolve is what you want. The other branch is for building arnold_usd towards a standalone USD.

[suesauer]

I got this all working last year in December. But after the big changes in Jan it has stopped working in Houdini for me. Works just fine in maya tho. So it still seems like I for one am doing something incorrectly.

On Sat, Feb 8, 2020 at 5:08 PM Frederic Servant [e-mail] wrote:

Solaris and USD support is included in HtoA, see https://docs.arnoldrenderer.com/display/A5AFHUG/Installation for installation instructions

— You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/Autodesk/arnold-usd/issues/88?email_source=notifications&email_token=AN4NTOSS6ZBKRN6DWHC6FDDRB3DFDA5CNFSM4JS5WADKYY3PNVWWK3TUL52HS4DFVREXG43VMVBW63LNMVXHJKTDN5WW2ZLOORPWSZGOELFTZMY#issuecomment-583744691, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AN4NTOVHBDLZVEFWN232PDDRB3DFDANCNFSM4JS5WADA .

–

Sue Sauer | Pipeline TD

m. 079 472 6076

*t *[phone]

Chapmans Peak Estate, 1 Chapmans Peak Drive, Noordhoek, 7979, South Africa