Codercat Studio | Cookbook
This cookbook contains a collection of useful HoudiniFX node setups. All examples are stored using the new Houdini recipe API and can be copied from this website directly into Houdini using our simple shelf tools. We also periodically make a backup of the recipes here.
Copy a snippet of interest from this page, then use Paste on the "Cookbook" shelf to paste it in.
If you would like to share a recipe, click the Create button and paste in the output of the "Copy" shelf tool. Note that you must be logged in to do so. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to reach out at codercatclub@gmail.com.
Get new recipes updates over RSS feed.
⚠️ Changelog
11.20.2025 - We updated the copy shelf tool to include the Houdini version, which is also visible on the recipes listing. Please update your shelf tools using the Python one-liner from the Recommended Install section.
📦 Recommended Install
To install Cookbook shelf tools copy this code to Houdini Python Shell and press Enter. You will see Cookbook shelf apper on the top panel.
To open Python Shell press Alt-Shift-P or go to main menu Window > Python Shell.
📂 Alternative Manual Install
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Windows:
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macOS:
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Linux:
Replace USERNAME and X.Y with your account name and Houdini version.
Restart Houdini.
? About this project
Motivation and Goals
We created this Houdini Cookbook because:
- We needed a way to quickly share and store small Houdini node setups. Previously, we attempted to create HDA libraries, but it was too cumbersome for our small team.
- We believe there is a better way to share Houdini examples than by sharing entire Houdini files.
- We enjoy sharing our small setups with the Houdini community.
- We strongly believe in the idea of "Own Your Data," therefore we do not hold any published recipes hostage. All recipes are backed up once a day to a public Git repository here. Even if this service goes down, anyone can still download the full collection and use it directly with the Cookbook shelf tool or by using the two Python functions described below.
- We also embrace the idea of decentralization, and we are considering open sourcing the Cookbook web service so that anyone can run it locally with their own collection or as their own public webpage. Let us know if this is something that interests you.
How Does It Work
In Houdini 20.5, SideFX introduced a new Recipe system that allows users to save collections of nodes into human-readable structured text files (JSON). Within this, they added a new collection of Python utilities (hou.data) that allows for creating and loading recipes programmatically.
In particular, the Cookbook shelf tools use hou.data.selectedItemsAsData(...) for copying nodes and hou.createItemsFromData(...) for pasting.
For this web service, we use the Go programming language and store all submitted recipes in plain text JSON files.
