1. In the Network Editor, create unpacked or packed primitive geometry objects at the scene origin. These will be your local space control shapes.

   Warning

   Only use polygons primitives for your control shapes. Nurbs will not work properly.

2. If you want to change the shape or size of the local space shapes you created, then use common SOP nodes like the Edit SOP or the Transform SOP to modify them.

3. If you want to define a custom color for your control shapes, then use a Color SOP node for each shape.

   Note

   On the Color SOP node, be sure to set the Class parameter to Primitive.

A local space shape library should contain all the shapes that you want to assign locally to your joints.

1. Once you have created all the local space shapes you want to use as control shapes, create a Merge Packed SOP node.

2. Connect all the local space shapes to the Merge Packed SOP node.

   

   Note

   Older control shape set-ups that use a Merge SOP node instead of the Merge Packed SOP to combine the shapes will still work with the Attach Joint Geometry SOP node.

3. In the Merge Packed SOP node’s parameters, do the following:

   • Turn on the Name Primitive Attribute and Name Override Attribute parameters. This will allow you to define new names for your local space shapes.

   • Use the Name parameters to specify meaningful names for all the local space shapes. For example, wrist_left or hips_tilt. We recommend that you always name your shapes properly as it will make them much easier to identify in the future.

   

   Warning

   After you have assigned your shapes in the Attach Joint Geometry SOP node, do not click the Reload Node Names button on the Merge Packed SOP node as this will invalidate all your shape-joint assignments by reverting all the control shapes' names to their defaults.

4. When you are happy with your local space shapes library, create the Attach Joint Geometry SOP node.

5. Connect the animated pose output from your character’s import node to the first input on the Attach Joint Geometry SOP, and then connect the Merge Packed SOP node’s output to the second input (shape library input) on the Attach Joint Geometry SOP node.

6. Do one of the following:

   • If your imported character is not animated:

     • On the character’s import node, remove the expression (if one exists) from the Timing ▸ Time parameter field. This will prevent the node from needlessly recooking.

     • (Optional) On the Attach Joint Geometry SOP node, turn off the Add Shapes ▸ Rest Pose Attribute parameter.

   • If your imported character is animated:

     • When the character does not already have a rest pose, use a Rig Stash Pose SOP node to create one for it, insert a Rig Doctor SOP node just after the Rig Stash Pose SOP node in the graph, and then type rest_transform into the Freeze Time Dependent Attributes ▸ Attributes to Freeze parameter field on the Rig Doctor SOP node. This will prevent the node from needlessly recooking.

     • When the character already has a rest pose, make sure that the Add Shapes ▸ Rest Pose Attribute parameter on the Attach Joint Geometry SOP node is turned on.

7. (Optional) Store the shape library as a standard you can reuse later.

   Do the following

   1. Connect the Merge Packed SOP node’s output to a ROP Geometry Output SOP node.

   2. Use the ROP Geometry Output SOP node to save the library to disk.

   3. Then whenever you want to use the shape library for a character, load the stored geometry library with a File SOP node and then connect the File SOP node’s output to the second input on the Attach Joint Geometry SOP node.

You can now start assigning your local space shapes to your character’s joints.

1. In the Network Editor, model the geometry objects that you want to use as control shapes in-context at their world space positions near the character.

   This is a convenient way to model complex controls shapes to match the outline of your character since you do not need to model them with an offset.

   Warning

   Only use polygonal geometry for your control shapes. Nurbs will not work properly.

2. If you want to change the shape or size of the world space shapes you created, then use common SOP nodes like the Edit SOP or the Transform SOP to modify them.

3. If you want to choose a custom color for your control shapes, then use a Color SOP node for each world space shape.

   Note

   On the Color SOP node, be sure to set the Class parameter to Primitive.

4. Create a Name SOP node for each world space shape and then use their Name parameters to specify meaningful names for the objects. For example, wrist_left or hips_tilt. We recommend that you always name your shapes properly as it will make them much easier to identify in the future.

A world space shape library should contain all the shapes that you want to assign to your joints but keep them at their world space offsets.

1. Once you have created all the world space shapes you want to use as controls and have also assigned them names (name attribute), create a Merge SOP node.

2. Connect all the world space control shape’s Name SOP nodes to the Merge SOP node.

   

3. Create a Group Create SOP node and connect the Merge SOP to its first input. This will be your world space shape library.

4. In the Group Create SOP node’s parameters, set the Group Name to world_shapes and the Group Type to Primitives.

   

   

5. When you are happy with your world space shapes library, create the Attach Joint Geometry SOP node.

6. Connect the animated pose output from your character’s import node to the first input on the Attach Joint Geometry SOP, and then connect the Group Create SOP node’s output to the second input (shape library input) on the Attach Joint Geometry SOP node.

7. Do one of the following:

   • If your imported character is not animated:

     • On the character’s import node, remove the expression (if one exists) from the Timing ▸ Time parameter field. This will prevent the node from needlessly recooking.

     • (Optional) On the Attach Joint Geometry SOP node, turn off the Add Shapes ▸ Rest Pose Attribute parameter.

   • If your imported character is animated:

     • When the character does not already have a rest pose, use a Rig Stash Pose SOP node to create one for it, insert a Rig Doctor SOP node just after the Rig Stash Pose SOP node in the graph, and then type rest_transform into the Freeze Time Dependent Attributes ▸ Attributes to Freeze parameter field on the Rig Doctor SOP node. This will prevent the node from needlessly recooking.

     • When the character already has a rest pose, make sure that the Add Shapes ▸ Rest Pose Attribute parameter on the Attach Joint Geometry SOP node is turned on.

8. In the Attach Joint Geometry SOP parameters, turn on the Has Input Worldspace Shape Group parameter in the Add Shapes ▸ Advanced Shape Settings settings section and then make sure that its Group parameter is set to world_shapes. This ensures that your world space shapes will be visible and selectable in the viewport state when Assign in World Space is turned on in the viewport state’s toolbar.

   

9. (Optional) Store this library as a standard you can reuse later.

   Do the following

   • Connect the Merge Packed SOP node’s output to a ROP Geometry Output SOP node.

   • Use the ROP Geometry Output SOP node to save the library to disk.

   • Then whenever you want to use the shape library for a character, load the stored geometry library using a File SOP node and use the File SOP node’s output directly as the local shape library.

You can now start assigning your world space shapes to your character’s joints.

If you want to use both local space controls shapes and world space control shapes with your character, then you can merge your control object inputs into a single input.

1. Create a Merge SOP node.

2. Connect the output of the world space shape library (the Group Create SOP node) to the Merge SOP node.

3. Connect the output of the local space shape library (the Merge Packed SOP node) to the Merge SOP node.

   

4. Create the Attach Joint Geometry SOP node.

5. Connect the animated pose output from your character’s import node to the first input on the Attach Joint Geometry SOP, and then connect the Merge SOP node’s output to the second input (shape library input) on the Attach Joint Geometry SOP node.

   

6. Do one of the following:

   • If your imported character is not animated:

     • On the character’s import node, remove the expression (if one exists) from the Timing ▸ Time parameter field. This will prevent the node from needlessly recooking.

     • (Optional) On the Attach Joint Geometry SOP node, turn off the Add Shapes ▸ Rest Pose Attribute parameter.

   • If your imported character is animated:

     • When the character does not already have a rest pose, use a Rig Stash Pose SOP node to create one for it, insert a Rig Doctor SOP node just after the Rig Stash Pose SOP node in the graph, and then type rest_transform into the Freeze Time Dependent Attributes ▸ Attributes to Freeze parameter field on the Rig Doctor SOP node. This will prevent the node from needlessly recooking.

     • When the character already has a rest pose, make sure that the Add Shapes ▸ Rest Pose Attribute parameter on the Attach Joint Geometry SOP node is turned on.

7. In the Attach Joint Geometry SOP parameters, turn on the Has Input Worldspace Shape Group parameter in the Add Shapes ▸ Advanced Shape Settings settings section and then make sure that its Group parameter is set to world_shapes. This ensures that your world space shapes will be visible and selectable in the viewport state when Assign in World Space is turned on in the viewport state’s toolbar.

   

You can now start assigning your local space shapes and world space shapes to your character’s joints.

You can assign a local space shape to a joint in your input skeleton to link it to the joint and designate the shape as the joint’s new control object.

1. Select the Attach Joint Geometry SOP node, click in the viewport, and then press Enter. You are now in the viewport state.

2. In the viewport state’s toolbar, select Mode ▸ Assign Shapes to set the interaction mode to shape assignment.

   

3. Click the joint in your skeleton that you want to assign the local space shape to as a control and then press G.

   Tip

   You can also add more than one joint to the same Assign Shapes multiparm by ⇧ Shift + -clicking them to include them all in your selection when you are creating the multiparm.

   In the Parameter Editor, a new Assign Shapes multiparm for the joint appears in the Add Shapes tab and the name of the joint you selected appears in the Group field.

   

   And a blue ring also appears around the joint indicating that it now has an active Assign Shapes multiparm.

   

   Tip

   Alternatively, you can also create a new Assign Shapes multiparm by either clicking the Create New Group button in the viewport state toolbar or manually adding the multiparm in the Parameter Editor.

4. In the viewport state, use your to scroll through the local shape library in the mulitparm’s Shape Name field, stop at the name of the shape that you want to assign as the control for the joint you selected, and then -click in the viewport to confirm your selection.

   The local space shape you selected in the Shape Name parameter field is now assigned as the control for the joint listed in the Group field.

   The local space shape is also automatically moved from the scene origin to its target joint’s local space location.

You can assign a world space shape to a joint in your input skeleton to link it to the joint and designate the shape as the joint’s new control object.

1. Select the Attach Joint Geometry SOP node, click in the viewport, and then press Enter. You are now in the viewport state.

2. In the viewport state’s toolbar, select Mode ▸ Assign Shapes to set the interaction mode to shape assignment and then turn on Assign in World Space.

   

   The world space shapes appear as light blue in the viewport state.

   

3. In the viewport state, click the joint in your skeleton that you want to assign the world space shape to as a control, press-hold G, and then -click the world space shape that you want to assign to the joint.

   In the Parameter Editor, a new Assign Shapes multiparm for the joint appears in the Add Shapes parameters tab.

   In the Assign Shapes multiparm, the joint you selected appears in its Group field, the world space shape you clicked appears in the Shape Name field, and the Keep Shape World Transform parameter is turned on.

   

   And a blue ring also appears around the joint indicating that it now has an active Assign Shapes multiparm.

   

   Tip

   Alternatively, you can also create a new Assign Shapes multiparm by either clicking the Create New Group button in the viewport state toolbar or manually adding the multiparm in the Parameter Editor.

   The world space shape you selected in the Shape Name parameter field is now assigned as the control for the joint listed in the Group field.

   The world space shape’s position (in world space and relative to your character) does not change.

1. Select the Attach Joint Geometry SOP node.

2. In the Parameter Editor, select its Tweak tab.

   

   All the parameters that let you define tweaks for your control objects live in this tab.

3. Click in the viewport and then press Enter. You are now in the viewport state.

4. In the viewport state’s toolbar, select Mode > Tweak Shapes to set the interaction mode to tweak creation and then select an Offset Mode to determine how the tweak to the control shape will behave in relation to any the other offset values supplied by a shape template and/or an offset attribute.

   

5. Click the joint in your skeleton that you want to apply the tweak to and then press G.

   In the Parameter Editor, a new Tweaks multiparm for the joint appears in the Tweak parameters tab and the name of the joint you selected appears in its Group field.

   

   And a green ring appears around the joint indicating that it now has an active Tweaks multiparm.

   

   Tip

   If you want to remove a tweak from a joint, select the joint in the viewport state and then press ⌃ Ctrl + G.

6. Adjust the Tweaks multiparm’s settings from the viewport state using the tweak’s transform handle or from the Parameter Editor by adjusting its parameter values.

   Note

   You can only set the Color tweak parameter from the Parameter Editor.

Once you have finished setting up your local space shape library, world space shape library, or your combined local and world shape libraries, you can then export your shape library as a shape template.

1. Create a ROP Geometry Output SOP node and connect its input to the output of your shape library’s Attach Joint Geometry SOP node.

   

   

2. In the ROP Geometry Output SOP node, set the Output File path to the network location where you want to save the .bgeo shape library to.

3. Click Save to Disk.

   The output of the Attach Joint Geometry SOP node with the complete skeleton is saved to disk as a .bgeo shape template file.

   A shape template contains points with packed primitives that have a point attribute for matching and optionally have metadata for offsets stored on the jointgeo primitive attribute.

1. Create a File SOP node and use its Geometry File parameter to load the shape template you want to use with your character.

2. Create a Attach Joint Geometry SOP node and then do the following:

   • Connect the third output from your character’s import node to the first input on the Attach Joint Geometry SOP,

   • Connect the output from the File SOP node to the third input on the Attach Joint Geometry SOP node.

   

   

3. Do one of the following:

   • If your imported character is not animated:

     • On the character’s import node, remove the expression (if one exists) from the Timing ▸ Time parameter field. This will prevent the node from needlessly recooking.

     • (Optional) On the Attach Joint Geometry SOP node, turn off the Add Shapes ▸ Rest Pose Attribute parameter.

   • If your imported character is animated:

     • When the character does not already have a rest pose, use a Rig Stash Pose SOP node to create one for it, insert a Rig Doctor SOP node just after the Rig Stash Pose SOP node in the graph, and then type rest_transform into the Freeze Time Dependent Attributes ▸ Attributes to Freeze parameter field on the Rig Doctor SOP node. This will prevent the node from needlessly recooking.

     • When the character already has a rest pose, make sure that the Add Shapes ▸ Rest Pose Attribute parameter on the Attach Joint Geometry SOP node is turned on.

4. Select the Attach Joint Geometry SOP node.

5. In the Parameter Editor, select the Shape Template tab and then use its parameters to configure how the shape template is transferred to your character and how its shapes are matched to its joints.

   

   • Use the Target Joints parameter to determine which joints will get a template assignment.

   • Use the Template Joints parameter to determine which control shapes will get assigned to the skeleton.

   • Use the Match By parameters to determine how to match the shape template to your skeleton.

     • Use Attribute Value (the default setting) when you want to match based on point attribute values on the skeleton and the shape template.

     • Use Point Value when you want to match based on point number values from the skeleton and the shape template.

       Warning

       If you use Point Number, be aware that the point numbers of your joints will change if you add or remove any joints from your skeleton. So be careful when you use this option.

     • Use Mapping Attribute when you want to match using a dictionary attribute. This is incredibly useful since you can use this Match By parameter to map your template to a differently named skeleton or to mirror a supplied template.

   • Determine how existing shape offsets are transferred. By default, the local shape offsets are transferred.

     • Turn on Keep Template Joint Offsets if you only want to transfer the shapes but not the tweaks or offsets.

     • Turn on Keep Template World Transform if you want to use the world positions of the template shapes as offsets.