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Installation
MOPs is pretty easy to install with the new Packages method. It's highly recommended that you use packages instead of messing with houdini.env.
You need to download MOPs from GitHub and then save them somewhere on a local drive or network share. It's important that you do not install MOPs directly into your $HOME/houdiniXX.X directory or into any other default Houdini installation directory, or else it may not properly be loaded when you start Houdini.
Navigate to the folder you want to contain MOPs, and from BASH / Git BASH type:
git clone https://github.com/toadstorm/MOPS.git
Download the desired release directly from the releases page and extract it to your hard drive or network share.
This is by far the easiest method. First, locate your Houdini preferences directory:
- Windows: %HOME%/houdiniXX.X/
- Mac OS: ~/Preferences/Houdini/XX.X/
- Linux: /home/[username]/houdini
Next, look for a directory in your preferences directory called "packages". If it doesn't exist, create it. Then place the MOPS.json file from the MOPs download into that package folder.
Next, open the MOPS.json file in your package folder in a text editor. Change the "MOPS" variable's value to match the MOPs install path you chose in step 1 (the directory that contains "otls", "scripts", and so on).
For example, if you downloaded MOPs to /home/henry/MOPs, the line defining the MOPS environment variable should look like this:
"MOPS": "/home/henry/MOPS"
Remember that you must use forward slashes to describe paths, not backslashes. This includes Windows!
Only use this method if you cannot use packages for some reason! Packages are much simpler.
You need to add the MOPS installation directory to your Houdini environment file. For more information about the Houdini environment file, see this help link.
Edit your houdini.env file and create a variable called MOPS that points to the new folder you just extracted MOPs to. The folder you point to should be the one that contains "otls", "scripts", and "toolbar":
MOPS="/path/to/MOPS"
Finally, add $MOPS to your HOUDINI_PATH:
HOUDINI_PATH=$HOUDINI_PATH;$MOPS;&
If you already have a HOUDINI_PATH defined, you can simply append $MOPS to that existing HOUDINI_PATH. For example, if you're using both MOPs and QLib:
MOPS="/path/to/MOPS"
QLIB="/path/to/qlib"
HOUDINI_PATH=$HOUDINI_PATH;$QLIB;$MOPS;&
Note: On Linux and OSX, use : instead of ; to separate your paths.
It's important that your HOUDINI_PATH always ends in ;&. You can append any other paths you like,
but the last path should be &. This will ensure that Houdini's built-in operators work normally.
Most problems installing MOPs are caused by a faulty houdini.env file. Many other third-party plugins like Redshift or Arnold will update your houdini.env file for you, but often do it in the wrong way. For example, if your houdini.env file has a line that defines HOUDINI_PATH like the following:
HOUDINI_PATH=C:/ProgramData/Redshift/plugins/Houdini/19.5.403;&
This is actually overriding your HOUDINI_PATH instead of appending to it. To fix this, make sure the HOUDINI_PATH definition starts with $HOUDINI_PATH, like this:
HOUDINI_PATH=$HOUDINI_PATH;C:/ProgramData/Redshift/plugins/Houdini/19.5.403;&
Remember that on Windows you use the semicolon ( ; ) to separate paths in houdini.env. On MacOS and Linux you use colons ( : ).
Even though Windows paths use backslashes ( \ ), you must use forward slashes ( / ) when typing out paths in Houdini packages.
Don't install MOPs directly within another Houdini-related system directory. This means don't put MOPs inside Houdini's install directory, or inside Houdini's preferences directory (where houdini.env and the packages directory are). Installing MOPs to these locations can prevent the package from loading correctly.