Houdini 21.0 Character KineFX

Animate state menus and HUDs

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Overview

The various functionalities, configurations, and settings for the animate state can be accessed through the following menus and HUDs:

Context menu

Options in the context menu include copying and pasting transforms, mirroring poses, and adjusting the transform handle mode, alignment, and position.

Settings HUD

The settings HUD is accessed by pressing ⌃ Ctrl + G while hovering over the viewport. It provides some of the same transform handle options as the context menu as well as options for baking and adding motion paths and constraints to your animation.

Parameters HUD

The parameters HUD is accessed by pressing G while hovering over the viewport. It allows you to change the transform component values (translate, rotate, scale) of the selected control, as well as some tool-specific parameters.

Handle parameters window

The handle parameters window is accessed by pressing P while hovering over the viewport. It provides options for configuring the look and functionality of the transform handle.

Context menu

To bring up the context menu, click in the viewport.

Option

Description

Copy Selection

See copying and pasting controls.

Paste World Transforms

See copying and pasting controls.

Paste Local Transforms

See copying and pasting controls.

Cycle Mode

Cycles through the different transform handle modes.

Xform Mode

Select a transform handle mode:

  • x - Full transform mode

  • t - Translate mode

  • r - Rotate mode

  • s - Scale mode

  • c - Minimized mode

  • Minimize All Xforms - Collapses all the handles in the scene to minimized mode.

Alignment

Determines how the transform handles are aligned.

  • World - Aligns the handle with the world axes. Does not rotate the actual control.

  • Local - Aligns the handle with the control’s local transforms. Does not rotate the actual control.

  • C-Plane - Aligns the handle with the construction plane; the handle axes are set by the construction plane. Does not rotate the actual control.

  • View - Aligns the handle with the view transform (the angle you are looking at the control). Does not rotate the actual control.

  • Parent - Aligns the handle with the parent control. Does not rotate the actual control.

  • Separate Alignments - When turned on, unties the different components of the handle (translate, rotate, and scale). You can then choose to separately align the different components using the Translate Alignment, Scale Alignment, and Rotate Alignment options that show up under the Alignment setting when Separate Alignments is turned on.

  • World Axes - Rotates the control to align with the world axes, but does not change the handle alignment.

  • View Axes - Rotates the control to align with the view axes, but does not change the handle alignment.

  • C-Plane Axes - Rotates the control to align with the construction plane, but does not change the handle alignment.

  • Align to Control - Reorients a control to match the orientation of another control.

    1. Select Align to Control.

    2. Click the control you want the current control’s orientation to match.

  • Start Orientation Picking - Aligns the selected handle axis to another control or to templated geometry.

    1. Select Start Orientation Picking.

    2. Click the handle axis you want to align.

    3. Click the control or the point/edge of the geometry you want to align the axis to.

    Orientation picking

  • Cancel Orientation Picking - Cancels out of orientation picking mode.

Move Pivot

Moves the location of the control:

  • Move Pivot to World Origin - Moves the pivot to (0, 0, 0).

  • Move Pivot to C-Plane Origin - Moves the pivot to the origin of the construction plane.

  • Project Pivot onto C-Plane - Moves the pivot “up” or “down” onto the construction plane. The pivot is projected onto the construction plane at an angle perpendicular to the construction plane.

  • Move Pivot to Control - Moves a control to match the position of another control.

    1. Select Move Pivot to Control.

    2. Click the control you want the current control’s position to match.

Snap To

When Pivot Mode is turned on, the pivot could be moved away from the control.

  • Snap Pivot to Centroid - Moves the pivot back to the control.

  • Snap Centroid to Pivot - Moves the control to the pivot.

  • Snap Handle to Control - Moves and reorients a control to match the position and orientation of another control.

    1. Select Snap Handle to Control.

    2. Click the control you want the current control’s position and orientation to match.

Key Components

Sets keyframes for the translate, rotate, or scale components of the active handle.

Gimbal Mode

When Gimbal Mode is turned off, Houdini does background work so that you always see three rotation ring handles. When you drag a ring, the other rings rotate with it, regardless of the order of rotations.

The benefit is that it is impossible to gimbal lock the control axes by dragging the rotation handles. The downside is that in this mode, Houdini changes all three rotation components, not just the one you are dragging, and performing rotations this way can lead to very bad animation curves.

When Gimbal Mode is turned on, Houdini displays the true position of the rotation handles, and dragging the rotation handles changes the rotation components directly without Houdini trying to fix gimbal lock.

The benefit is that you have direct, independent control over the three rotation components, so you can use the handles to set up your animation without worrying about Houdini changing the other components. The downside is the possibility of gimbal lock.

For more information, see gimbal mode and fixing gimbal lock.

Pivot Mode

When turned on, you can move the handle away from the control so that the handle is offet from the control. When turned off, the handle is used as a pivot point for the control.

Revert

Resets the handle or control values:

  • Revert Handle to Default Values - Resets the handle values.

  • Revert Controls to Default Values - Resets the transforms for the selected controls.

Mirror with Plane

Enters the mirror pose state. Press ⌃ Ctrl + G to bring up a HUD with the mirror settings, which allow you to set certain configurations before mirroring is applied. After setting the configurations, press Enter while hovering over the viewport to apply the mirroring. See mirroring poses for more information.

Mirror with Default

Mirrors the selected controls across the same plane that the rig is mirrored across without any additional user input. See mirroring poses for more information.

Settings HUD

To bring up the settings HUD, press ⌃ Ctrl + G while hovering over the viewport. The top-level tabs in the settings HUD contain the general animation settings, baking settings, constraint settings, and tool-related settings.

Animation settings

The following groups of settings are available within the Animate tab of the settings HUD:

  • Transform Handle

  • Motion Path

Transform handle

Option

Description

Mode

Sets the transform handle mode. See the Xform Mode option in the context menu.

Alignment

Determines how the transform handles are aligned. See the Alignment option in the context menu.

Change Mode Automatically

When turned on, automatically changes the handle’s Xform Mode when a new control is selected.

Use Gimbal Mode

See the Gimbal Mode option in the context menu.

Enforce Transform Limits

When turned on, does not allow the controls to exceed the defined transform limits. See transform limits for more information.

Show Transform Limits

When turned on, displays the transform limits.

Framing Zoom

The amount of zoom to the selection when pressing F for framing.

Motion path

See motion paths for more information.

Option

Description

Bind

Creates a motion path for a control.

Unbind

Removes the motion path for a control.

Path Width

The size of the motion path ticks.

Key Size

The size of the motion path controls.

Limit Number of Frames

When turned on, limits the number of frames shown on the motion path.

Frames Before

When Limit Number of Frames is turned on, this is the number of frames to show on the motion path before the current frame.

Frames After

When Limit Number of Frames is turned on, this is the number of frames to show on the motion path after the current frame.

Baking settings

You can use the following settings in the Bake tab of the settings HUD to add keyframes to your controls.

Option

Description

Bake Keys

When Use Frame Range is turned off, Bake Keys adds keyframes for the selected control(s) on the entire frame range of the playbar timeline. When Use Frame Range is turned on, Bake Keys adds keyframes for the selected control(s) within the Frame Range values.

If no controls are selected before clicking Bake Keys, keyframes are added on all the controls.

Start Recording Poses

Sets keyframes at the selected frames or over a frame range. After you click Start Recording Poses:

  • If you select certain frames on the timeline, keyframes will be added at those frames.

  • If you scrub the timeline, keyframes will be added at every frame in the frame range while scrubbing.

  • If you press the Play button on the playbar, keyframes will be added at every frame until you press the Stop button.

Use Frame Range

When turned on, sets keyframes within the Frame Range. When turned off, sets keyframes over the entire frame range of the timeline.

Frame Range

When Use Frame Range is turned on, this is the range of frames to add keys to.

Keep Existing Keys

When turned off, the existing keys are replaced by the new keys.

Essential Keys

When using the dynamic motion tool, this adds keyframes at the most important points of the arc - the landing points, halfway up the arc on either side, and the peak of the arc.

Resample Keys

When turned on, adds keyframes at every Frame Interval.

Frame Interval

When Resample Keys is turned on, keyframes are added at this interval.

Bake to New Layer

When turned on, adds keyframes to a new animation layer. When turned off, adds keyframes to the base animation layer.

Additive Layer

When turned on, adds keyframes to an additive animation layer (the new layer adds to the base animation layer). When turned off, adds keyframes to an override layer (the new layer overrides the base animation). See animation layers for more information.

Constraint settings

See constraints for more information.

Parameters HUD

To bring up the parameters HUD, press G while hovering over the viewport. The transform component values (translate, rotate, scale) of the selected control can be changed by typing in the textboxes or using the value ladder.

To select multiple parameters in the parameters HUD:

  • Drag across multiple parameter names.

    or

  • Press ⌃ Ctrl or ⇧ Shift while selecting the parameter names.

The following buttons are available in the parameters HUD:

Resets all the default parameter values. To reset specific values, select multiple parameters and press .

When multiple controls are selected, snaps the selected controls to the position of the primary control (the control where the transform handle is placed).

Copies all the parameter values.

Pastes the copied parameter values:

  1. Select a control.

  2. Click to copy all the parameter values.

  3. Select another control.

  4. Click to paste the copied parameter values. To paste only certain parameter values, select the parameter(s) you want to replace and click .

To...Do this

Change multiple values at once

  1. Select multiple parameters.

  2. Update the value of one of the selected parameters. The updated value will apply to all the selected parameters.

    or

    Use the value ladder on one of the selected parameter textboxes. The relative change will apply to all the selected parameters.

Set keyframes

  1. Select a control.

  2. In the parameters HUD, Controls tab, you can set keyframes with the following actions:

    • ALT click a parameter value.

    • click a parameter and select Set Keyframe.

    • ⇧ Shift click a parameter value to key all the parameters.

    To set keyframes on multiple parameters, select the parameters and:

    • click one of the selected parameters and select Set Keyframes.

    • ⇧ Shift click one of the selected parameter textboxes.

Delete keys at the current frame

  1. Select a control.

  2. In the parameters HUD, Controls tab, the following actions delete the keys at the current frame:

    • ⌃ Ctrl click a parameter value.

    • click a parameter and select Remove Keyframe(s).

    • ⌃ Ctrl + ⇧ Shift click a parameter value. If there are parameters that are selected, and you ⌃ Ctrl + ⇧ Shift click one of the selected parameter values, the keys for all the selected parameters are deleted. Otherwise, the keys for all the parameters are deleted.

Delete keys at all the frames

  1. Select a control.

  2. In the parameters HUD, Controls tab, click a parameter and select Delete All Keys.

Handle parameters window

To bring up the handle parameters window, press P while hovering over the viewport.

Option

Description

Handle Translate Step

The step size to move the control when holding ⌃ Ctrl and moving the translate handle.

Handle Rotate Step

The number of degrees to rotate the control axes when holding ⌃ Ctrl and moving the rotate handle.

Handle Scale Step

The step size to scale the object when holding ⌃ Ctrl and adjusting the scale handle.

Open Handle Preferences

Opens the handle preferences window. You can also open this window by selecting Houdini’s Edit ▸ Preferences ▸ Handles.

Pose Tools

Select the animate tool to use.

Use Click and Drag

When turned on, allows you to click and drag controls in one step. When turned off, you need to first select the controls, then drag in the next mouse action.

Use Skin Controls

When turned on, allows the use of skin controls.

Hide Control Groups

When turned on, hides the menu options in the Autorig Builder viewer state.

Use Control XRay

When turned on, controls are visible behind objects.

XRay Strength

Controls the opaqueness of controls behind objects.

Hide Controls During Playback

When turned on, hides the controls when playing back the animation.

Hide Controls During Scrub

When turned on, hides the controls when scrubbing along the playbar timeline.

Hide Controls During Drag

When turned on, hides the controls when dragging a control.

HUD panel options

The following options are available by clicking on the HUD panels in the animate state:

Title Visible

When turned on, the title of the HUD is visible.

Auto Resize

When turned on, the HUD panels are automatically resized when changing modes or showing/hiding parameters. This option is automatically turned off if the HUD is manually resized.

Auto Position

When turned on, and Unpin is also on, the HUD panels are brought up at the current mouse position. This option is automatically turned off if the HUD is manually moved.

When turned off, the HUD panels are brought up at their previous position.

Lock Position

When turned on, locks the position of the HUD panel. This can also be set using / on the top right of the panel.

Minimize

When turned on, minimizes the HUD panel. This can also be set using / on the top right of the panel.

Pin Left

When turned on, pins the HUD panel on the left side of the viewport.

Pin Right

When turned on, pins the HUD panel on the right side of the viewport.

Unpin

When turned on, and Auto Position is also on, the HUD panels are brought up at the current mouse position.

When turned on, and Auto Position is off, the HUD panels are brought up at their previous position.

Hide

Hides the HUD.

KineFX

Overview

Preparing character elements

Rigging with APEX graphs

Building rig graphs with APEX Script

Rigging with rig components

Animating in the viewport

SOP-based animation

Deformation

Animation retargeting

Pre-H20

Panes

Appendix