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    3D Buzz :: Houdini :: Houdini Advanced Character Rigging II: Spinal Setup, Control Establishment and Finalization    
     

     
   
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  Houdini Advanced Character Rigging II: Spinal Setup, Control Establishment and Finalization  
   

Welcome to the second volume of the Houdini Advanced Character Rigging Series. This volume focuses on creating a complex spine including controls for twist, stretch, and the ability to have the shoulders automatically follow the hips, or to be separated completely and move on their own. Similar controls are provided for the neck, allowing for easy individual controls if the animator so chooses. You’ll also see how to set up eyes, connect the arms and legs, and bring the whole rig together as a Houdini Digital Asset.

Please note that this second volume uses materials that are part of Houdini Advanced Character Rigging I. While you will be able to follow along for the spine creation, you will need Advanced Character Rigging I if you would like to have the arms and legs that are included in these video lessons!


Instructors: Steve Twist
Approx. Running Time: 7.5 hrs
Software: Houdini 9.x
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Advanced Character Rigging II
This second volume is all about the creation of an advanced spinal system and the necessary controls to drive it. We’ll begin with creating both Hip and Master control objects to control the base of the spine and the character in its entirety. With this we will also create controls that allow for shoulder orientation and twisting from the top of the spine.

Of special importance is the ability for this rig to have dynamic parenting for the shoulders. This means that the animator can choose whether the shoulders will follow the motion of the hips, or if they should be treated as a separate object. Also, either system can be blended from one to the other, and each can be matched to the other as well, allowing for maximum flexibility in how the spinal motion is handled. This option is then echoed in the connection from the head to the shoulders, meaning that the character’s head can move as a result of shoulder motion, or it can be animated independently.

This spine system also includes support for bone stretching, with automatic interpolation between hip and shoulder, along with fine-tuning control over various points along the spine, giving the animator easy access to spinal curvature. The overall stretchiness can also be blended, which allows for easy shifts between the stretched and non-stretched versions of the rig on the fly. The same stretch system is also applied to the character’s neck, allowing the neck to stretch away from the shoulders automatically, and to be blended between full and non-stretched extents.

You will also see how to set up an intuitive eye rig, allowing for dual control of both eyes, as well as quick access to each individual eye when necessary. The eye system also exhibits the use of dynamic parenting, meaning that the eyes rotation can be dependent upon the rotation of the head, or can be handled individually. The animator can then blend between these systems for complete control.

The action doesn’t just stop at the spine! This particular character has a blubbery belly, and so the animator will need easy access to a control for wobbling its tummy. The lessons include setup of an additional bone system just for handling this specific rig feature. Jiggling can be handled either manually through direct animation, or via a simulation system using CHOPs. You’ll see how to create a single button that calls on a custom Python script, allowing the animator to automatically simulate the belly’s jiggle animation, bake that motion out to disk, and then load the results back in for fast playback! On top of this, we’ll show you how to create controls to bypass this automatic animation when necessary.

Once each part has been finalized, we’ll show you how to attach the arms and legs created in Advanced Character Rigging I. With that, the rig is completed and ready to be encapsulated within a Houdini Digital Asset! We’ll walk you through this process, showing how you can organize and lay out the appropriate parameters for the animator, giving them intuitive access to each of the specialized systems of this very technical character rig!

Each portion of these lessons is preceded by a whiteboard-based lecture, where all key concepts are thoroughly explained and demonstrated, along with any required mathematical concepts!
   
     

     
    Sounds Great! - but I still have questions...    
     
     
   

Are there any prerequisites for watching this content?

A solid foundation in Houdini is assumed of the viewer. While the concepts and techniques taught in the videos will be thoroughly explained, you should be comfortable with the Houdini interface and have a good understanding of networks before undertaking the content provided in the videos. You will also need a basic understanding of the python programming language.

What version of Houdini is used in the content? Will I need the same version?

The content was recorded using Houdini 9. With the major reworking of Houdini since the prior version, we cannot guarantee that you will be able to follow along when using an older version of the application. You can, however, use any version of Houdini 9 including the completely free Houdini Apprentice, which can be obtained from Side Effects Software.

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No, the content will not play on a regular DVD player, it is intended for use in a PC that has a DVD-ROM drive.

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You may view the video files with the XviD codec, which can be downloaded for free from www.xvid.org.

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In order to protect our content from illegal distribution and to safeguard your investment, we have implemented a video watermark system. The faint video watermark is on some of the videos, and will contain your name and address. The information on the watermarks will be used as evidence should the videos be illegally distributed.

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