hpaste

simple plain text snippet exchange for Houdini

for simple and fast exchange of node packs through any messenger

Hpaste works/tested for Houdini 20.0, 19.5, 19.0, 18.5, 18.0, 17.5, 17.0, 16.5, 16.0, 15.5. Should work also for 15.0 and maybe even less, to the point when Qt appeared in Houdini

HCollections should work in Houdini 20.0, 19.5, 19.0, 18.5, 18.0, 17.x, 16.x, 15.5 with both Qt4 and Qt5
Though new features like Inspector are made without Qt4 backwards compatibility, therefore they won't work in qt4 versions of houdini 17 and older

Works for both python2 and python3 builds. however there are some early 18.5 and 18.0 python3 builds that lack certain libs, but that bug has been fixed in later builds.

Note: 19.5.303 production build with python3.9 has a bug in it's version of PyCrypto, so cryptography does not work. Hope SideFX fixes it in the next build.
Note: 18.0.348 production build is known to have Qt issues, which seems to be solved starting from build 353

You can read a bit more about it in here:

• https://cgallin.blogspot.com/2017/09/hpaste.html
• https://cgallin.blogspot.com/2018/02/hpaste-update.html
• https://cgallin.blogspot.com/2018/01/hcollections.html

Support this project (and others): https://www.patreon.com/xapkohheh

installation

Dependencies

this plugin is built to only use standard system modules and standard houdini modules.

HOWEVER in some cases (like houdini 17.5 on linux) you might run into SSL error due to certificated being out of date. In this case you should install certifi module to still properly secure your connection. This can be done as simple as pip install certifi on linux, windows or mac (details at: https://pypi.org/project/certifi/)

Super short and simple package variant (use it with houdini >17.0)

1. Download the contents of this repository as ZIP
2. Unzip the contents of the archive (which is automatically created by github folder hpaste-master) into your user folder (for ex C:\Users\<USER>\Documents\houdini18.5\)
   so as a result you will have C:\Users\<USER>\Documents\houdini18.5\hpaste-master
3. Pick one file hpaste.json from there and move it into packages folder of your houdini user directory (create it if it does not exist)
   for ex. the full path will look like C:\Users\<USER>\Documents\houdini18.5\packages\hpaste.json
4. Enjoy!

legacy variant

1. Download the contents of this repository as ZIP
2. Open the downloaded zip - you will see one folder hpaste-master inside it - this folder was created automatically by github
3. Copy the contents of the folder hpaste-master it into your Houdini user folder, something like C:\Users\<USER>\Documents\houdini16.5\
   (just to be clear, you DON'T copy the folder hpaste-master itself, you copy it's contents) (also you actually don't need to copy the example folder from there)
4. Enjoy!

a bit longer variant

1. copy hpaste folder from python2.7libs to your local script folder
   • for example: C:\Users\<USER>\Documents\houdini16.0\python2.7libs\
     • hint: create python2.7libs folder if it doesnt exist
2. copy contents of toolbar folder to your toolbar folder
   • for example: C:\Users\<USER>\Documents\houdini16.0\toolbar\
     • hint: create toolbar folder if it doesnt exist
3. copy .hpaste_githubcollection into your user folder to gain access to a demo public collection straight away
4. start Houdini !!
5. locate the HPaste shelf in shelf list
6. if you want fancy icons for the buttons - copy config folder content into your config
   • for example: C:\Users\<USER>\Documents\houdini16.0\config\
     • hint: create config folder if it doesnt exist
     • hint: merge icons folder with yours one if you dont have one yet
7. You can download file HotkeyOverrides to your Houdini user folder to automatically set hotkeys to
   1. Ctrl+Alt+Shift+C for HCopyWeb
   2. Ctrl+Alt+Shift+V for HPasteWeb
   3. Shift+Tab for HCollections
   • if you want - you can assign hotkeys to copy-paste and collection commands manually with:
     • right-click on the tool button on the shelf -> Edit Tool, Hotkeys tab
   • Note! That you will not be able to use collections without a hotkey, so set it up if you plan to use them
8. and may the force be with you

how to use:

• to copy:
  1. select nodes you want to copy (nodes must be of the same parent!)
  2. press hcopy/hcopyweb button (or hotkey) now you have the code/web-id in your clipboard
  3. paste it to some messenger and send to a collegue
• to paste:
  1. receive code or web-id
  2. copy received text to your system clipboard
  3. in houdini - open the node viewer to the location you want to paste your nodes
  4. press hpaste/hpasteweb button (or hotkey) depending on if you are pasting code or web-id
• collections:
  1. go to hpaste shelf tab, notice the last button - Collection Authorization - it opens an account manager
  2. If you want to have your own collection which you can read/write and from which other people can read public snippets - you will have to:
     1. register at github.com
     2. confirm your email after registration
     3. open Collection Authorization and click add in the upper part of the opened account manager and enter your credentials
     4. you will see your account name appears in the upper list of the account manager - this means you are ready to go!
     5. click re-initialize collections to force collections to reread new added accounts
  3. If you want to use public collections in read only manner - just:
     1. open Collection Authorization and click lower add in the opened account manager
     2. enter a known name of a collection you want to add (check spelling twice!)
     3. click re-initialize collections to force collections to reread new added accounts

description

• shelf goes with 6 buttons now:
  • hcopy, hpaste to copy-paste direct chunks of code
    • pluses: doesnt require any 3-rd party web resources or watever
    • minuses: code chunk can be pretty huge!
  • hcopyweb, hpasteweb to copy-paste web ids for the code
    • pluses: links are super small and cozy
    • minuses: this require the code to be stored on 3-rd party web resource, and it can be accessed (pure theoretically) by anyone in the world!
  • hpastecollection - cloud storage for your snippets
    • require github account
    • works only from a hotkey in the Network Editor
  • hpastecollectionauth - account manager for hpaste collections
    • add any number of private and public collections to use

Attributions

Icons in hpaste-demo-collection:

• Icon made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com
• Icon made by Pixel perfect from www.flaticon.com