Announcing hapi-rs - a Rust interface to Houdini Engine API

TLDR; Houdini Engine makes it possible to integrate the unlimited power of Houdini into your application.

SideFx Houdini is a vital part of any vfx pipeline, which stands behind the most incredible visual effects in movies we love.

It's no surprise that VFX is almost exclusively C++, and will probably remain such, but it becomes possible to use Rust where previously C++ was the only option.

At work, I write and maintain loads of C++ and Python code for Houdini and I got tired of never ending Python runtime errors and cryptic legacy C++ code.

The hapi-rs crate is the result of my frustration and I hope to replace some of the Python/C++ tools I maintain.

There's a catch of course: Houdini requires a commercial license! While SideFX provides a free license for official theirs pre-compiled plugins, third-party applications built with their APIs require a commercial license.

So this crate is obviously not for everyone for this reason, but imagine this: Someone start building a game with say, r/bevy and they need to generate a lot of geometry and levels procedurally. Doing this by hand in a modelling software is a very laborious process. Houdini Engine could be an incredible tool which can pay off in a long run. (I'm not affiliated with SideFx) .

Thank you for your attention, I hope someone will find this useful!