Home Character animation 

Pose and animate a character

Overview

You pose characters with the Pose tool. Using this tool at the object level, you can manipulate control objects and bones using the handles set up by the technical director.

With digital asset characters, not all controls appear when you first select the asset. Digital asset characters can use nested digital assets with simpler interfaces that let you focus on different body parts such as arms or legs. In some cases, bones might be left without controls to allow for the animation of joint rotations.

How to pose a character

To...Do this

Select the entire character

  1. In the viewer pane, turn on Select > Select Entire Subnet.

  2. Use the tab menu , or press S, to choose the Transform tool.

  3. Select the character, then click RMB to finish the selection.

  4. When you're done, turn off Select > Select Entire Subnet.

Pose parts of the character

  1. Make sure Select > Select Entire Subnet is off.

  2. Turn off Select > Secure Selection. This will make it much easier to grab different parts of the character because you won’t have to choose Select > Reselect Geometry every time.

  3. Use the tab menu to choose the Pose tool.

  4. Select a joint or pose handle (null object), then press RMB to finish the selection.

  5. Use the translate T, rotate R, and scale E manipulators to move the joint/handle.

Switch between separate manipulators and one manipulator for multiple selected items in the Pose tool

  • Press X, or press RMB and choose Global Transform Handle.

To...Do this

Use a digital asset’s controls

  1. Select the asset in the network editor pane .

  2. In the parameter editor pane , click the Controls tab to show the parameters that have been promoted up to the asset level.

Access nested digital assets

  • When you set up a nested character asset, you can create null objects that represent nested assets inside the main asset. Select the null object with the Pose tool to select the nested asset.

How to keyframe a character pose

See the animation section for more information on keyframing.

To...Do this

Keyframe an IK goal

  • Use the Transform tool to select the goal and press Shift + T to set keyframes on its translation parameters.

Keyframe a blended IK/rotation set-up

  1. Use the tab menu to choose the Pose tool.

    To set keyframes on an blending setup, you must key not only the translation of the goal but also the rotation of the joints and the blend attribute on the Kin_CHOP. This is easy with the Pose tool.

  2. Press K to set keyframes on the pose handles. This keys all the parameters needed for IK/rotation blending.

How to pose bones using temporary IK

Whenever you select two bones with Pose tool, if the bones do not already have IK, Houdini will create a temporary IK solver and end goal to help you pose the bones. Once you deselect the bones, the temporary goal disappears.

One style of rigging and animating characters is to not assign any “real” IK solvers to the character at all, and do all posing with rotates and temporary IK through the Pose tool.

How to squash and stretch bones

To squash and stretch the character for cartoon-style animation anticipation and follow-through, you can do any of the following:

  • Change the Length of the bones you want to stretch.

  • Parent the bone chain to a control Null and then scale the Null to scale the descendant bones.