Build more. Type less.
Copy-paste VEX snippets, a VEX function reference, an expression & HScript cheatsheet, attribute & hotkey cheatsheets and a $JOB generator - all in one fast, browser-based page. Nothing to install, nothing leaves your machine.
A reference & utility, not a plugin. Assumes an Attribute Wrangle in point context unless a snippet notes otherwise.
Houdini VEX Lab is a free, browser-based reference for SideFX Houdini artists. It puts the things you reach for every day in one fast page: a searchable library of 100+ copy-paste VEX snippets, a VEX function reference, an expression & HScript cheatsheet, a global-variables table, attribute and hotkey cheatsheets, and a $JOB project-structure generator. There is no login and nothing leaves your machine; everything runs client-side and works offline once loaded. Unless a snippet says otherwise, the VEX assumes an Attribute Wrangle running in point context.
The core of the Lab is a library of idiomatic, ready-to-paste Houdini VEX snippets across seventeen categories. Each snippet has a title, a one-line explanation and a copy button, so you can drop it into an Attribute Wrangle, Geometry Wrangle, Gas Field Wrangle or a POP Wrangle and tweak from there. These are the practical starting points that are slow to reconstruct from memory or dig out of old scene files: reading and writing attributes, point-cloud lookups with pcopen, randomisation with rand(), remaps with fit01, and orientation for copy-to-points. Popular examples have their own pages, including averaging colour with pcopen, randomising pscale and building an orient attribute for copy-to-points.
VEX ships with hundreds of built-in functions, and the VEX function reference here focuses on the ones artists actually use in wrangles, grouped by Math, Vectors, Interpolation, Geometry, Attributes, Noise, Strings, Parameters and Transforms. Each entry shows the signature and a plain-English description, so you can remember whether it is fit or fit01, what argument order lerp takes, or how pcopen and pcfilter fit together, without leaving your comp. It is not a replacement for the official SideFX docs; it is the fast, practical layer on top of them.
Not everything in Houdini is VEX. Parameter fields still use HScript expressions like ch(), chramp() and $F-based animation, and the expression cheatsheet collects the channel references, frame-and-time math, padding and geometry-reading patterns you paste into parameters. The global variables reference lists the HScript globals ($F, $T, $OS, $HIP, $JOB and more) alongside the VEX attribute globals you bind in wrangles (@P, @N, @ptnum, @Time), and explains the difference so you use the right one in the right place.
A portable Houdini project starts with a consistent folder tree anchored to $JOB. The built-in $JOB project generator outputs the standard SideFX layout (geo, sim, flip, render, tex, comp, abc, hda, scripts and more) plus the shell commands to create it, so every project on your machine or across a small team is laid out the same way and $JOB-relative paths always resolve.
The snippet library is organised into seventeen categories so you can browse by task instead of searching blind:
Houdini VEX Lab is for Houdini artists, FX TDs, technical artists and freelancers who need quick Attribute Wrangle snippets and a reliable cheatsheet without digging through old scene files or forum threads. It suits anyone learning VEX who wants working examples to adapt, and anyone experienced who just wants the exact idiom to hand.
SideFX describes VEX as a high-performance expression language used throughout Houdini, from shading and particles to modelling, CHOPs and compositing. It is fast and it scales, but artists often just need a practical starting point rather than a blank wrangle. Houdini VEX Lab gives you ready-to-paste examples for common production tasks, so you spend your time on the effect instead of re-deriving the syntax.
Yes. It is completely free with no account or login. It runs entirely in your browser and nothing you do leaves your machine.
A searchable library of 100+ VEX snippets across seventeen categories, a VEX function reference, an expression and HScript cheatsheet, attribute and hotkey cheatsheets, a global-variables reference, and a $JOB project-structure generator.
No. It is an independent, browser-based reference and utility, not a Houdini plugin and not affiliated with SideFX. You copy the snippets into your own Attribute Wrangles and parameters.
Yes. It installs as a PWA, and the snippet library, cheatsheets and generator all work offline once loaded.
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