System requirements

Supported platforms: Windows 10 / 11, Linux, macOS

Supported Houdini versions: 20.5.619 or later

Installation

You can get the ZibraVDB plugin from our website or use the one in SideFX Labs. We recommend downloading it from a website since this flow is simpler.

Installation (From Website)

You can also download plugin package along with the library from our website.

  1. Go to https://www.zibra.ai/zibravdb-for-houdini and download desired version.

  2. Unpack downloaded archive into your packages directory (if it doesn’t exist, create it). Packages directory might be in the next location:

    Window: *****C:\\Users\\USERNAME\\Documents\\houdini##\\*

    macOS: ****/⁨Users⁩/⁨USERNAME/⁨Library⁩/Preferences⁩/⁨houdini⁩/##⁩/

    image.png

  3. Launch Houdini and look for ZibraVDB nodes to validate installation.

Installation (SideFX Labs)

ZibraVDB nodes are shipped with SideFX Labs, but the plugin requires the ZibraVDB core library on the back end. (This library and its source code are proprietary to Zibra AI and, therefore, are not included directly in the open-source SideFX Labs package.) The plugin has a built-in method to download this core library, which only needs to be done once (per working environment).

  1. Install Houdini and SideFX Labs.
  2. Add any ZibraVDB node to your project.
  3. Inside a node click the “Open Plugin Management” button. A window will be opened.
  4. Click the “Download Library” button. You will be redirected to the website.
  5. Download the ZibraVDB Compression Library from the webpage.
  6. Return to Houdini and click “Open Packages Directory” or “Open User Pref Directory” depending on your plugin version in the “Plugin Management” window.
  7. Unpack the content of the downloaded archive into the opened directory.
  8. Return to Houdini and click "Load Library" in the "Plugin Management" window. You should now see the "Library status" as "Loaded" and the version of the library.