# Installation of the Houdini plugin

The plugin is a Houdini digital asset library file which comes with the Simplygon SDK installer.
After the installation the asset library file will be located here %PROGRAMFILES%\Simplygon\9\Houdini\Simplygon10.hda. Because of this, loading the Simplygon Houdini plugin directly from Program Files (using step 1 below) causes the plugin to not be extensible without starting Houdini as Administrator. Use step 2 below if you wish to extend the plugin with your own custom nodes.

There are two ways to add the plugin to Houdini:

  1. To add the plugin to a specific Houdini project, please start Houdini and select Assets -> Install Asset Library.... For more info: Install and manage digital assets (opens new window). Install Digital Asset Library
  2. To make the plugin load automatically every time Houdini starts (and also make it possible to extend the plugin with your own custom nodes), copy the Simplygon10.hda file to a folder where your user has write access, then follow the instructions of Houdini packages (opens new window) to create a package .json file and point the path property to the previously created folder. Please note that the Simplygon10.hda file needs to be put in a sub folder called otls located in the folder you point the path property to. Below is an example package .json file (Simplygon9.json) if Simplygon10.hda is located in the folder c:\mywritablefolder\otls:
{
    "path": "c:\\mywritablefolder"
}