houdini-texture-bake

name	houdini-texture-bake
description	Pipeline stage — bake ambient occlusion, lighting, texture maps (diffuse, normals, cavity, curvature etc.) from geometry to image files, list bake-compatible geometry with UV info, and transfer maps from high-res source to low-res target. Pair with houdini-render for render output and houdini-materials for shader assignment.
license	MIT
compatibility	dcc-mcp-houdini 0.1+, Houdini 19.5+, dcc-mcp-core 0.19.45+
allowed-tools	Bash Read Write Edit
metadata	{"dcc-mcp":{"dcc":"houdini","layer":"domain","stage":"pipeline","version":"1.0.0","tags":["houdini","bake","texture","ao","ambient-occlusion","lighting","normals","transfer-maps","maps-baker","cop","rop"],"search-hint":"bake texture map, ao ambient occlusion, normal map, transfer maps, high to low, lighting bake, texture baking, list bake targets","search-aliases":["bake textures","bake lighting","bake ambient occlusion","transfer maps","list bake targets"],"example-prompts":["Bake ambient occlusion for all geometry in the scene","List all bake-compatible geometry with UV info","Bake diffuse and normal maps from /obj/high_res to /obj/low_res","Transfer normals and displacement from a high-poly source to a low-poly target","Bake lighting with Mantra at 2048 resolution"],"intent":"Bake textures (AO, lighting, normals, cavity, diffuse, custom maps), transfer maps between geometry, list bake targets.","recall-context":{"app_type":"houdini","domain":"pipeline","workflow-stage":"pipeline","task-category":"mutate"},"requires":[],"produces":["baked_texture","image_file","transfer_map","bake_target_list"],"preconditions":[{"type":"software","name":"houdini","version":">=19.5"}],"side-effects":{"creates":true,"modifies":false,"targets":["texture","image","rop","cop"]},"tools":"tools.yaml"}}

houdini-texture-bake

Typed texture-baking tools that bake geometry attributes to image files using Houdini's Bake Texture ROP, Labs Maps Baker, or COP-based fallback workflows.

Bake method detection

Tools auto-detect the best available bake method at runtime:

1. Labs Maps Baker (sidefx_labs → maps_baker) — richest option, single-node multi-map bake with 20+ map types (normals, cavity, curvature, thickness, roughness, metallic, etc.)
2. Bake Texture ROP (game_simple_baker / baker::2.0) — built-in Houdini 20+ ROP for standard map baking
3. COP fallback — simple per-attribute COP-based bake when neither Labs nor Bake Texture ROP is available

When no bake method is detected, tools return a structured diagnostic payload (available_methods: [], recommendations: [...]) — they never degrade to raw execute_python.

Tool groups

• bake-ao: bake_ambient_occlusion — bake ambient occlusion to texture (async, 900s timeout)
• bake-lighting: bake_lighting — bake scene lighting via Mantra/Karma render-to-texture (async, 900s timeout)
• bake-textures: bake_textures — general multi-map baking (diffuse, normals, cavity, curvature, roughness, metallic, etc.) via Labs Maps Baker or Bake Texture ROP (async, 1800s timeout)
• bake-query: list_bake_targets — scan geometry for UV-equipped, bake-compatible nodes (sync, read-only)
• bake-transfer: transfer_maps — transfer normals/displacement/diffuse from high-res source to low-res target (async, 1200s timeout)

Context limitations

• UV requirement: Bake Texture ROP and Labs Maps Baker both require the target geometry to have non-degenerate UVs. list_bake_targets reports has_uvs so callers can verify before baking.
• Renderer selection: bake_lighting supports mantra (default) and karma. Karma requires a valid XPU/CPU license.
• Labs Maps Baker: Install via sidefx_labs package or Houdini Game Dev Toolset. Detection is automatic; tools report labs_maps_baker_available in their result payload.

Tracer-bullet flow

1. list_bake_targets() → scan geometry, pick nodes with UVs
2. bake_ambient_occlusion(rop_path="/out/bake_ao", objects=["/obj/sphere"])
3. bake_textures(rop_path="/out/bake_maps", objects=["/obj/character"], map_types=["normals", "cavity", "diffuse"])
4. bake_lighting(rop_path="/out/bake_light", camera="/obj/rendercam", objects=["/obj/building"])
5. transfer_maps(source="/obj/high_res", target="/obj/low_res", map_types=["normals", "displacement"])