Houdini 21.0 Nodes APEX nodes

component::AddControlGroupPrimary 1.0

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 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 sub-controls) and supports promoting specific transform channels as animatable parameters.

Inputs

graph: ApexGraphHandle

The APEX graph handle containing the control group.

controlgroup: ApexNodeID

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

parent: ApexNodeID

The control transform node that the primary control should be parented to.

name: String

The name for the primary control 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 name 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 True, marks the control as animatable, allowing keyframes to be set on its parameters. Defaults to False.

worldorient: Bool

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

Outputs

graph: ApexGraphHandle

The modified APEX graph handle.

primary: ApexNodeID

The node ID of the newly created primary control. The node has the following properties set:

  • control.shapeoverride: The viewport shape name.

  • control.color: The display color.

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

  • control.animatable: Whether the control accepts animation.

The node is tagged with “PRIMARY” for identification.

See also

APEX nodes