Quickstart

Option A

Install the Windows InstallerDouble click the Magic_Scatter_World_Installer.exe,A window appears asking where to install the Magic_Scatter_World files (default `%LOCALAPPDATA%\Magic_Scatter_World`) and lists every Houdini version it found. Tick versions, click **Install**, restart Houdini → **Magic Scatter World** shelf tab appears. Bundled, self-contained — no Python install needed on the artist's machine.

Option A2

If you prefer the source-folder layout (or you're on macOS/Linux):

| Platform | Double-click |

|---|---|

Windows `install.bat`

macOS `install.command`

Linux `install.command` (or `python3 install.py` from a terminal)

Same Tkinter window, but installs *in place* — the package JSON points at the Magic_Scatter_World folder you ran the script from. If Tkinter isn't available the installer falls back to an interactive text prompt.

Option B

Python Shell one-liner** *(quickest if Houdini is already open):

**Windows → Python Shell** (or press the Python Shell pane tab).

Paste, replacing the path with your unzip location:

python exec(open(r"C:/PATH TO YOU FOLDER/houdini_install.py").read())

Folder picker → version checklist → restart Houdini.

Set a surface

Select a piece of geometry in your scene — a ground plane, a terrain, a wall — then click Set Surface. The label flips from amber to slate-blue when set.

Add scatter assets

Click Add Asset(s) and pick one or more meshes (grass, rocks, ivy, debris — anything). Each becomes a card in the asset tray. Adjust per-asset weight in the Wt: field to bias the scatter.

Paint the mask

Click ▶ PAINT. In the viewport, drag across the surface — the painted area lights up. Tune Radius, Opacity, Falloff Soft in the Brush Shape section to taste.

Create the network

Click Create Network. The HDA cooks; assets scatter; the bottom-right counter updates to N asset(s) loaded. If you don't like the result, tweak Density / Min Spacing / Min Distance and hit Recache Strokes.