Requirements & Installation

Requirements

Before you start, make sure you have:

Houdini 22.0 or newer. The rig is built on Houdini 22's APEX autorig builder, so the Rigger isn't compatible with earlier versions. (The Reallusion Importer also runs on Houdini 21.)
Houdini Indie, Core, or FX. The tool ships as a limited-commercial (Indie) Houdini Digital Asset. See the license note below.
Windows. The tool was developed and tested on Windows. It may work on macOS or Linux, but those platforms are untested — use them at your own risk.
A Character Creator / iClone character, exported as USD or FBX. Designed for Character Creator 5 / iClone 8. See Preparing Your Character.
Karma for rendering (included with Houdini). The materials are tuned for Karma XPU and also render in Karma CPU.

About the Indie license format

This asset is a black-boxed, limited-commercial Digital Asset (.hdalc). It works in Houdini Indie, and it can also be loaded in Houdini Core/FX — but doing so will temporarily switch that session into limited-commercial mode, per SideFX's licensing rules. If you work in a commercial studio pipeline, be aware of this before using the tool. You are responsible for your own compliance with SideFX licensing.

Installation

Installing the tool is just a matter of putting one file where Houdini can find it. The file holds two nodes: the Reallusion Rigger itself, and the Reallusion Rigger APEX Rig node, which Build Character creates below the Rigger. You never place the APEX Rig node by hand.

Houdini automatically loads Digital Assets from an otls folder in your user preferences directory. On Windows, that's typically:

C:\Users\<YourName>\Documents\houdini22.0\otls\

If the otls folder doesn't exist yet, create it.

Copy the downloaded .hdalc file (for example, JV-Reallusion_Rigger-v1.0_bb.hdalc) into that otls folder.

If Houdini was already running, restart it so it picks up the new asset. That's it — the tool is now installed.

To confirm it loaded:

Create a Geometry object (or dive into an existing one).
Press Tab to open the node menu and type Reallusion.
You should see Reallusion Rigger in the list, under JV.

If it appears, you're ready to go. Head to the Quick Start.

The Rigger and the Reallusion Importer are separate node types, so both can be installed at the same time.

Alternative: load without installing

If you'd rather not install it permanently, you can load the asset for a single session:

Go to Assets ▸ Install Digital Asset Library in the main menu.
Browse to the .hdalc file and select it.

The node will be available until you close Houdini. To make it permanent, use the otls folder method above.

Updating

When a new version is released, copy the new .hdalc into your otls folder, delete the previous version's file (the filename carries the version, e.g. JV-Reallusion_Rigger-v1.0_bb.hdalc), and restart Houdini. Your existing scenes will pick up the new version automatically — no scene changes needed.

Because the tool stores all your look settings on a controller node inside your scene (not inside the asset), updating the asset won't lose your dialed-in looks on existing characters. The same goes for your animation: a built rig node lives in your scene with your keys inside it, and an update leaves it as it is. Rig changes in a new version reach the rigs you build after updating.