Houdini 21.0 Nodes APEX nodes

component::AddControlGroupPrimary

Adds a primary control to a control group for selection and positioning.

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Since 21.0

Adds a main transform control to a control group. The primary control serves as the main selector and placement handle for the control group, allowing users to interact with and position the entire group in the viewport.

The primary control is created as a TransformObject node inside the control group subnet. It can optionally maintain world orientation (useful for vertical subcontrols) and supports promoting specific transform channels as animatable parameters.

The graph ports of this node are in-place ports, which means the graph is updated without creating a copy.

Inputs

*graph: ApexGraphHandle Required

The APEX graph that contains the control group.

controlgroup: ApexNodeID

The subnet node that represents the control group in the scene. The primary control is added inside this subnet.

parent: ApexNodeID

The control TransformObject node to parent the primary control to.

name: String

The name for the primary control TransformObject node.

offset: Matrix4

The rest local transform matrix for the primary control. Defines the control’s position and orientation relative to its parent.

color: Vector3

The display color for the primary control shape in the viewport. Defaults to green (0, 1, 0).

shape: String

The shape for the primary control’s viewport representation. Defaults to cogwheel.

size: Float

The reference height used to scale the control shape. The actual shape scale is computed as size * 0.07. Defaults to 1.8 (meters).

animatable: Bool

If set to True, marks the control as animatable, allowing keyframes to be set on its parameters. Defaults to False.

worldorient: Bool

If set to True, maintains world orientation for the control by computing an inverted rotation offset. This is useful for setups with vertical subcontrols that need a consistent orientation. Defaults to True.

Outputs

*graph: ApexGraphHandle

The modified APEX graph.

primary: ApexNodeID

The new primary control. This node has the following properties set:

  • control.animatable: Specifies whether the control accepts animation.

  • control.color: The display color.

  • control.shapeoffset: A scaled transform matrix for the shape.

  • control.shapeoverride: The viewport shape name.

This node is tagged with “PRIMARY” for identification purposes.

See also

APEX nodes