# Getting started

## Installing

>>> 1. Copy the file
The download is `JV-Hou-DisplacementX-v1.0.hdalc`. Put it in `Documents/houdini22.0/otls/`.
>>> 2. Remove any older version
Delete an earlier build's file first - two files of the same node type in that folder collide.
>>> 3. Load it
Restart Houdini, or **Assets ▸ Refresh Asset Libraries**.
>>> 4. Find the nodes
Both nodes appear under Tab > JV: **Hou-DisplacementX** (inside a copnet) and **Hou-DisplacementX Heightfield** (inside a geometry network).
>>>

!!!warning Indie and Apprentice
The file is `.hdalc`, which loads in Houdini Indie or Apprentice. FX and Core can load it too, but that switches the session to limited-commercial (Indie) mode, per SideFX.
!!!

## Your first map

Create a COP Network, dive in, and drop **Hou-DisplacementX** from Tab > JV. Set it as the display node and look at `height` in the Composite View. Press **New Seed** a few times for different layouts, then **Randomize All** to reroll the settings. Turn on **Enable Sprites** to see panels appear on top of the shapes - like the web version, Sprites start off.

## Your first heightfield

Drop **Hou-DisplacementX Heightfield** into a geometry network with nothing wired in and you already have a terrain, built from the same generator. Wire a subdivided sphere or grid into its input and the node switches to displacing that geometry instead, projected along its normals. Raise **Displace Amount** to see the effect grow.

## If something looks wrong

- **Resolution** does nothing: a layer is wired into the **Size Reference** input, and that layer's size wins.
- Displacement barely moves the surface: the geometry is too sparse. Subdivide or Remesh it first.
- The shapes look hard-edged with no soft antialiasing: that is by design, matching the original.