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General animate state hotkeys

Hotkey / Interaction

Action

C

Displays a radial menu with the available tool options.

⇧ Shift + F2

Toggles the display of the HUDs.

⌃ Ctrl + G

Brings up the settings HUD, which allows you to change various settings for the tools and operations in the animate state.

G

Brings up the parameters HUD, which allows you to change the transform component values (translate, rotate, scale) of the selected control, as well as some tool-specific parameters.

⇧ Shift + V

Toggles the display of the selection sets HUD.

V

Brings up a HUD with a filtered list of the selection sets that contain selected controls.

P

Brings up the handle parameters window.

F

Frames the selected controls.

⌃ Ctrl + ⇧ Shift

With multiple controls selected, holding ⌃ Ctrl + ⇧ Shift puts the handle in global transform mode.

⌃ Ctrl + A

Selects all controls.

drag in empty space

Translates the selected controls.

S

When Use Click and Drag is turned on in the handle parameters window, holding S allows you to select controls without accidentally moving them.

Y

Cycles through the different handle modes for the active handle. ⇧ Shift + Y cycles through the handle modes backward.

T

Changes the active handle to translate mode.

R

Changes the active handle to rotate mode.

E

Changes the active handle to scale mode.

⇧ Shift + T

Keys the translate components.

⇧ Shift + R

Keys the rotate components.

⇧ Shift + T

Keys the scale components.

B

Bakes the animation.

M

Cycles through the different handle alignments for the active handle.

⌃ Ctrl

Holding ⌃ Ctrl while moving the center block on the transform handle activates axis snapping, which snaps the handle to one of its nearby translate axes. If Use Click and Drag is turned on in the handle parameters window, holding ⌃ Ctrl activates axis snapping when moving controls.

When moving the different transform handle components (translate, rotate, scale), holding ⌃ Ctrl changes the component by the step size set in the handle parameters window.

L

Holding L allows you to continue rotating the control axes as you drag away from the rotate rings. This is the same as turning on the Alternate Rotate Mode as Default option in the handle parameters window.

'

Toggles the visibility of the handle.

⇧ Shift + ', Insert

Toggles pivot mode on and off.

H

Adds a constraint.

⌃ Ctrl + H

Removes a constraint.

⌃ Ctrl + C

Copies the selection.

⌃ Ctrl + V

Pastes world transforms.

⌃ Ctrl + ⇧ Shift + V

Pastes local transforms.

⌃ Ctrl + ⇧ Shift + M

Default mirroring operation.

⇧ Shift + M

Mirrors via the mirror pose state.

Abstract control drag behavior

Hold the following hotkeys to change the drag behavior of an abstract control in the viewport:

Hotkey

Action

⌃ Ctrl

Changes the abstract control values by an integer step size.

⇧ Shift

Changes the abstract control values at a slower rate.

⌃ Ctrl + ⇧ Shift

Changes the abstract control values at a faster rate.

Grow, shrink, and change control selections

From the currently selected control, use the following hotkeys to select the control’s parent, child, or sibling:

Hotkey

Action

PageUp

Selects the parent of the currently-selected control.

PageDown

Selects the child of the currently-selected control.

Home

Selects the control to the left.

End

Selects the control to the right.

To grow the current selection of controls, hold ⇧ Shift while using the above hotkeys. To shrink the current selection, hold ⌃ Ctrl:

Hotkey

Action

⇧ Shift + PageUp

Grows the current selection of controls to include the parents.

⇧ Shift + PageDown

Grows the current selection of controls to include the children.

⇧ Shift + Home

Grows the current selection of controls to include the siblings on the left.

⇧ Shift + End

Grows the current selection of controls to include the siblings on the right.

⌃ Ctrl + PageUp

Shrinks the current selection of controls from the bottom (removes the bottom control in the hierarchy).

⌃ Ctrl + PageDown

Shrinks the current selection of controls from the top (removes the top control in the hierarchy).

⌃ Ctrl + Home

Shrinks the current selection of controls from the left.

⌃ Ctrl + End

Shrinks the current selection of controls from the right.

Locators

Hotkeys for working with locators:

Hotkey / Interaction

Action

H

Creates a new locator at the mouse location. If a control is selected, creates a new locator at the location of the control handle.

⌃ Ctrl + H

Removes the selected locator.

Changes the shape of the selected locator.

⇧ Shift +

Changes the size of the selected locator.

G

Brings up a HUD that allows you to change the color of the locator.

Dynamic motion

Hotkeys for working with the dynamic motion tool:

Hotkey / Interaction

Action

H

Pressing H the first time sets the center of mass control. Subsequently pressing H sets the start and end of a section of dynamic motion.

⌃ Ctrl + H

Removes the current section of dynamic motion.

⇧ Shift +

Changes the size of the dynamic motion path ticks.

⌃ Ctrl +

Changes the size of the dynamic motion path height planes.

Ragdoll

Hotkeys for working with the ragdoll tool:

Hotkey / Interaction

Action

H

Adds a tether.

⌃ Ctrl + H

Removes the selected tether.

O

Enters ragdoll pose mode.

⌃ Ctrl + E

Toggles the active state of the selected collision shapes. If the selection is a mix of active and inactive shapes, pressing ⌃ Ctrl + E sets all the selected shapes to active.

Applies gravity on an object in ragdoll pose mode.

Full body IK

Hotkeys for working with the full body IK tool:

Hotkey / Interaction

Action

H

Pins the selected joint.

⌃ Ctrl + H

Unpins the selected joint.

Enter

Keys the selected joint.

Unassigned hotkeys

The actions below are available in the animate state, but are not assigned to specific hotkeys. To assign the actions to a hotkey, see assigning hotkeys.

Action

Description

Align to C-Plane Axes

Rotates the control to align with the construction plane, but does not change the handle alignment. Same as the Alignment ▸ C-Plane Axes option in the animate state context menu.

Align to Control

Reorients a control to match the orientation of another control. Same as the Alignment ▸ Align to Control option in the animate state context menu.

Align to View Axes

Rotates the control to align with the view axes, but does not change the handle alignment. Same as the Alignment ▸ View Axes option in the animate state context menu.

Align to World Axes

Rotates the control to align with the world axes, but does not change the handle alignment. Same as the Alignment ▸ World Axes option in the animate state context menu.

Cancel Orientation Picking

Cancels out of orientation picking mode. Same as the Alignment ▸ Cancel Orientation Picking option in the animate state context menu.

Hide All Controls

Toggles the visibility of the controls that are currently visible (controls that have the icon displayed beside its name in the selection sets HUD/pane).

Minimize All Xforms

Collapses all the handles in the scene to minimized mode. Same as the Xform Mode ▸ Minimize All Xforms option in the animate state context menu.

Move Pivot to C-Plane Origin

Moves the pivot to the origin of the construction plane. Same as the Move Pivot ▸ Move Pivot to C-Plane Origin option in the animate state context menu.

Move Pivot to Control

Moves a control to match the position of another control. Same as the Move Pivot ▸ Move Pivot to Control option in the animate state context menu.

Move Pivot to World Origin

Moves the pivot to (0, 0, 0). Same as the Move Pivot ▸ Move Pivot to World Origin option in the animate state context menu.

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. Same as the Move Pivot ▸ Project Pivot onto C-Plane option in the animate state context menu.

Revert Controls to Default Values

Resets the transforms for the selected controls. Same as the Revert ▸ Revert Controls to Default Values option in the animate state context menu.

Revert Handle to Default Values

Resets the handle values. Same as the Revert ▸ Revert Handle to Default Values option in the animate state context menu.

Select Descendants

Selects the descendant controls of the currently selected controls. Same as the Select Descendant Controls option in the selection sets context menu.

Snap Centroid to Pivot

Moves the control to the pivot. Same as the Snap To ▸ Snap Centroid to Pivot option in the animate state context menu.

Snap Handle to Control

Moves and reorients a control to match the position and orientation of another control. Same as the Snap To ▸ Snap Handle to Control option in the animate state context menu.

Snap Pivot to Centroid

Moves the pivot back to the control. Same as the Snap To ▸ Snap Pivot to Centroid option in the animate state context menu.

Start Orientation Picking

Aligns the selected handle axis to another control or to templated geometry. Same as the Alignment ▸ Start Orientation Picking option in the animate state context menu.

Switch Alignment Modes

Switches the handle alignment mode between world and local alignment.

Toggle All Characters

Toggles the display of all the characters.

Toggle All Controls

Toggles the display of all the controls.

Toggle Gimbal Mode

Toggles gimbal mode on and off.

Toggle Separate Alignments

Toggles the Alignment ▸ Separate Alignments option in the animate state context menu.

Assign hotkeys

Use the hotkey manager to assign actions to a hotkey:

  1. Open the hotkey manager by selecting Edit ▸ Hotkeys in Houdini.

  2. In the Contexts list, go to Houdini ▸ Panes ▸ Geometry Viewers ▸ Operations ▸ Modeling (SOP) Operations ▸ apexanimate Operation.

  3. In the Action list, select the action.

  4. In the right pane, double-click .

  5. Type the hotkey you want to assign to the action, or click the key on the virtual keyboard at the bottom of the window.

  6. Click Accept.

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