Radu Cius

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share a new feature now available in Houdini AI Assistant: Animation Maker.

It brings text-to-character motion generation directly inside Houdini, using Kimodo for motion generation and KineFX for importing, retargeting, and continuing the animation workflow inside Houdini.

Demo:
The integration is currently available in the Houdini AI Assistant build on Gumroad.
Houdini AI Assistant:
https://rart.gumroad.com/l/HoudiniAIAssistant [rart.gumroad.com]


Current workflow:
Prompt → Generate Motion → Adjust Character Position → Regenerate

The current build supports:
- Text-to-character motion generation
- Multi-prompt timeline
- 2D root waypoint controls
- Full-body keyframe guides
- Hand and foot guide tracks
- KineFX retargeting workflow


The idea is not just to generate a motion clip externally, but to make the result editable and usable inside Houdini. The generated motion can be imported as BVH, retargeted through KineFX, adjusted, and reused as part of a Houdini character workflow.
At the moment this is still an early Windows beta and focused on humanoid motion, since Kimodo is trained around human skeleton animation.
APEX support is something I’m also looking into.


I’m currently testing different workflows around:
Timeline-based prompt segments
Motion transitions between prompts
2D path control
Full-body constraints
Hand / foot end-effector guides
BVH import and retargeting reliability


I’d be very interested to hear thoughts from Houdini users working with KineFX, APEX, retargeting, or character animation workflows.
Would this kind of prompt-based motion generation be useful in your Houdini pipeline?
And what would be the most important control features for production use?

Thanks,
Radu

I don’t think AI will replace Houdini, but it will definitely replace some smaller or faster tasks around it.

For quick concepts, rough effects, or low-budget work, AI will become more common. But when you need real control, revisions, consistency, and production-ready results, Houdini is still much stronger.

So in my opinion, AI will become part of the workflow, not a replacement for Houdini.

Hi, one thing I’m exploring deeply right now is this:
How far can AI go inside Houdini when it actually understands the procedural context?



I just made a new demo where HDA Architect in Houdini AI Assistant generates a procedural Asteroid Generator from a prompt.

What I like most is not just the speed, but the fact that I can inspect the generated network, adjust it, disable weak parts, refine the logic, and continue building from there.




For me, that’s the interesting part AI not as a replacement for procedural thinking, but as a serious accelerator for it.

Huge thanks to everyone sending feedback, testing the tool, and helping me improve it.

Houdini AI Assistant: https://rart.gumroad.com/l/HoudiniAIAssistant [rart.gumroad.com]