Extract text from Houdini project files (HIP)
To convert HIP projects to another format, you need SideFX Houdini or other 3D software.
To convert other file formats to the "3D Project Scene File" file type, you need software like SideFX Houdini or a similar tool.
The .HIP file is primarily a 3D project scene file created by SideFX Houdini, a highly specialized procedural 3D animation and visual effects application. Alternatively, it serves as a proprietary game asset archive used by Heavy Iron Studios for various console games.
These files are notoriously difficult to share and manage. A Houdini .HIP file does not store standard static 3D models like polygons or meshes. Instead, it stores a complex procedural node graph and mathematical instructions. This means it requires a heavy, expensive software license to open. The format is completely closed and proprietary. Web browsers cannot display it, and standard 3D viewer applications will fail to read it entirely.
You usually need to convert .HIP files to standard 3D formats like FBX, OBJ, or ABC (Alembic) to use the 3D models in other software. However, standard online converters fail to process .HIP files because computing the final 3D geometry requires the core Houdini engine to evaluate the node tree. When successfully exported natively, you will lose the procedural node network, and the dynamic geometry will be permanently "baked" into static polygons. Game archive .HIP files face similar hurdles; they are undocumented containers that require reverse-engineered extraction scripts to reach the internal WAV or PNG assets.
Because this file format is heavily encrypted or highly procedural, your conversion options outside of the original software are limited. If our analysis detects a supported underlying or embedded format, viewing or extracting specific text or asset data may still be possible.
Convert.Guru analyzes your HIP file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted HIPS, HIF, VDB, HSD and 3DS files.
If you want to convert HIP file to OBJ, FBX, DAE, 3DS, MAX, BLEND, MA, MB, C4D, STL, PLY or WRL, you can use SideFX Houdini or similar software from the "3D Scene & Game Archive" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert DWG, DAE, X3D, IGES, WRL, JT, SKP, 3DS, 3DM, OBJ, STEP or FBX files to HIP, try SideFX Houdini or another comparable tool in the "3D Scene & Game Archive" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our HIP converter.