Let’s discuss the idea of having a Houdini Load node(s)
So, How do you guys imagine it ? and what are your needs ?
Should it be a subnetwork with loaded asset inside ? with few buttons that inherits Manage tool functionality
It should be available in SOPs, OBJs and … ? each will behave a little differently but they should have similar results.
This is just a visualization, it’s not implemented
Should it be as simple as an object merge ? with some automations like a status bar showing the version number or a button to change product version ?
Also, using object merge won’t allow loading multiple versions of the same asset because maybe someone would like to load version 3 and version 4 of the same product to do a quick comparison !
It should definitely be available in LOPs. I would even go further as saying that if it had to be available in only one context, it should be LOPs. The OBJ context is pretty much useless nowadays, and you can import stuff in SOPs from LOPs easily but not the opposite. But I understand many studios are not using USD as much as we are.
In LOPs, the node should have controls to load the asset as Sublayer or Reference, and options to change the Time Offset and Time scale. In Sublayer mode, it needs controls for Load Payloads, Find Sublayers and Remove Found Sublayers.
In LOPs, this node will be used by layout and environment artists to populate the scene with multiple assets (reference), and by every other departments to load the current sequence, shot or asset layerStack in order to work on something (sublayer). It could be two different nodes if it’s simpler that way.
