Installing in Houdini

This page describes how to install the MetaHuman for Houdini plugin. Plugins for other DCCs (such as Maya) are also available on the plugins page.

Prerequisites

• An Epic Games account for Fab.

• Epic Games Launcher.

• Houdini 20.5 or later, with the SideFX Labs package installed.

Add MetaHuman for Houdini to Your Fab Library

MetaHuman for Houdini is available from Fab. To add the plugin to your library, follow these steps:

1. Sign in to Fab.com. 

2. Go to the MetaHuman for Houdini listing.

   

3. Click Add to My Library.

Installing MetaHuman for Houdini

Once added to your library, the MetaHuman for Houdini installer must be run to complete the installation process.

1. In the Epic Games Launcher, navigate to the Fab Library.

2. Find the MetaHuman for Houdini entry, and click Install to Engine. Select 5.6 as the Unreal Engine slot to install to.

3. Open Windows File Explorer and navigate to the C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_5.6\Engine\Plugins\Marketplace\MetaHumanForHoudini_5.6\Content directory. In this folder, you should see the MetaHumanForHoudini.msi installer. The installer can be run interactively, manually, or silently. 

Interactive Installation

Running the installer interactively uses the installation wizard. To configure your installation with the wizard simply double click on the MetaHumanForHoudini.msi file.

Once installation is complete, a Houdini Package file will have been created to register this plugin with Houdini. The package file is created in %USERPROFILE%/Documents/houdini20.5/packages.

Manual Installation

You can perform a manual or silent installation by running the installer using a command line, customizing your installation via additional parameters. This will require the console to be run as administrator. 

The base command to a silent installation is as follows:

msiexec /i C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_5.6\Engine\Plugins\Marketplace\MetaHumanForHoudini_5.6\Content\MetaHumanForHoudini.msi /quiet

To change the installation directory, use the BININSTALLFOLDER property and set it to the directory of your choice.

Once installation is complete, a Houdini Package file will have been created to register this plugin with Houdini. The package file is created in %USERPROFILE%/Documents/houdini20.5/packages. To disable this behavior, set the POST_INSTALL property to 0.

An example of using these two properties is shown below:

msiexec /i C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_5.6\Engine\Plugins\Marketplace\MetaHumanForHoudini_5.6\Content\MetaHumanForHoudini.msi POST_INSTALL=0 BININSTALLFOLDER=<alternative/install/location> /quiet

Enabling MetaHuman for Houdini

No further steps are required to enable the HDAs in Houdini.

Open Houdini and you should now see the MH Groom tab in the node graph editor for both OBJ and SOP levels.

Installing Updates

Installing a new version of MetaHuman for Houdini will remove the previously installed version.  To install a new version of MetaHuman for Houdini:

1. Close any open instances of Houdini.

2. In the Epic Games Launcher, navigate to the Fab Library.

3. Find the MetaHuman for Houdini entry, and Update the plugin.

4. Continue with the installation instructions to run the MetaHumanForHoudini.msi installer.

Next Up

Groom Tools

Houdini Digital Assets (HDAs) to create MetaHuman-compatible strand-based grooms.