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TOTAL DURATION: 1h 53m 39s

KineFX is Houdini’s toolset for rigging, animation and motion editing. Within the KineFX rigging framework, APEX graphs are used to represent the rig logic. APEX (All-Purpose EXecution) is a graph evaluation framework that builds and runs graphs and then fetches their results.

Starting with a review of KineFX, this course will cover topics such as geometry/skeleton prep, parms, properties, tags and APEX Auto Rig Components.

DOWNLOAD COURSE FILES
Introduction [15:53]
A quick summary of all of the lessons followed by a review of the rigging tools in Houdini including an overview of KineFX for those who may be new to the workflow.
1 | Geometry Prep and Packed Folder [7:09]
Explore the workflow for preparing your mesh and skeleton for rigging with APEX as well as how to wrap up the whole setup using a Packed Folder SOP.
2 | Minimal Workflow | FK Setup [9:40]
Learn how you can feed the packed folder into an Auto RIG Component. Explore the makeup of this new node and take a peek at the graph it generates based on a .bgeo file on disk.
3 | Minimal Workflow | Deform Geometry [17:22]
Add an Auto Rig Component that displays and deforms the geometry. Explore the parts that make up the rig so far and take a close look at parameters on the nodes and in the APEX Network view.
4 | Minimal Workflow | Controls [10:17]
Learn how to set up controls on your rig to access animatable parameters. Dive into the packed folder to see the details and learn how to save the rig to disk as a final character that can then be reimported and animated.
5 | Component Parameters [6:45]
Learn all about the APEX Auto rig Components and their Parameters.
6 | Parms [9:47]
Explore the proper usage of the ‘parms’ attribute, a dictionary of default port values within the APEX Graph.
7 | Properties [7:45]
Follow the creation of the ‘properties’ attribute, a dictionary of additional metadata used within the APEX Graph. After that, learn how to use the ‘tags’ attribute, an array of strings used within the APEX Graph.
8 | APEX Autorig Components [21:29]
Build additional functionality in the example asset and explore details about the APEX Autorig Components.
9 | Final Rig and Resources [7:32]
Finish the rig and take a look at some additional resources for learning more about rigging in Houdini with APEX.

COMMENTS

  • madrenderman 5 months, 1 week ago  | 

    Great!

    • vstevenson 5 months, 1 week ago  | 

      This is really wonderful and the way I wish nearly all of the Houdini learning material was presented. Very clear, no umms, no uhhhs, no goofups (yet). Explanations that are thorough and fundamental are very welcome. This would have been GOLD when I was first starting out. I'm sure many others feel the same way. Thanks, Michael.

      • Eroc999 5 months, 1 week ago  | 

        so good! looking forward to more.

        • theshizon 4 months, 3 weeks ago  | 

          Box doesnt move in the example file Houdini 20.5.278. So frustrating trying to learn animation in Houdini and the example file doesn't work. From the autorigcomponent_DEFORM node. Any ideas why?

          • theshizon 4 months, 3 weeks ago  | 

            I was using an older version. I guess a lot of functionality was lost between. I updated to the version that he's using in the tutorial and it works. "shrug"

          • DarrynRogers 4 months, 2 weeks ago  | 

            This was very clearly explained. Thanks!

            • evanrudefx 4 months ago  | 

              Hello, pretty sure there is a mistake in video 6. when he sets the guide properties he sets the attribute name as "parm" but it should be "properties". Otherwise it has no effect.

              • nikolaibalashov71 3 months, 2 weeks ago  | 

                it's amazing!!!!!!!!!!

                • Manuko 2 months, 1 week ago  | 

                  Very helpfull, thank you.

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