Working with Houdini scenes, I often end up comparing two versions of a hipfile to find what changed. Git handles this for code, but there’s no equivalent for .hip files. So I built one.
It’s a diff viewer for Houdini hipfiles, run via the hython3.9 interpreter bundled with each Houdini install.
UI
Built with Qt from the Houdini distribution. Three regions:
- Top — two file path fields with folder browse buttons.
- Middle — the two node trees, side by side once files are loaded.
- Bottom — search bars for filtering, a settings checkbox, and the Compare button.
Features
- Side-by-side node trees. Synchronized scrolling and expand/collapse — open a node in one tree, the other follows.
- Color-coded changes. Green for new, red for deleted, hatched for modified.
- Search. Filter nodes in either tree.
Running it
Clone and launch with hython:
git clone https://github.com/golubevcg/hip_file_diff_tool
& ".../Side Effects Software/Houdini 19.5.368/bin/hython3.9.exe" .../hip_file_diff_tool/main.py
Replace ... with your actual paths.
Notes
Tested mostly against Houdini 19.5.368 non-commercial. Unit test coverage is light. Feedback, bug reports, and feature requests welcome — email me at golubevcg@gmail.com or reach me on LinkedIn.
Source: GitHub.