workflows

workflows

MCP prompt templates for common Houdini workflows.

These prompts guide AI assistants through multi-step Houdini tasks.

Markdown filenames follow SideFX's own help scope names, so pyro.md is the prompt for the corpus at pyro/ and solaris.md for solaris/. That keeps one obvious home per subject and makes the "read the shipped page" advice inside each prompt checkable. Files starting with an underscore are shared includes rather than prompts. The public prompt function names predate the convention and are deliberately unchanged, because clients call them.

Functions:

Name	Description
copernicus_workflow	Guide for image work in Copernicus (COPs).
debug_scene	Systematic approach to debugging a Houdini scene.
hda_development	Guide for creating a Houdini Digital Asset.
heightfield_terrain	Guide for building terrain with heightfields.
houdini_workflow	Guide for any Houdini subject the shipped manual documents.
pdg_pipeline	Guide for building a PDG/TOPs pipeline.
procedural_modeling_workflow	Guide for building a procedural modeling network in SOPs.
simulation_setup	Guide for setting up a dynamics simulation.
usd_scene_assembly	Guide for building a USD scene in Houdini's LOPs/Solaris.

Functions:

copernicus_workflow

copernicus_workflow(description: str) -> str

Guide for image work in Copernicus (COPs).

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
description	str	What to build (e.g. "a tileable rust texture")	required

debug_scene

debug_scene(problem_description: str = 'general issues') -> str

Systematic approach to debugging a Houdini scene.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
problem_description	str	What problem the user is experiencing	'general issues'

hda_development

hda_development(asset_description: str, context: str = 'Sop') -> str

Guide for creating a Houdini Digital Asset.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
asset_description	str	What the HDA should do	required
context	str	Node context for the HDA (Sop, Lop, Object, etc.)	'Sop'

heightfield_terrain

heightfield_terrain(description: str) -> str

Guide for building terrain with heightfields.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
description	str	The terrain to build (e.g. "an eroded desert mesa")	required

houdini_workflow

houdini_workflow(topic: str, description: str = '') -> str

Guide for any Houdini subject the shipped manual documents.

One entry point rather than a function per subject, so a new corpus needs a markdown file and nothing else. topic is the SideFX help scope name, which is also the markdown filename: character, render, shade, crowds, copy, props, dopparticles, io, anim, ocean, grains, muscles, finiteelements, feathers, fur, ml, composite, heightfields_cop, plus every subject that has its own named prompt (pyro, fluid, vellum, destruction, mpm, solaris, tops, model, assets, copernicus, heightfields, dyno, troubleshooting).

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
topic	str	Help scope name for the subject, e.g. "character" or "render"	required
description	str	What you are trying to build	''

pdg_pipeline

pdg_pipeline(task_description: str) -> str

Guide for building a PDG/TOPs pipeline.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
task_description	str	What the pipeline should accomplish	required

procedural_modeling_workflow

procedural_modeling_workflow(
    description: str, output_context: str = "/obj"
) -> str

Guide for building a procedural modeling network in SOPs.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
description	str	What geometry to create (e.g. "a rocky terrain with scattered trees")	required
output_context	str	Where to create the geo container	'/obj'

simulation_setup

simulation_setup(sim_type: str, description: str = '') -> str

Guide for setting up a dynamics simulation.

Dispatches to the solver-specific guide when one exists, because a single generic file had to cover pyro, FLIP, Vellum, RBD and MPM at once and so could not say more than a table row about any of them. Houdini ships a separate manual per solver, and these files mirror that split. Anything without its own guide falls back to dyno.md, the general dynamics one.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
sim_type	str	Type of simulation (pyro, flip, rbd, vellum, mpm, pop)	required
description	str	Additional context about the simulation	''

usd_scene_assembly

usd_scene_assembly(scene_description: str) -> str

Guide for building a USD scene in Houdini's LOPs/Solaris.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
scene_description	str	Description of the USD scene to build	required