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Hi everyone, I wanted to share a new feature now available in Houdini AI Assistant: Animation Maker. It brings text-to-character motion generation directly inside Houdini, using Kimodo for motion generation and KineFX for importing, retargeting, and continuing the animation workflow inside Houdini. Demo:  https://youtu.be/dqLJe_3Qlic?si=TEZFXFNnDwSD1ndD The integration is currently available in the Houdini AI Assistant build on Gumroad. Houdini AI Assistant: https://rart.gumroad.com/l/HoudiniAIAssistant Current workflow: Prompt → Generate Motion → Adjust Character Position → Regenerate The current build supports: - Text-to-character motion generation - Multi-prompt timeline - 2D root waypoint controls - Full-body keyframe guides - Hand and foot guide tracks - KineFX retargeting workflow The idea is not just to generate a motion clip externally, but to make the result editable and usable inside Houdini. The generated motion can be imported as BVH, retargeted through KineFX, adjusted, and reused as part of a Houdini character workflow. At the moment this is still an early Windows beta and focused on humanoid motion, since Kimodo is trained around human skeleton animation. APEX support is something I’m also looking into. I’m currently testing different workflows around: Timeline-based prompt segments Motion transitions between prompts 2D path control Full-body constraints Hand / foot end-effector guides BVH import and retargeting reliability I’d be very interested to hear thoughts from Houdini users working with KineFX, APEX, retargeting, or character animation workflows. Houdini AI Assistant: https://rart.gumroad.com/l/HoudiniAIAssistant Would this kind of prompt-based motion generation be useful in your Houdini pipeline? And what would be the most important control features for production use? Thanks, Radu

BTW, I don't see similar results when rendering with Redshift contours. Orbiting the camera works fine.

I just checked out Rohan Dalvi's YT video on Outlines in H21.0 Karma (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAofvjh-qJ0) and am curious if anyone else has run into issues with how the contour lines get drawn on the geometry. I did a 360 turnaround of this model (made by tinakasut on CGTrader - https://www.cgtrader.com/items/5360166/download-page) where the camera orbits around the geo and it produces this weird diagonal line that seems to wipe across the render - looks like a V.  If I rotate the geometry and leave the camera steady, it doesn't produce that result. I checked the camera and don't see anything out of the ordinary. I've also toyed with the Outlines settings but can't seem to get rid of that line/wipe. I really like the look the Outlines creates but doesn't seem useful if I can't move the camera. Has anyone else encountered similar issues with Karma Outlines?

In case anyone stumbles across it, the amazing Tomas Slancik solved it on the SideFX forum. Turns out point deform uses an internal "id" attribute, and the fact that I had one going in on my control curves was throwing it.

I'm doing just an rnd/experimenting setup of a thing with lots of eyes that open/close based on the proximity of a target. My idea was to have a lid curve that bends based on the target and that would point deform the lid parts of the critter's geo. (It's okay if the blink isn't a nice arc--it will be run through vellum with an eyeball collider). This worked on small setups when it was just eyelids, but now that I have the whole critter the guide curves are not "catching" the lids. If I polywire the control curves it will warp the whole critter, but still not the lids. I've probably done something stupid, but I would love to know what that stupid thing is, if anyone can take a peek. The target that controls the opening/closing is animated, so you can just scrub along the timeline to see it in action. blinkcritter_problem.hiplc