The basic workflow for adding a character to a scene and performing animation is shown below. In this example, we use the Electra Test Geometry SOP as our character (the APEX Example Scene recipe provides an example of this workflow):

1. On the Electra SOP, set Output to APEX Character. This outputs Electra as a character comprised of a set of character elements (skeleton, shape, rig). You can view the contents of this node in the rig tree view:

   • Select the Electra SOP.

   • Open the rig tree view - at the top of a pane, click the New Tab icon, and select New Pane Tab Type ▸ Animation ▸ Rig Tree.

   • From the Type drop-down menu, select Packed Folders. The character’s skeleton, shape, and rig are displayed in a character folder structure:

     /
     -- Base.rig
     -- Base.shp
     -- Base.skel
     ...
     

     There may be other elements present in Electra’s character folder structure depending on the configurations that were turned on in the Electra SOP (ragdoll, motion mixer, full body IK).

2. The APEX Scene Add Character SOP adds the character elements to a character (.char) folder in the character folder structure. This character is then added to the animation scene.

   • Specify a name for the character in the Character Name parameter. If you rename the APEX Scene Add Character SOP, the Character Name will be updated automatically. In this example, we set Character Name to character.

   • Select the APEX Scene Add Character SOP. In the rig tree view, we now have:

     /
     -- character.char/
         -- Base.rig
         -- Base.shp
         -- Base.skel
         ...
     

3. The animate state on the APEX Scene Animate SOP allows you to display, pose, and animate the characters in a scene. To enter the animate state, select the APEX Scene Animate SOP, turn on its display flag, and click Animate on the left toolbar.

4. The animation in the scene can be played back on the APEX Scene Animate SOP even when you exit the animate state. This is because the Enable APEX Character Deformation option is turned on by default in the Display Options (press D over the viewport, Optimize tab). If Enable APEX Character Deformation is turned off, you can play back the animation by connecting to the second output of the APEX Scene Animate SOP or using an APEX Scene Invoke SOP:

   

   • Turn on the display flag on the APEX Scene Invoke or Null SOP.

   • Press Play on the playbar to see the animation.

You can bring multiple characters into an animation scene using an APEX Scene Add Character SOP for each character:

1. On each of the APEX Scene Add Character SOPs, specify a name for the character in the Character Name parameter.

2. Select the second APEX Scene Add Character SOP. The following is displayed in the rig tree view:

   /
   -- character1.char/
       -- Base.rig
       -- Base.shp
       -- Base.skel
       ...
   -- character2.char/
       -- Base.rig
       -- Base.shp
       -- Base.skel
       ...
   

You can add a prop to an animation scene using an APEX Scene Add Prop SOP. The prop is added as a character in the character folder structure. The APEX Example Scene recipe provides an example of this workflow.

1. On the APEX Scene Add Prop SOP, specify a name for the prop in the Prop Name parameter.

2. Select the APEX Scene Add Prop SOP. In the rig tree view, a <prop_name>.char folder is added to the character folder structure:

   /
   -- character.char/
       -- Base.rig
       -- Base.shp
       -- Base.skel
       ...
   -- <prop_name>.char/
       -- Base.rig
       -- Base.shp
       -- Base.skel
       ...
   

You can add a camera to an animation scene using an APEX Scene Add Camera SOP. The camera is added as a character in the character folder structure. The APEX Example Scene recipe provides an example of this workflow.

Select the APEX Scene Add Camera SOP. In the rig tree view, a <camera_name>.char folder is added to the character folder structure:

/
-- character.char/
    -- Base.rig
    -- Base.shp
    -- Base.skel
    ...
-- <camera_name>.char/
    -- Base.rig
    -- Base.shp
    -- Base.skel
    ...

You can also add a camera from within the animate state:

1. In the animate state, click the camera/light menu and select New Camera. This adds an APEX Scene Add Camera SOP upstream from the current APEX Scene Animate SOP.

   Note

   If the active animation layer is locked or cannot be edited, the camera controls are added to a new animation layer.

2. To constrain the camera to a control, select the camera, hold ⇧ Shift, select the character control, and press H over the viewport. The control now drives the camera. See animate state constraints for more information.

3. To look through the camera, click the camera/light menu, and select APEX: <camera>.

   Note

   If the constraint’s offset control is blocking the camera view, turn off display of the offset control in the selection sets by clicking beside All Constraints ▸ <camera> ▸ <driver_control> ▸ Offset .

To change the camera parameters:

1. Click the menu for the camera in the animate state.

2. In the animate state parameters, Control tab, you can adjust the different camera parameters. See the Camera SOP for descriptions of the camera parameters.

To look through the camera outside the animate state:

1. Pipe the APEX Scene Animate SOP into an APEX Scene Invoke SOP.

2. On the APEX Scene Invoke SOP, set Output to Unpacked Geometry.

3. In the viewport, click the camera/light menu and select <SOP_network>:<camera>.

You can add animation to a character in a scene using the following SOPs. Animation is added to the character folder structure under the /animation folder.

Import animation from an animation catalog ¶

In this example, we import animation from an animation catalog (saved as a .bgeo file) into a scene:

1. On the Electra SOP, set Output to Character.

2. On the APEX Scene Add Character SOP, we set Character Name to electra.

3. On the APEX Scene Import Animation SOP:

   • Click beside Imports to add a multiparm entry.

   • Set Mode to Animation Catalog.

   • Click beside Files Pattern and select the animation catalog .bgeo file. This imports all the animation from the animation catalog.

   • Set the Active Clip parameter to the specific animation you want to see in the viewport.

   • In the rig tree view, the imported animation is located in the /animation directory of the character folder structure.

   To import a single animation from an animation catalog:

   • Enter the APEX Scene Import Animation viewer state - select the APEX Scene Import Animation SOP, turn on its display flag, and click on the left toolbar.

   • Drag and drop an animation from the animation catalog pane into the viewport. This automatically creates an entry for the animation in the Imports multiparm.

4. Enter the animate state - select the APEX Scene Animate SOP, turn on its display flag, and click Animate on the left toolbar.

   Note

   If there are multiple animation clips in the /animation directory of the character folder structure, you can set the active clip in the scene using the drop-down menu on the top toolbar of the animation layers. You can access animation layers in the animation layers pane, the animate state HUD, and the APEX Scene Animate SOP’s parameter editor.

In this example, we use the APEX Biped recipe and APEX Retarget to Rig recipe to build a rig for a character, retarget animation from an FBX file onto the character, and pipe the animation scene into an APEX Scene Animate SOP and the motion mixer for further animation and motion processing.

1. Type “APEX Biped” in the network editor’s tab menu and put down the APEX Biped recipe.

2. Connect an Electra test geometry to the shape and rest skeleton inputs of the recipe.

3. Select the APEX AutoRig Builder SOP, turn on its display flag, and click Animate on the left toolbar.

4. In the Apply Template window that pops up, select a rig template and mapping to use for the character rig. In our example, we set Template to Mocap Biped, and Mapping to sidefx. Click Apply Template.

5. Exit the Autorig Builder viewer state by clicking on the left toolbar.

6. The configure_character subnet sets mirroring and motion mixer configurations for the character, and adds the character to an animation scene. The APEX Scene Add Character SOP in the subnet sets the character name to biped.

7. Put down the APEX Retarget to Rig recipe and connect the two recipes - connect the ANIMATE node to the APEX_SCENE node.

8. On the APEX Unpack Character SOP, set Character Name to biped.

9. The APEX Retarget to Rig recipe has the following test animation in the FBX Animation Import SOP:

10. To see the animation that has been transferred to Electra’s controls, select the APEX Animation from Skeleton SOP, turn on its display flag, and play the animation.

11. Connect the APEX Animation from Skeleton SOP to an APEX Scene Animate SOP or Motion Mixer SOP to continue editing the animation on the character.

    The name of the retargeted animation clip is set in the APEX Animation from Skeleton SOP’s Clip Name parameter. On the Motion Mixer SOP, the retargeted animation appears in the Catalog tab of the parameter editor.

The following recipes provide example workflow setups. To put down the recipe, type the recipe name in the TAB menu of the network view, select the recipe, and press Enter in the network view.

In this example, we bring Electra into Solaris (LOPs):

1. We have the following SOP network:

   

2. On the Electra SOP, set Output to APEX Scene.

3. On the APEX Scene Invoke SOP, set Output to Unpacked Geometry so the materials are exported.

4. The Output SOP ensures that changing the display flag doesn’t affect what is exported.

5. Switch to the stage to import Electra into Solaris:

   • At the top of the network editor, click obj, which brings you to the object level.

   • Click obj again and select stage.

   We have the following LOP network:

   

6. On the Scene Import LOP, set Objects to the object-level node that contains the SOP network. Alternatively, you could set Objects to *, which also imports any object-level cameras and lights you have.

   Note

   Turn on the display flag for the object-level node that contains the SOP network, otherwise the character won’t display in the viewport when importing into Solaris.