Greg Posted May 23, 2008 Share Posted May 23, 2008 (edited) I'm trying to determine the most efficient method of working with character motion capture data in Houdini. We use Motion Builder for our all of our motion capture, retargeting and cleaning. Then we export FBX and bring an animated skeleton into Houdini. Now I need to make the Motion builder rig drive a character mesh in Houdini. It seems like I should explore the following possible paths: Using the Houdini Auto Rig, create a bound rig. Then export houdini's skeleton rig to motion builder, retarget the motion and bring the rig back to Houdini. However, it doesn't seem like there's a straight forward way to export a rig. Maybe I should not use auto rig? but should use the motion builder rig and map skin weights in houdini? I can also use another program (maya or poser) to skin the rig and then bring it to Houdini? Any suggestions and comments are appreciated. Thanks, Greg Edited May 23, 2008 by Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael Posted May 23, 2008 Share Posted May 23, 2008 this is something that I have been interested in trying for some time... I'd say DO NOT use the SESI autoRig...(with all due respect to SESI - it's not a production rig) the simplest starting point would be to use the motionbuilder rig and do the capture/weights in Houdini... please keep us up to date with your efforts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sibarrick Posted May 24, 2008 Share Posted May 24, 2008 I'd say DO NOT use the SESI autoRig...(with all due respect to SESI - it's not a production rig)the simplest starting point would be to use the motionbuilder rig and do the capture/weights in Houdini... Interesting comment. why do you say its not a production rig? Can you expand a little.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nico D. Posted May 24, 2008 Share Posted May 24, 2008 Interesting comment. why do you say its not a production rig? Can you expand a little.... Im also interested to know why is not a production rig ? I was using the auto rig and I like it a lot. There is the capture skeleton that is very simple to recreate in Motionbuilder, then bring the animation back into houdini. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edward Posted May 25, 2008 Share Posted May 25, 2008 Doesn't MotionBuilder itself export a skeleton in FBX? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael Posted May 26, 2008 Share Posted May 26, 2008 I should have been more precise... after evaluating the SESI autoRig we came to the conclusion that it wasn't sufficient for /our/ production needs...and there are some rather large issues that need to be resolved, again, in our opinion.... among the most important are: nested HDAs - much slower than a flat network muscles are very difficult to use - the autoRig now also uses bones so this isn't as big a problem, but of course you don't get muscles... the time/effort it would take to fully understand the details of the rig's construction was better spent building an auto rig that met with our standards...that some have used it in production is great, but it's a black box - unless you really dig down into it making any changes and troubleshooting any problems is difficult and time consuming... personally I don't like the separation of the rigs... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
symek Posted May 26, 2008 Share Posted May 26, 2008 I should have been more precise...after evaluating the SESI autoRig we came to the conclusion that it wasn't sufficient for /our/ production needs...and there are some rather large issues that need to be resolved, again, in our opinion.... among the most important are: nested HDAs - much slower than a flat network muscles are very difficult to use - the autoRig now also uses bones so this isn't as big a problem, but of course you don't get muscles... the time/effort it would take to fully understand the details of the rig's construction was better spent building an auto rig that met with our standards...that some have used it in production is great, but it's a black box - unless you really dig down into it making any changes and troubleshooting any problems is difficult and time consuming... personally I don't like the separation of the rigs... Can I join the discussion with question what is current condition of Houdini's muscle system compared with Maya Muscles (former cMuscles) for example? Don't know too much about animation itself, but assuming I would have to make some decisions based on it, should I trust in Houdini's muscles? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael Posted May 26, 2008 Share Posted May 26, 2008 http://forums.odforce.net/index.php?showto...12&start=12 there isn't anything wrong with Houdini's muscles...but, IMO, you'll have to have a strong foundation with Houdini's character tools to get the most out of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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