Crowd agent layers with multiple deforming skins

[freejonah]

Hi everyone, 

I've never really dug into the Houdini crowd system in all it's glory, but I'm trying to do something that seems pretty typical. Currently I'm attempting to create a single agent that has multiple character skins that I can turn on and off in layers. 

It seems simple enough, but 95% of the tutorials out there show you how to add rigid props ( swords, hats, etc ) to your character using an agent layer sop. I have multiple models that all have the exact same bone deform settings and they all work with the same rig. I feel like I"m almost there, but I can't seem to get it to work properly. I'm sharing a few images of my situation. 

1. The first image has the output of my Agent sop. I'm reading in from a modified Character rig that works properly. The clips make him move fine. 

2. Second image has my alternate model of the girl in T-Pose. All the bone deform attributes are there, so it should work fine. 

3. In image three you can see the output from my agent layer sop. The model seems to be deforming properly, so the new mesh is now added to the shape library. 

4. Shows the load clips section. She's posed correctly at the frame I'm at, but she won't move with the clips when i scrub the timeline. She's frozen. 

 

Am I doing this properly? It would be incredibly helpful to see an example file for this that I can take a look at. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited Tuesday at 07:43 PM by freejonah

[David Tom]

You’re actually very close, this is a pretty common gotcha with the Houdini crowd system.

What’s happening is that your new skin is added to the shape library, but it’s not properly bound to the agent’s deforming shapes during animation playback. That’s why it looks correct in rest pose but stays frozen when you scrub.

A couple of things to check quickly:

In yourAgent Layer SOP, make sure you’re adding the layer as a deforming shape not just a static shape.
Confirm that the name/path of the shape matches what the agent expects (shape bindings matter a lot here).
 After layering, run an Agent Configure / Agent SOP and verify the layer is actually assigned to the correct transform group / capture weights.
 Also double-check that your alternate mesh has matching pCapt / boneCapture attributes with identical joint names (even small mismatches break animation).

One more thing that often fixes this exact issue:
Make sure the layer is included in the current layer selection (either via Agent Layer or Agent Edit). If it’s not active, Houdini won’t evaluate deformation on it during clips.

If everything is set correctly, the mesh should follow the clips just like your base model.

Edited yesterday at 10:17 AM by David Tom
added an extra line

[freejonah]

Thanks David,

It's a pretty confusing issue for sure. The agent will deform into position at the frame it's cooked at, so I know the deformations and bone weights are working properly.  It just does it on the frame you first cook on, but won't scrub.

I tried all the things you mentioned. But no luck. Does anyone out there have an example of someone trying to add two skins to one agent?