Houdini 22.0 Nodes Geometry nodes

APEX Configure Graph geometry node

Configures the parameters and input bindings for a constraint, component, or effect graph.

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Since 21.0

This node configures the parameters and input bindings for a constraint, component, or effect graph.

See creating custom constraints for some examples.

Parameters

Mode

The type of graph to configure.

Name

The name of the graph. For constraints, this is the name of the constraint that appears in the Constraint field of the animate state’s constraint parameters.

Graph Parameters

The spare parameters added to this section define the parameter interface for the configured graph. When the name of a spare parameter matches the name of a graph input, the spare parameter is used in other contexts to set the value for the graph input.

If the graph is a constraint, these parameters are available in the animate state’s constraint parameters. See creating custom constraints for an example.

Note

The following parameter types are supported in the parameter interface for constraints:

  • Button Strip

  • Float

  • Float Vector

  • Icon Strip

  • Integer

  • Integer Vector

  • Label

  • Ordered Menu

  • String

  • Toggle

Reset Animation Parms

This button removes all the spare parameters that are used as inputs for the graph.

Reload Setup Parms

This button updates the parameters in this section to those of the current graph. This is useful for initializing the parameter interface.

Constraint Configuration

The parameters in this section are available when Mode is set to Constraints. These parameters define the set of drivers for the constraint and specify how to bind (link) the constraint graph’s input ports to the transform data of the driver and driven controls.

Control Type

The type of node to configure the constraint for.

Drivers

The number of drivers to bind to the constraint.

Driver Name

The name of the driver. This should be unique.

Input Bindings

The number of Matrix4 or Matrix4Array input ports to bind to transform data.

To Port

The Matrix4 or Matrix4Array input port to bind the transform data to.

From Control

The control whose transform data to bind to the input port. Options for drivers are available if there are drivers specified in the Drivers multiparm.

Driven Data

When From Control is set to Driven Control, this is the data from the driven control to bind to the input port.

Note

The input port must be a Matrix4 port.

Static Transform

The world space transform of the driven control at the time of constraint creation. The transform is frozen at this value.

Static Local

The local space transform of the driven control at the time of constraint creation. The transform is frozen at this value.

Animated Transform

The world space transform of the driven control before any constraints are applied. This ignores all the constraints in the scene.

Animated Local

The local space transform of the driven control before any constraints are applied. This ignores all the constraints in the scene.

Control Output

The live transform data of the driven control before the constraint is applied. The specified port is the Matrix4 output port of the TransformObject node that represents the driven control. The transform data is “live” in that it’s still influenced by any animation and existing constraints in the scene.

Driver Data

When From Control is set to a driver, this is the data from the driver control to bind to the input port.

Note

If the input port is a Matrix4Array port, the corresponding driver is treated as a group that may contain many drivers. In this case, the transform data for each of the drivers in the group will be collected into the Matrix4Array input.

A single driver should never be bound to both Matrix4 and Matrix4Array ports.

Static Transform

The world space transform of the driver at the time of constraint creation. The transform is frozen at this value.

Static Local

The local space transform of the driver at the time of constraint creation. The transform is frozen at this value.

Control Output

The live transform data of the driver control. The specified port is the Matrix4 output port of the TransformObject node that represents the driver control. The transform data is “live” in that it’s still influenced by any animation and existing constraints in the scene.

Effect Configuration

The parameters in this section are available when Mode is set to Effects. These parameters configure how an APEX effect graph receives its inputs.

An effect graph takes in a set of typed input ports (for example, skeletons, skins, animation clips, or time) and determines how to link (bind) the incoming geometry elements to ports in the effect graph. Each input binding defines:

  • Whether the port is enabled.

  • The target port name in the effect graph.

  • The expected data type for that port (for example, Rest Skeleton, Character Rig, Animation Channels, Time).

When the node is evaluated, the incoming geometry is annotated with these bindings so that downstream tools (such as Full Body IK and effect tools) can correctly wire data into the effect graph.

Input Bindings

The number of effect input bindings to create. When a multiparm entry is turned on, the input binding is applied. When a multiparm entry is turned off, its associated port is ignored and doesn’t appear in the exported graph definition.

To Port

The input port on the effect graph to bind data to.

Data Type

The type of data to bind to the port. Each option corresponds to a specific APEX geometry structure consumed by effect graphs.

Rest Skeleton

A static joint hierarchy representing the rest pose of the character.

Animated Skeleton

A skeleton containing animated transforms evaluated at the current frame.

Motion Clip

A motion clip of the character’s animated skeleton.

Rest Skin Geometry

The rest skin geometry bound to the rest skeleton, without animation applied.

Animated Skin Geometry

A deformed mesh representing the character’s skinned geometry at the current frame.

Animated Rig Channels

A geometry containing the character’s animation channels for the current layer.

Animation Stack

A dictionary with all the data needed to construct the animation stack for the character rig.

Character Rig

The APEX graph for the character’s rig.

Rig Parameters

A dictionary of the rig’s current parameters.

Time

The current time.

Sample Rate

The scene’s current sample rate.

Frame

The current frame.

Animated Parameter Channels

A geometry containing the channels for animated parameters for the effect.

Note

Only the data types supported by the underlying graph are valid. Selecting an unsupported type will result in an invalid configuration.

Inputs

Input

The APEX graph geometry to configure.

Outputs

Output

The input APEX graph geometry with the configuration stored in its properties dictionary.

See also

Geometry nodes