I only have a simple rigging experience in Blender and now I'm trying to do a bit more complex rigging in Houdini but I find it really difficult when it comes to the paint capture part.

I am following this tutorial http://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/character/biped [sidefx.com] and now I am supposed to fill in all the white bits but I find it so troublesome to do this. I am pretty sure if it is in maya or blender they have a automatic rigging system and then you can just move the rig and find/fix the wrong bits but in Houdini there are so many parts that are not weighted properly!

Is there no auto function like that in Houdini? Or do you have to set all the weights manually even after you set the bones? Why is Houdini's rigging system said to be really good? I do want to use Houdini but the rigging I find so difficult and time consuming!! Is it just that I am not used to it yet?

(I also have to do the face rigging as well so if I think about that, I can't help without thinking that isn't there a faster way)

Does everyone use Houdini for rigging or other softwares like Blender, 3dsMax, or Maya?

Moin,

welcome to a new world. Comparing a fully procedural system like Houdini, even when it comes to “just rigging” (kidding, guys), to a click-be-done system will always give you reason for biting off more of that desk than you can cope with

Rigging in Houdini *is* powerful, but with great power comes great headache. What you are talking about isn't really “rigging”, it's more the “I want an make-it-awesome-button”, which is OK. Any “autorig” I know of (except for the all-in-one-solutions on the web) really is just a pre-made set of joints/bones and you will have to a) click on a weight-it button (after you adjusted the rig to your needs) and b) adjust the weights. If b was not there, we would have a lot of unemployed riggers out there

> Does everyone use Houdini for rigging or other softwares like Blender, 3dsMax, or Maya?

I am sure that if “everyone” would be using Houdini for rigging, SideFX would be very happy. It's obvious, though, that (even with DCC independent pipeline tools like Fabric, Kurtis etc coming along and with Houdini Engine getting better every week) as long as rigs are very, very DCC-dependent, there will always be a bit of a learning curve to master.

As for the screenshot you are showing: If you are just starting out with rigging, I would definitely suggest using a T-pose geo, not some pipeline-unfriendly pose like this, where any capturing process will run into issues with the arms. Learn to walk first Try using Houdini's biped presets for the rig, adjust the joints to your needs and see how far capture-geometry takes you (again, with a decent rest pose).
There are some Houdini-rigging-tutorials out there, but most of them are quite old. I am working on a rigging-and-animation course and would welcome *any* serious, cooperative and detailed input. “Blender is better” is not helpful, though

Marc

Wow, Thank you for your reply.　Okay I understand that there is a bit of a learning curve, and yes I will try that pose thank you very much.
Do you know if there is anyway to fill in the white bits without selecting each bone and painting them? (Because there are like 50~100 bones)

“White areas” can be covered by editing the capture regions - click on the shelf tool for that and adjust the influence areas for the bones. There shouldn't be 100 bones to edit …
You may also want to try alternative capturing methods (the “type” selection when using the capture geometry shelf tool) when doing the initial auto-weighting.

But in the end: That's rigging … taking care of all the little nit-bits that go wrong. People usually get paid for that kind of work :-D

Marc

maybe this can help you too
https://vimeo.com/125292551 [vimeo.com]

Thank you very much! This video is very helpful too!

In the very near future there will be big changes to rigging in Houdini, including more/better documentation and tutorials.
As for a ‘click to make awesome’ button, Marc is right, these are always just a set procedure that is applied to your specific geometry, that will then require (always) your time/effort to go in an clean up and make adjustments.
If you are capturing with Cregions, then you'll want to adjust each one so that it encompasses your geometry, or you can use Proximity which will weight the mesh points by the distance to each bone.
And remember that you only have to do one side of the character….because there is a SOP called Capture Mirror

Thank you very much! Helps a lot!!

http://www.digitaltutors.com/tutorial/109-Getting-Started-with-Auto-Rigs-in-Houdini [digitaltutors.com]

http://www.digitaltutors.com/tutorial/1631-Utilizing-the-Auto-Rig-and-Muscle-System-Tools-in-Houdini [digitaltutors.com]

These tutorials were very helpful. If someone needs help for rigging in Houdini these would definitely help!
The 2nd one seems to cover facial rig as well!!!