Where Does Houdini Store Projects and Prefs?
Houdini saves .hip scenes where you choose, with per user prefs in houdini version folders and jobs tracked via $JOB.
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Houdini scenes (.hip) go wherever File then Save points. Portable pathing comes from two variables: $HIP for the scene folder and $JOB for the project root set with File then Set Project. Use them in texture and cache paths and whole shows move between machines cleanly.
Preferences live in versioned home folders with houdini.env for custom variables. Personal digital assets default under there too. Studio packages install to sidefx_packages or Documents houdini packages depending on OS. Keep prefs and $JOB libraries backed up separately from .hip files.
Where Houdini stores this, by platform
C:\Users\[Username]\Documents\houdini[version]
Env file at %HOME%\houdini[version]\houdini.env. Studio packages in C:\Program Files\Side Effects Software\sidefx_packages. Set $JOB with File and Set Project per show.
~/houdini[version]
Env file at ~/houdini[version]/houdini.env. Packages in /opt/sidefx/sidefx_packages. Source houdini_setup from the install dir before terminal launches.
~/Library/Preferences/houdini/[version]
Env file at ~/Library/Preferences/houdini/[version]/houdini.env. Packages in /Applications/Houdini/sidefx_packages. Apple Silicon required for recent builds.
Frequently asked questions
How do I make a Houdini project portable?
Set a $JOB root with File and Set Project, reference shared files with $JOB paths and local files with $HIP paths, then run Render and Preflight to catch absolute paths. Zip the $JOB tree with the .hip files.
Where is houdini.env on each OS?
Windows under %HOME% houdini version folder, Mac under Library Preferences houdini version, Linux under home houdini version. Create it if missing; Houdini writes a commented template on first run.
Notice an outdated path? Let us know.