Game Development Community

Question regarding Animation

by Jonas · in Artist Corner · 01/11/2011 (8:48 pm) · 3 replies

Hi Community!

My question is regarding animation in houdini specifically about animating with multiple meshes.
we have the base down, the character rigging is completed and working as intended.
PS: using the auto rig.

But now where at the part of animation and of course we need to animate with the weapons attached
to the character, however we do not know how to make a mesh follow or clamp on to a null/node
(that is in houdini, the torque part is fully understod)

So my question is: how do we make a weapon(mesh) clamp on to a null/node, or is there another solution
that is more suited for it?

Kind regards
Jonas

About the author

Freelance 3D artist at day scripter/coder on Enduring Life at night. Lover of all things TorqueScript.


#1
01/11/2011 (10:11 pm)
Quote:PS: using the auto rig.

/me shakes head slowly....oh no....autoRig

NB: before you get too far along; are you getting the 'proper' export to DTS you expect? I could never get 'autoRig' tool shelf to export properly......could not match correct node hierarchy to meshes. As opposed to constructing your animation rigging...by hand.

I liked the concepts of Houdini, but with no 'practical'/'meaningful' examples of how to work the pipeline to Torque[HD tools, etal]....was just too much 'effort' for the return. IE< I can get just as much functionality to Torque with other program[s], without having to 'engineer' in Houdini for hours with disappointment as the payoff. Go figure me...don't want to struggle, lol.
#2
01/12/2011 (1:27 am)
Yes the so talked about houdini auto rig.
Well might be a good idea to try a export before moving on will do that first thing tomorow.

However resent posts on the houdini forums and other seems to indicate that the problems with the autorig have been ironed out and is now working, as long as there is a .DSQ file present.

must agree with that. From day one houdini have been a struggle on the basis that there is almost no information present and when there is its very high level or beginner.

Back to the issue at hand though, anyone have any suggestions on how to mount a mesh to a node in houdini.

Kind regards
#3
01/12/2011 (3:47 am)
I personally had the same experience as Rex did, with Houdini.
However, Buzz frequents the Houdini forums, often times answering questions within hours of a post.

Since most of the members here at GG have little or no experience getting Houdini to do anything, I just think the next best thing is to ask Buzz directly. I believe you'll get a better answer there in the forums.

P.S. I moved to LightWave 3D 9.6, and I've been practicing my skills with it, rather then get annoyed with Houdini again. I am having much better results making new models, rigging them and currently learning animation in LightWave 3D.