Maya vs Houdini Unit Scale

In production pipelines, unit differences between Autodesk Maya and Houdini often cause confusion. By default, Maya treats 1 unit as 1 centimeter, while Houdini operates in meters, meaning 1 unit equals 1 meter. When geometry is exported from Maya, especially through Alembic, and imported into Houdini, it appears 100 times larger than expected. To correct this, a Transform node in Houdini is typically used to scale the asset down by 0.01. Although Maya displays working units as centimeters, it internally processes values as generic units interpreted according to scene preferences, which can initially feel misleading. In studio workflows, it is best to consistently treat Maya units as centimeters to avoid pipeline inconsistencies. Exporting via USD often preserves scale correctly without requiring manual conversion. Both applications handle units differently for mathematical calculations and simulations, so understanding their default assumptions is essential for predictable cross software workflows.

Maya vs Houdini Unit Scale Illustration

Maya

1 Unit = 1 Centimeter

Cube: 1 × 1 × 1

Real Size: 1 cm

→

Scale 0.01

Houdini

1 Unit = 1 Meter

Imported Cube: 1 × 1 × 1

Reads as: 1 meter

When exporting from Maya (centimeters) to Houdini (meters), the asset appears 100x larger. To correct this, apply a Transform scale of 0.01 in Houdini.

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