## Download Houdini

1. Sign up and download Houdini Launcher from https://www.sidefx.com/download/
2. Open the launcher and install Houdini (suggested version: "Choose Another Version" -> "19.5.805 Production default win64-vc142". Other 19.5 versions will also work by default. Other versions will need to recompile some code from source as mentioned at the end.)
3. Use the default option and proceed to install
4. On the first launch, one will get a license error. Proceed with `Install (or reinstall) my free Houdini Apprentice License`
5. Run Houdini to test it is successfully installed 

## Download SynopFrame

1. Download the repository
2. Proceed to Step 3 if you only want to try the icosahedron example. For the cube and the RNA tile data set: download the demo dataset from https://osf.io/download/vhb35/. 
    - unzip the zip file
    - move its contents to the corresponding folders in the downloaded repository
    - in the end, you should have the following folder structure
```bash
├─demo_cube
│  ├─demo_cube
│  ├─input
│  └─demo_cube.hipnc
└─demo_RNA_Tile
    ├─demo_RNA_Tile
    ├─input
    └─demo_RNA_Tile.hipnc
```
3. Copy everything under `SynopFrame\houdini19.5` to `C:\Users\<Your_User_Name>\Documents\houdini19.5`. When asked whether to replace `houdini.env`, choose `Yes`
4. Double-click to open one of the following:
    1. `SynopFrame\demo_icosahedron10Frames\icosahedron_cndo_10Frames.hipnc`
    2. `SynopFrame\demo_cube\demo_cube.hipnc`
    3. `SynopFrame\demo_RNA_Tile\demo_RNA_Tile.hipnc`
5. Use [Cheat-Sheet-Win](https://github.com/nanovis/SynopFrame/blob/main/Cheat-Sheet-Win.md) to navigate inside SynopFrame



## Optional, for advanced users, if you want to compile the HDK project:
1. Open `SynopFrame\src\hdk\SynopFrame_Parser\src\CMakeLists.txt` in a text editor and change `Houdini 19.5.303` to your version. In my case, I should change it to `Houdini 19.5.435`. If you have changed the installation path of Houdini, you will need to change the whole path. 
2. Install CMake (https://cmake.org/download/), Make sure to `Add CMake to the system PATH`
3. Double click `SynopFrame\src\hdk\SynopFrame_Parser\Win-GenProjects.bat` to build the custom HDK program. 
4. Compile it in Visual Studio. It will install to the designated folder automatically.