Houdini 22.0 Character KineFX

Blend Shape 2.0

Adds blend shapes with controls to an APEX rig.

Since 21.0

This component adds blend shapes with controls to an APEX rig. To set up blend shapes for this component, add blend shapes to the capture mesh using the Character Blend Shapes Add SOP, and add the capture mesh to the rig. This component then extracts the blend shapes and sets up controls for each blend shape in the mesh. See working with blend shapes for an example of setting up blend shapes and creating custom sliders for this component.

In the viewport, the menu provides configuration options for the blend shape component. See the gear menu for the different types of interaction elements.

Parameters

Name

A unique name for the nodes created by this component.

Settings

Name

Base Skeleton

The skeleton to apply the animation channels to.

Base Shape

The capture mesh to deform.

Bone Deform

The sop::bonedeform node that the blend shape subnet connects to.

Blend Shape

Group

A subset of the input geometry to blend.

Group Type

The type of geometry in the specified Group. If this is not set to Guess from Group, all the geometry in Group must be the indicated type.

Skin Name

The name of the mesh to apply the blend shapes to. When adding blend shapes in the setup process, you need to add a mesh name to associate the blend shapes with the mesh.

Shapes

A list of blend shapes to include in the setup. By default, all the blend shapes are included.

Use OpenCL

When turned on, enables GPU acceleration using OpenCL. When turned off, the CPU path is used.

Sliders

Slider Geo

The geometry in the character folder structure that contains the slider geometry.

Bone Deform Sliders

When turned on, transfers the mesh’s capture weights onto the sliders. Once the mesh’s bone capture attributes have been transferred onto the sliders (for example, using an Attribute Transfer SOP to transfer the boneCapture attribute), the sliders can move along with the mesh.

Deform slider

Size

The first value is the distance between the sliders (if there are multiple sliders). The second value is the length of each slider.

Offset

The slider’s offset from the rig.

Use Screen Space Sliders

When turned on, displays the blend shape sliders in screen space (as a 2D overlay) instead of in the 3D viewport. For a full walkthrough, see screen space sliders.

Toggle between screen space and 3D sliders

Screen Space Sliders

The geometry used to draw the screen space slider curves. This parameter is available when Use Screen Space Sliders is turned on.

Screen Space Pixel Size

The size, in pixels, of the screen space sliders. This parameter is available when Use Screen Space Sliders is turned on.

Background Image

The background image displayed behind the screen space sliders. This parameter is available when Use Screen Space Sliders is turned on.

Background Scale

The scale of the screen space background image. This parameter is available when Use Screen Space Sliders is turned on.

Background Offset

The offset of the screen space background image. This parameter is available when Use Screen Space Sliders is turned on.

Parent

Root

The parent for the blend shape controls. By default, it is set to the parent tag.

Tags

Tags

The tags to add to the slider control nodes (rig::AbstractControl graph nodes).

Shape

The APEX Configure Controls SOP provides more options for changing the look of the controls.

Shape

The shape of the slider controls. It can be set to any of the built-in APEX control shapes.

Color

The color of the slider controls.

Rotate

The rotation of the slider controls.

Scale

The scale of the slider controls.

See also

KineFX

Overview

Preparing character elements

Rigging with APEX graphs

  • APEX graph basics

    Introduction to the APEX graph evaluation framework.

  • APEX graph debugger

    Inspect the values of an APEX graph’s ports within the APEX network view.

  • APEX Script basics for graph building

    An overview of APEX Script, a code interface for building APEX graphs.

  • Graphs for numerical operations

    Example graphs of numerical operations like adding two values, fetching multiple results, and retrieving information from geometry.

  • Graphs for viewport animation

    Example graphs of animate state functionality like creating controls and constraints, and defining joint hierarchies.

  • Graphs for deforming geometry

    Example of a SOP network and APEX graph for deforming a 3-joint tube geometry.

  • Graph metadata

    Information added to graph nodes and ports.

  • APEX path pattern

    A set of rules that allow you to filter and select elements within graphs, skeletons, geometry, and the character folder structure.

  • APEX graph nodes

    APEX nodes provide operations for building up the functionality of APEX graphs, which are used in KineFX to create character rigs and perform other geometry manipulation.

  • APEX updates for H22

    New and updated APEX graph nodes for Houdini 22.

Building rig graphs with APEX Script

Rigging with rig components

Animating in the viewport

  • Animation workflow

    Example networks of adding characters, props, characters, and animation to a scene.

  • Animating in LOPs

    Rig and animate characters and props in the context of a USD stage.

  • Working in the animate state

    Select and manipulate controls, define transform limits for controls, and add skin controls to a character.

  • Animate state menus and HUDs

    Menus, HUDs, toolbars, and options in the animate state.

  • Animate state hotkeys

    Hotkeys available in the animate state.

  • Posing

    Pose characters in the animation scene by using locators, copying and pasting controls, and mirroring poses.

  • Motion paths

    Visualize the motion of controls as curves in 3D space.

  • Constraints

    Create relationships between controls in the animate state.

  • Dynamic motion

    Add physically-accurate projectile motion to your animation in the animate state.

  • Ragdoll

    Add a ragdoll simulation to your animation in the animate state.

  • Full body IK

    Apply full body inverse kinematics to pose the character using high-level targets rather than manipulating individual joints.

  • Secondary motion

    Add physically-accurate effects like lag/overshoot, jiggle, and spring to your animation in the animate state.

  • Control selection sets

    A tree view of controls, selections, and selection sets for the animate state. Allows management of control selection and visibility.

  • Motion mixer

    Combine and edit the animation clips of multiple characters in a timeline-based view.

  • Character picker

    Create a 2D layout with simple buttons for selecting character controls in an animation scene.

  • Animation catalog

    Save, manage, and apply animations and single-frame poses to an animation scene.

  • Animation layers

    Create multiple layers of animation without affecting the original animation.

  • Animation toolbar

    A customizable toolbar consisting of simple slider tools that quickly apply modifications to animation controls and curves.

  • Animation bookmarks

    Frame markers that help organize and identify the different parts of your animation.

Customizing the animate state

SOP-based animation

  • Physics-based motion

    Add physically-accurate motion to your animation using the Projectile Motion and Pendulum Motion SOPs.

  • Ragdoll simulations

    Add a ragdoll simulation to your animation using the Ragdoll Solver SOP.

Deformation

  • Blend shapes

    Create blend shapes using blend shape SOP nodes.

Animation retargeting

Pre-H20

Panes

  • Motion mixer

    A timeline-based view of the animation clips and motion effects of multiple characters.

  • Character picker

    Create a 2D layout with simple buttons to select character controls in an animation scene.

  • Rig tree view

    A hierarchical view of character components, including packed character folders, KineFX rigs, and Object node rigs.

  • Animation editor

    View and edit animated parameters and their transitions between keyframes.

  • Geometry spreadsheet

    Displays details about the geometry selected in the network editor.

Appendix