Packman

A simple, project based, houdini loader and package manager for Linux & Windows.
(Download latest version from the Releases page)

How different from a regular Houdini launcher ?

In Packman you can customize Houdini versions, products (FX/Core/Indie), and json packages per project, in a nice and clean user interface.

How it works:

1. Collect all your .json packages into a repository folder.
2. Make sure to remove them from your user folder (they will now be loaded on demand, by Packman).
3. Add a new Packman project, choose versions and packages you wish to load.
4. Open your Houdini sessions from there.
5. Done! Now you can quickly setup per project environments with just a fews clicks.

Screenshots:

Simple/minimal UI

Project configuration (auto scan for available installs and packages)

Quick inspect configs on mouse hover

Archive old projects, but keep track of the settings in case you need to re-open files

Right click projects to modify/archive/delete them

Step-by-step tutorial:

1. Collect all your .json packages into a single folder (without subfolders!)

2. Make sure to also remove these files from other folders scanned by Houdini, like $HOUDINI_USER_PREF_DIR/packages for example. Packman can't override Houdini's default scan directories!

3. After launching Packman for the first time, make sure to set the packages repository: Menu Set packages repo > choose your repo folder in the file dialog.

4. Create a new project:
   Menu Add project > Fill in your project details

5. Optionally, right click any project to edit/archive/delete. (Archived projects can also be restored this way).

6. Launch a new Houdini session with a managed environment by clicking the big buttons!

*tip: resize/reposition the Packman window as you wish, it will remember the next time!

Technical info:

• Houdini installs are assumed to live under the default folder. ("/opt" on Linux, "C:\Program Files\Side Effects Software" on Windows)

• All project configs are stored as .json files (with their corresponding folders) inside ~/.packman/configs or ~/.packman/archived. You can delete multiple configs at once by manually removing those files.

• Config names will only allow for these characters: a-z | A-Z | 0-9 | dash, underscore, whitespace