Taking a AutoRig class and having a very difficult time. I have a rig built and ready to capture, I was making small final tweaks, but my computer crashed before I could hit “Generate Rig” on the AutoRig menu.

I get Houdini restarted and open my project back up. The Auto Rig Menu is now blank and I cannot complete the rig By Capturing Geometry.

I have tried everything there is that I know of, I have used file to reload my HDA (where I was saving my Rig) and that will not reload. I keep getting the “Character is Not a Valid Autorig” error.

I have tried Capture Geometry from the Top Menu, that has not worked.

It seems I will have to start all over from scratch and hope I do not crash before I Capture Geometry.

I can't move forward with a tool like that, I need some flexibility so I do not have to start all over from scratch because of a crash.

I like Houdini but quite frankly this system is not well-designed and needs massive improvement. Vellum is great but this is an important part of 3D work and I wish Side FX would invest some time and improve this.

Make backups periodicly to a level it justifies redoing? e.g every 5, 10, 15…preferred minutes.

I have several of those. About 8 of them at various stages from positioning legs, shoulders, etc, to fine-tuning finger joints. But when I open each stage AutoRig is blank. That is the problem, I have lost the ability to Generate a rig I spent an hour fine-tuning.

Whenever I attempt to load my Existing Asset I get these errors. this should be a somple point and click operation to resume work yet this is very frustrating.

Whenever I do as Houdini instructs and use “New from HDA Session” I get this error

Traceback (most recent call last):
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.352/houdini/python2.7libs\autorigs\ui\uiMenuBar.py”, line 285, in _loadFromHDA
self.charactertabs.newFromJsonCharacter(jsonobj, create_values)
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.352/houdini/python2.7libs\autorigs\ui\uiCharacterTabs.py”, line 46, in newFromJsonCharacter
autorigs_asset.newFromJson(json)
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.352/houdini/python2.7libs\autorigs\asset\autoRigsAsset.py”, line 218, in newFromJson
module.buildAfterImport(jsonmodules)
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.352/houdini/python2.7libs\autorigs\modules\base\rootModule.py”, line 121, in buildAfterImport
self.guidetab.buildFromJson(json)
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.352/houdini/python2.7libs\autorigs\modules\base\rootModule.py”, line 218, in buildFromJson
self.paramswidget.fromJSON(json)
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.352/houdini/python2.7libs\autorigs\modules\extremity\extremityGuideParams.py”, line 492, in fromJSON
json[jsonlabels])
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.352/houdini/python2.7libs\autorigs\ui\uiParamNum.py”, line 96, in setValues
if len(self.params) != len(values):
TypeError: object of type ‘float’ has no len()

I don't know if this is it but your Hda is empty.

Very strange, something must have erred during the Save to HDA. Very frustrating. I set it to save to HDA instead of embedded in the HIP.

I do wish Side FX would make this more intuitive, it is not, in my opinion, a good system.

OK so I took a different tactic and re-rigged Baking the Rig data into the HIP file. Halfway through I saved project and started again. I wanted to see if the system would allow a stop-and-start rig of a character, and still I am still unable to close and restart a Project and resume rigging. Project file is attached. My un-attached Geometry will not reload into the Auto Rig Window so I can attach the mesh to the bones.

I am including the main mesh for Developer Reference only. This seems to be very buggy and not working. I cannot continue on a learning path with Houdini if I cannot trust a rigging system to be robust enough to stop and start without having to start all over. That is no way to work.

Developers, please help, I am quite frustrated. Thank you.

Hello BradASchreiber,
I think you should try H16.5.571, it is very stable with autorigging and saving and loading .JSON files.
I am afraid that this is some sort of bug that should be fixed in the upcoming builds for H17, so the only thing you will be missing out on is the new Advanced Facial Auto-Rig system, which shouldn't be a problem since you are just trying the auto-rigging.
Cheers.

Actually i found somewhat of a workaround, you can create an auto-rig in H.16.5.571, do all your tweaks and json files and what-not, then you can save as HDA and open it in H17 if you are insistent on animating in the new and awesome houdini animator friendly UI

@BradASchreiber
I'll have a look at that error today, looks like something going wrong when the Autorigs read in the AutorigSetting from the HDA.

Thanks eitch and goldfarb! I used V 16.5.536 and it worked fine! Appreciate it!

this has been fixed in the next daily build of H17 - should be Houdini 17.0.376
thanks for your patience.

Hi. I´m using Houdini Apprentice NC 17.0.352 and have the exact same problem.
I try to ro reload the settings an get this error.

Traceback (most recent call last):
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.352/houdini/python2.7libs\autorigs\ui\uiMenuBar.py”, line 290, in _loadFromUnbuiltHDA
self.loadFromNodePath(nodepath)
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.352/houdini/python2.7libs\autorigs\ui\uiMenuBar.py”, line 305, in loadFromNodePath
self.charactertabs.existingCharacter(selectednode, jsonobj)
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.352/houdini/python2.7libs\autorigs\ui\uiCharacterTabs.py”, line 39, in existingCharacter
autorigs_asset.existingFromJson(assetnode, json)
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.352/houdini/python2.7libs\autorigs\asset\autoRigsAsset.py”, line 194, in existingFromJson
module.buildAfterImport(jsonmodules)
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.352/houdini/python2.7libs\autorigs\modules\base\rootModule.py”, line 121, in buildAfterImport
self.guidetab.buildFromJson(json)
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.352/houdini/python2.7libs\autorigs\modules\base\rootModule.py”, line 218, in buildFromJson
self.paramswidget.fromJSON(json)
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.352/houdini/python2.7libs\autorigs\modules\extremity\extremityGuideParams.py”, line 492, in fromJSON
json[jsonlabels])
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.352/houdini/python2.7libs\autorigs\ui\uiParamNum.py”, line 96, in setValues
if len(self.params) != len(values):
TypeError: object of type ‘float’ has no len()


While working on the settings before closing Houdini, I tried to save and HDA from the Autorig menu File/Save/To HDA File… and this error shows up in a Houdini Console window. Saves and empty HDA.

Traceback (most recent call last):
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.352/houdini/python2.7libs\autorigs\ui\uiMenuBar.py”, line 412, in _saveToHDAFile
assetdef.copyToHDAFile(realpath)
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.352/houdini/python2.7libs\hou.py”, line 33830, in copyToHDAFile
return _hou.HDADefinition_copyToHDAFile(*args, **kwargs)
hou.OperationFailed: The attempted operation failed.
Couldn't add definition to library file: C:\Users\angel\Desktop\HoudiniProjects\Arikara\Srig.hda

AngelAnima
Hi. I´m using Houdini Apprentice NC 17.0.352 and have the exact same problem.
I try to ro reload the settings an get this error.

as I mentioned in the message just above yours…this has been fixed in the next daily build of H17 - should be Houdini 17.0.376 - and has since been updated to Houdini 17.0.393

H FX 17.0416
testing a biped OK but trying a quad from preset brings this error “Unable to generate rig”
“
Traceback (most recent call last):
File ”CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.416/houdini/python2.7libs\autorigs\ui\uiCharacterTabs.py“, line 190, in buildRig
success = self.currentWidget().buildRig()
File ”CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.416/houdini/python2.7libs\autorigs\ui\uiCharacterTabs.py“, line 343, in buildRig
self.autorigs_asset.buildRig()
File ”CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.416/houdini/python2.7libs\autorigs\asset\autoRigsAsset.py“, line 157, in buildRig
self.autorigs_modules.buildModules(settings, geoskin)
File ”CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.416/houdini/python2.7libs\autorigs\asset\autoRigsModules.py“, line 101, in buildModules
module.buildRig(i)
File ”CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.416/houdini/python2.7libs\autorigs\modules\quadleg\quadLegModule.py“, line 70, in buildRig
self.modulename)
File ”CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.416/houdini/python2.7libs\autorigs\modules\quadleg\autoRigsQuadLegBuilder.py“, line 92, in buildRig
modulename)
File ”CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.416/houdini/python2.7libs\autorigs\modules\limb\autoRigsLimbBuilder.py“, line 123, in buildLimbRig
mainprefix, autorigs_asset, options, limbguide, True, parentnode)
File ”CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.416/houdini/python2.7libs\autorigs\modules\limb\autoRigsLimbBuilder.py", line 286, in buildRigSide
beforelimbcontrolname =
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.416/houdini/python2.7libs\autorigs\modules\limb\autoRigsLimbBuilder.py”, line 1546, in _getCtrlName
return prefix + ‘_’ + cls.SUFFIX
KeyError: ‘beforelimbfkctrl’
"

I'll check this asap.

thanks

same issues here with Indie 17.5.327