Introduction to Houdini animation tutorial
Setting keyframes (1 / 3)
You can keyframe all animatable parameters on an object, or individual parameters.
In the parameter editor, animated parameters have a green background on keyframes and blue backgrounds on in-between frames. Pending changes that you haven’t committed have a yellow background.
Keys show up in the playbar. Green lines indicate keyframes, orange lines indicate pending changes.
Click or drag in the playbar (at the bottom of the main window) to move between frames.
K | Select an object and press K to keyframe the object’s parameters (or choose Edit > Set Keyframe). |
Shift + T | Key the selected object’s transforms. |
Shift + R | Key the selected object’s rotations. |
Alt + | Alt-click a parameter in the parameter editor to key that parameter value, or right-click the parameter and choose Channels and Keyframes > Set Keyframe. |
Scoping parameters (2 / 3)
Scoping is the process of choosing which parameters to keyframe.
When you select an object, Houdini automatically scopes commonly keyed parameters (translates and rotations). You can customize this list of autoscoping parameters. In Edit > Preferences > Animation you can choose whether K keys all scoped parameters or all pending changes.
Choose Windows > Channel editor to open a channel editor in a new window.
This window displays animation channels for the scoped parameters. (The default desktop comes with a channel editor already tabbed behind the 3D viewer, but it’s often useful to have it in a floating window instead.)
Scoping means two things: the parameters appear in the channel editor, and they are keyed when you press K or choose Edit > Set Keyframe.
Editing animation curves (3 / 3)
Use the channel editor to view and edit animation channels as a graph, dopesheet, or spreadsheet.
The cubic function lets you adjust the in and out tangents of the segment by dragging the tangent lines coming out of the key boxes at each end of the segment. The bezier function lets you drag the round acceleration handle at the end of the tangent line.
Choose Windows > Channel editor to open a channel editor in a new window.
Drag the boxes representing keys to move the keyed value up or down.
Drag the vertical lines through the key boxes to move the key backwards (left) or forwards (right) in time.
Select a curve segment (between keys) and use the toolbar on the right or the pop-up menu at the bottom to set the function controlling the segment’s shape.