When you create an agent from a character, the Agent SOP generates a default layer from the original character’s visible geometry. The Agent Layer SOP node lets you add additional shapes and layers.

To create a layer with a different overall character skin:

1. In the agent setup geometry network, add an Agent Layer SOP node.

2. Wire the new character skin geometry into the second input of the Agent Layer SOP node.

   • To import skin geometry, use nodes like the Scene Character Import SOP, FBX Skin Import SOP, or USD Skin Import SOP.

   • The name primitive attribute on the geometry is used to determine the names of the agent shapes. The geometry will be split into multiple agent shapes if the name attribute has varying values.

3. Set the Layer Name for the new layer.

By default, the Agent Layer node creates a single layer containing all of the new shapes.

To partition the shapes into multiple layers:

1. Click the Add button next to Number of Layers to add a new layer.

2. Enter a Layer Name for the layer.

3. Set Shapes to the list or pattern of new shapes that should be included in the layer. You can click to select shape names from a tree view dialog.

   • Turn on Solo Layer to visualize only the shapes in this layer. This overrides the Set Current Layers parameter, which by default displays all of the new layers.

4. Repeat for each group of shapes.

There are multiple ways you can create static (non-deforming) shape bindings. Static shape bindings can be used to, for example, attach rigid props to a joint in the rig.

• If the shape geometry consists of a single packed primitive and the boneCapture point attribute is present, a static shape binding will be created if the packed primitive’s point is weighted to a single joint (for example, describing a rigid deformation).

  Note

  This format matches how rigid skinning is represented in KineFX. For example, Capture Packed Geometry can be used to rigidly capture shapes.

• If the shape does not have a boneCapture attribute, a static shape binding will be created. In the Shape Bindings tab, set the Transform Name to the joint that the shape should be attached to. You can also click to select the joint from a tree view dialog.

  • You can also specify the Transform Name using an attribute on the shape geometry, which is useful when adding multiple shapes that should be attached to different joints. Change the Transform Name Mode to Set from Attribute, and then set the Transform Name Attribute to the primitive attribute that should be used.

Each individual agent primitive has a list of current (display) layers. Agents also have a list of collision layers, which specify the geometry used for ragdoll simulations, computing the agent’s bounding box, and so on.

• The high-level Crowd Assign Layers node has options to assign random combinations of layers throughout the crowd.

  • You can turn on Remove Layers to remove specific layers that were already assigned to the agent. For example, setting Remove Layers to * will remove all of the agent’s original assigned layers. The layers assigned by this node are appended to the agent’s list of layers.

  • For each of the Number of Assignments, you can specify a weighted distribution of Layer Choices to control which layers are assigned to the agents in the Group. Patterns such as hat* can be used to specify a list of layers that are selected with equal probability.

  • Turn on Percent to Select to only assign a layer to a random subset of the crowd.

  • To build geometry variations with more complex rules for which layers can be combined together, set Select By to Current Layer and set the Layer Pattern to a list or pattern of layer names. This can be used to, for example, only assign layer A to agents which already have layers B or C in their list of current layers.

  • To replace some of the agent’s assigned layers with different layers, you can use Switch Layers to specify one or more search/replace patterns. For example, when setting From to proxy_* and To to render_*, an assigned layer named proxy_skin will be switched to the render_skin layer.

• You can use the Agent Edit SOP to set the current layer for selected agents.

• If you want to set the current layers in a wrangle or VOP network (for example, to change an agent’s layer when it’s in a certain state), you can use the setagentcurrentlayers VEX function or the Agent Layer Name, Agent Layers, and Set Agent Layer VOPs.