I am also interested to know if there is any Houdini 9 tutorial for facial rigging.
Thanks!

me too

blendshapes?
bones?
wires?
all three?

any insight into how rigging is done in houdini on an advanced level would be great

me personally i would be happy to read or watch a tutorial that just talks about general technical approaches or how certain tools or nodes are used for this and that with examples and all.
common problems with certain tools, that can be avoided in using the tool this or that way.
or use a tool/node/command that is not a rigging one but works perfectly.
- or something like that

i dont even need a 5 hours thats how you rig a humanoid character tutorial
although i would highly appreciate it

Have you seen these? They're very well done:

http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=991&Itemid=132 [sidefx.com]

yeah i have seen them

but they are not rigging tutorials
they show you how to use the autorig which is a different kind of beer
not saying they are not interesting though

So, Michael?

KrisStaber
any insight into how rigging is done in houdini on an advanced level would be great

me personally i would be happy to read or watch a tutorial that just talks about general technical approaches or how certain tools or nodes are used for this and that with examples and all
common problems with certain tools that can be avoided in using the tool this or that way or use another tool/node/command that is not a rigging one but works perfectly for it - or something like that

i dont even need a 5 hours thats how you rig a humanoid character tutorial
although i would highly appreciate it

@peter
nice…


I'd love to do something like this….
but as with many Houdini users who have any real experience - we're all up to our asses in work :shock:
I don't even really have time for personal projects…
maybe in the fall…

in the mean time the best I can suggest is to grab a character ( http://www.makehuman.org/blog/index.php [makehuman.org] ) and start rigging, and post here and/or od if/when you get stuck…

I was looking for the same thing recently and stumbled on these old rigging tutorials from 3DBuzz for version 5.5:
http://www.3dbuzz.com/vbforum/sv_video.php?v=762 [3dbuzz.com]

They are still very valid and all you have to do is register to view them.
I was able to follow along with them using version 9.5 with few if any problems. It was just the thing to help me understand how Houdini's bone system works.

Sure, some of the basic concepts are the same yet there was a huge leap forward from version 6 on. It would be great to benefit from the major production input from people like Arctor.

I figure there's no harm buttering you up Michael?

just as a way of jump starting some rigging stuff…
some things I think would make good tutorials, either here at SESI or 3rd party:

1 ) contraints; the concept is fundamental in apps like Maya and XSI etc…but I never even use the word in Houdini…
a point for point comparison between all of Maya's contraints (point, orient etc) and how they would be done in Houdini (ch(), origin(), blend node etc).

2 ) comparison of the different IK solvers

3 ) a discussion of the various deformers in Maya (skin, cluster, wrap etc) and those in Houdini (deform, muscleDeform, wireDeform)

4 ) a discussion of the attributes used in the character pipeline - nothing else really matters…so a thorough decription/explanation of the attributes (pCapt, pCaptData etc) how they are made, their structure etc would be good.

5 ) weight painting tips/techniques

6 ) general workflow for optimal performance (no ‘history’, writing geo to disk etc)

7 ) rigging for animators; a discussion of the kinds of things that help animators (proxy geometry etc)

8 ) rigging techniques - things like squash&stretch, IK/FK switch/blend, space switching (giant pain in the ass, I don't think anyone does this in Houdini but us), other special tricks…

9 ) dynamic parenting for props and char/char interaction - still a bit of a problem

10 ) char/prop/env interaction - stuff like the “Acting with Contact” paper http://graphics.pixar.com/ [graphics.pixar.com]

anything else?

Those are some great concepts I'd like to see.

I think on a more intermediate or advanced note; what does/could make Houdini much more powerful for rigging than other apps is digital assets; and how entire rigs can be collapsed into a single macro-asset … or a character can be constructed with various micro-assets.

Also … the rigging section in the “Magic of Houdini” book is quite good. I don't think anyone who reads and does those 1-2 animation chapters would be in quite so much need for a rigging tutorial.

ALSO ….

Go Peter butter him up and get him to do some rigging tutorials. I'd also really wish someone would persuade Michelle Bosquet to learn auto-rig and put out similar resources as she did with 3ds Max's Biped. I'll try again this Siggraph.

characters as HDAs are really great…
BUT
there are some things that can trip people up about them, and the locked nature of assets creates some limitations that other applications don't encounter. I would place this in the advanced category right now…not characters as HDAs in general but the really good stuff takes a deeper understanding.

as for micro-assets…it's a great /idea/ but in practice it doesn't work out, at least for character rigs…the better approach is to build a series of guide HDAs that block out a rig, then a script that builds a complete, flat (no nested HDAs) rig based on the guides.

I think there's a new feature that allows editing of a parameter/value within a DA in 9.5 … don't have it in front of me right now

it's just to allow specific nodes to be edited without unlocking the HDA (think edit SOP, paint SOP etc)
while this is really cool it doesn't allow rewiring of nodes or (safe) editing of parameters etc…

ah ok I see .. welp, I could use a good workflow overview Do you mainly use Python now to do the final rig construction?

arctor
the locked nature of assets creates some limitations that other applications don't encounter.

If you're talking about stuff like Edit SOPs and such, that has been addressed in H9.5 as Andrew has pointed out. If you're talking about non-writable parameters, then I strongly disagree. The only thing that allows HDAs to be modified internally and then be seamlessly updated downstream stems from the fact that its contents are unmodified. That's not a limitation, that's what makes HDAs so attractive.

it's just to allow specific nodes to be edited without unlocking the HDA (think edit SOP, paint SOP etc)
while this is really cool it doesn't allow rewiring of nodes or (safe) editing of parameters etc…

Hmmm.
If you flag an Object as an editable object, then you can dive in and do what ever you want. If that is your skin object, then you are free to rewire stuff in there. I would not do that though.

I usually put subnets inside SOPs and then set that subnet SOP as Editable. Contain the madness.

In characters you “could” allow advanced animators access to parts of the internals. Say blend shape modifications per hip file to fix stuff.

Obviously any of these internals are saved in the current session and are not shared.

edward
The only thing that allows HDAs to be modified internally and then be seamlessly updated downstream stems from the fact that its contents are unmodified. That's not a limitation, that's what makes HDAs so attractive.

you know i agree with you Ed…
my point was that in other applications riggers and animators are able to make ‘on the fly’ modifications to rigs - a locked asset prevents many of these…or at least makes them more difficult.

Yes, and this is a good thing.