Parameter Reference

Three panels, three tables: the Reallusion Rigger node (in SOPs), the Reallusion Rigger APEX Rig node (the rig), and the lookdev controller (a red node in LOPs, created by Build Character and reached with Go to LOPs). Labels are exactly as they appear on the node.

Reallusion Rigger

Top of the node

Parameter	What it does
Import	Which Character Creator export format to import: USD or FBX.
Import Modes	Opens the USD vs FBX documentation page.
FBX File	The Character Creator 5 / iClone 8 FBX export to import. Textures and material data are read from alongside it.
USD File	The .usd from Character Creator's Export USD (Omniverse). Keep the Materials folder beside it as exported.

Character ▸ Build

Parameter	What it does
Build Character	Imports the character and builds the materials, displacement and lookdev controller, plus the rig when Build APEX Rig is on. Safe to re-run: lookdev values are kept and an existing rig is left as it is.
Build APEX Rig	Also builds the rig, as its own node below this one. Never rebuilds or deletes an existing rig. Off: the importer on its own.
Build Facial Rig	Also builds the facial rig. Off gives a faster, lighter body-only rig with a neutral face.
Load Expression Presets	Loads about 300 Character Creator face poses into the Animation Catalog during the build.
Load Hand Poses	Loads Character Creator's 71 hand gestures into the Animation Catalog during the build.
Stash Rig	Stores the built and baked rig inside the rig node so a reopened scene loads in seconds.
Set Frame Range to Animation	Sets the scene's frame range to the character's animation before the rig is built.

Character ▸ Build ▸ Render

Parameter	What it does
Build In	Which LOP network Build Character builds into. Defaults to /stage. Change it before building.
Create Render Setup	Also builds a 3-point light rig, a bust-framed camera and a Karma XPU render settings node.
Go to LOPs	Jumps to the LOP network and frames the lookdev controller.

Character ▸ Skin-Fix

Parameter	What it does
Create Skin-Fix Setup	Creates (or jumps to) the Skin Fix subnetwork, for mesh intersections such as clothing poking through the body.
Use Skin-Fix Mesh	Switches the character onto the edited mesh. Off by default; safe to toggle any time.

Character ▸ Fix Broken Blendshape

Parameter	What it does
Broken Elements	Elements that skip the blendshapes and follow the nearest face or body geometry, picked by their @name.
Fix Broken Blendshape	Does the bypassing. Only available once an element is picked.
Radius	Point Deform radius for the bypassed elements.

Utilities

Parameter	What it does
Clear Scene Cache	Flushes Houdini's geometry cache to reclaim RAM.
CC Export Settings	A reminder of the Character Creator export settings for the current import mode.
Links	Opens jvtools.dev.
Gumroad, Documentation, Discord, Youtube	Open the product page, the documentation, the community Discord and the YouTube channel.
Current Version	The installed version. A notice appears beside it when a newer one is available.

Reallusion Rigger APEX Rig

Top rows

Parameter	What it does
Animate	Enters the APEX animate state on the rig, to pose and key the character in the viewport.
Exit Animate State	Back to the normal view.
Layers (the row)	Add Rest Pose Layer, Clear Body Keys, Clear Face Keys, Revert to Clip and Show Face Keys, in that order.
Add Rest Pose Layer	Adds an override layer, RestPose, holding every body and face channel at rest. It becomes the active layer.
Clear Body Keys	Removes the body animation of the active layer. One undo step.
Clear Face Keys	The same for the face.
Revert to Clip	Puts BaseAnimation back to the clip as baked: Body, Face or Both.
Show Face Keys	Lists the face channels with keys on the active layer in the Animation Editor.
Reload Catalog Poses	Puts this character's expression and hand poses back in the Animation Catalog.

Viewport

Parameter	What it does
Viewport Materials	The textured character in the SOP viewport. Off is plain grey.
Textured	Which material groups draw textured: Body, Eyes, Teeth, Clothing & Accessories.
Hair	Off, Opaque Cards or Transparent Cards.

Rig Settings

Parameter	What it does
Hair Follows Head Only	On: every hair mesh follows the head only. Off: Character Creator's own skinning.
Stash Rig	On: the built and baked rig is stored. Off: it is dropped and rebuilt live.
Stash In	Inside the Hip or External File. Changing it writes nothing.
Geometry File	The file Save to Disk writes the rig to and the rig reads from.
Save to Disk	Writes the rig and its baked clips to files and reads them from there.

Motion Clips

Parameter	What it does
Play Clip	The clip the rig plays: the character's own, or a baked clip file. The playback range follows.
Clip #	An animation clip file to bake onto the rig.
Frames / to	First and last frame of the clip to bake (0 means from the start / to the end).
Start / End	Reset the start or end frame to the clip's own.
Update Motion Clips	Bakes the listed clips onto the rig without rebuilding it.
Clear Motion Clips	Empties the list and updates in one step. Asks first.

Face Tools ▸ Face Key Muscle

Parameter	What it does
Open Face Key Muscle	Opens the Face Key Muscle pane, Character Creator's Muscle mode for this character: a drawing of the face with its regions.
Record	Records the picked regions over time as keys, on a FaceKeyMuscle layer.
Preview	Tries the picked regions with the mouse, without recording.

Face Tools ▸ Face Key Muscle ▸ Face Key Muscle Settings

Parameter	What it does
Symmetric	A picked region brings its other side along.
Key	Which channels a drag keys at the frame: Moved Channels or Whole Face.
Ease In	Frames before the current frame over which each edit fades in.
Ease Out	Frames after the current frame over which each edit fades out. Follows Ease In until you set it.
Expressiveness	How far a drag can push a shape: 1 is Character Creator's full shape, 2 twice that.
Drag Range	Pixels of drag on the drawing for a full shape. Lower is more sensitive.

Face Tools ▸ Face Puppet

Parameter	What it does
Record	Records a Face Puppet take as keys.
Preview	Tries a Face Puppet profile with the mouse, without recording.

Face Tools ▸ Recording Settings

Parameter	What it does
Record Mode	Replace or Blend: what a take, from either Record, does to the animation already there.
Record to New Layer	Puts each take on an animation layer of its own. On by default.
Preroll	Seconds counted down before a take starts.
Record Speed	How fast the playbar runs while recording. 1 is real time.
Mouse Range	Pixels of mouse travel for a full deflection of the pad (a full shape on a Face Key Muscle take).
Smoothing	Frames of smoothing on the recorded mouse path.
Return to Start	Puts the playhead back where the take started.
Show Controls While Recording	Keeps the rig's controls drawn while a take plays.

Auto Animation

Parameter	What it does
Profile (Auto Blink)	Normal, Nervous, Speechless, Charming or Child.
Clip Blinks	Keep or Replace the blinks already in the animation.
Seed	A different pattern of blinks with the same profile.
Frame Range	The frames to blink over. Follows the playback range until you type your own.
Add Auto Blink	Keys blinks onto a layer of their own.
Profile (Auto Breathe)	Calm, Normal, Heavy or Sleeping.
Depth	How deep the breaths are. 1 is the profile as it comes.
Seed	A different rhythm with the same profile.
Frame Range	The frames to breathe over.
Add Auto Breathe	Keys breaths onto an additive layer of its own.

Lookdev controller (LOPs)

Build Character creates a red controller node in the LOP network hosting all look controls. Material expressions reference it, so adjusting a control updates the Karma render live — except the render-property controls noted below, which need the render restarted. See The Lookdev Controller.

Two buttons sit at the top: Go to SOPs jumps back to the Reallusion Rigger node, and Reset to Defaults returns every control on the controller to its original value (after a confirmation prompt).

Quality

Parameter	Description
Quality	Preset that sets the two toggles below. Preview turns subsurface off and uses cheap cutout corneas for fast look-dev; Production restores full quality.
Light Setup	Switches the light rig built by Create Render Setup between Cinematic (warm, moody key) and Neutral (flat, even). Only affects that rig.
Remove SSS	Disables subsurface scattering on skin and teeth — the single biggest render-time saving.
Hero Eyes	Refractive ray-traced corneas for close-up realism. Off uses a cheaper cutout cornea for distant or background characters.

Skin

See Skin.

Parameter	Description
Skin Normal Strength	Intensity of the base skin normal map (pore and surface detail).
Skin Roughness	Multiplier on skin roughness. Below 1 = glossier and more lifelike; above 1 = more matte.
Diffuse Contrast	Contrast of the skin color texture around mid-grey. Very sensitive — useful range roughly 1.0–1.1.
Respect Metallic Maps	Honor Character Creator's metallic textures on teeth, tongue, and clothing. Off by default (these are dielectric and CC's metallic maps on them are usually junk).

Skin Re-tint (sub-folder)

Parameter	Description
Skin Re-tint Color	The color the skin diffuse is tinted toward. White (default) is a no-op. Affects diffuse only, across all skin.
Skin Re-tint Amount	How strongly the re-tint color is applied. 0 = untouched; 1 = full multiply. Caps at 3 but accepts higher typed values for an overdriven push.
Skip Nails	Exclude the fingernail/toenail material from the re-tint. Off by default.

Teeth (sub-folder)

Parameter	Description
Teeth Brightness	Overall brightness of the teeth/tongue diffuse. Pull below 1 for more natural teeth (CC exports them near-white). 1 = as exported.
Teeth Roughness	Multiplier on teeth/tongue roughness. Raise above 1 to soften a glary specular; below 1 for a wetter look.
Teeth Specular	Strength of the wet specular reflection on teeth/tongue. Lower it to reduce blown-out catchlights.
Teeth SSS Amount	Subsurface scattering on teeth/tongue only. Lower it to make teeth read more solid. Disabled when Remove SSS is on.

Subsurface (sub-folder — disabled when Remove SSS is on)

Parameter	Description
SSS Color	Per-channel scatter falloff color. Default a warm skin tone; cooler = bluer scatter, warmer = redder. Applies to skin and teeth.
SSS Amount	How much subsurface scattering skin and teeth receive. 1 = full lifelike scatter; lower recovers surface detail; 0 = none.
SSS Radius	How deep light scatters. Higher = softer and more translucent but washes out detail.
SSS Quality	Subsurface ray limit (higher = cleaner and slower). A Karma render property — a change may only take effect after restarting the render.

Wrinkles (FBX import only)

See Wrinkles.

Parameter	Description
Wrinkle Strength	Master intensity of all wrinkle channels. 0 disables wrinkles; 1 is as authored.
Normal / Diffuse / Roughness Strength	Per-channel trims on top of the master strength (relief, crease darkening, sheen).

Displacement

See Displacement.

Parameter	Description
Mode	How displacement maps render: Bump (cheap), True Displacement (real geometry, needs subdivision, slower), or Disable. Only matters for characters exported with displacement maps.
Displacement Strength	Scale of the displacement effect. Small values (~0.002) are typical.

Eyes

Rebuilds Character Creator's HD eye look, which barely travels in the export. Organized into Iris / Limbus / Sclera / Eye Shadow / Wetness tabs, with Glow below. See Eyes.

Parameter	Description
Eye Normal Strength	Eyeball surface detail (sclera veins, iris relief), separate from the head. Low by default (0.2) — CC's eye normal is strong.
Lightness	Lifts the brightness of the whole eye, applied after the iris tint, limbus and sclera. 1 = unchanged; above 1 brightens (slider to 5, accepts higher); below 1 darkens. Raise this when a dark iris won't take a tint. Both import modes.

Iris tab

Parameter	Description
Iris Color Tint / Iris Tint Amount	Reproduce CC's iris color (masked to the iris, so the sclera stays white). Amount can exceed 1 to over-saturate.
Iris Scale	Resizes the iris.
Iris Tint Radius / Iris Tint Feather	Size and soften the tint disc.

Limbus tab

Parameter	Description
Limbus Color / Width / Scale / Strength / Feather	The dark ring at the iris/sclera edge. Strength 0 by default (a little reads as depth); Width and Feather set thickness and edge softness; Scale fits the ring to the iris.

Sclera tab

Parameter	Description
Sclera Color / Sclera Tint Amount	Tint the white of the eye. Amount 0 by default; the tint is the exact inverse of the iris mask, so the iris is never affected.

Eye Shadow tab

Parameter	Description
Color / Strength / Radius / Feather	The eyelid contact shadow on the eyeball (top-biased). Strength 0 by default; bigger Radius reaches further in.

Wetness tab

Parameter	Description
Eye Glossiness	Overall eyeball shine/wetness. Works on every character (try 1.2–2 for a wet look).
Tearline Gloss / Presence / Ripple	The wet lid rim — only on characters that ship a tear-line mesh (no effect otherwise; use Eye Glossiness instead). Gloss is roughness, Presence scales the reflection, Ripple adds micro wet-bump detail.

Glow

Parameter	Description
Glow Mode	Stylized eye emission: Flat Color, Use Eye Texture, Multiply with Texture, Iris (Circle), Iris (Dot). None by default.
Eyes Cast Light	Treats the glowing eyes as a light source that illuminates nearby surfaces. A Karma render property — this and the two controls below may only take effect after restarting the render.
Light Quality / Light Intensity	Sampling quality of the eye light (reduces noise) and how strongly the eyes light their surroundings.
Glow Strength / Glow Color	Brightness and color for the Flat, Texture, and Multiply modes.
Iris Color	Color of the iris glow for both Iris modes.
Iris Strength / Iris Radius / Iris Feather	Per-mode brightness, disc size, and (Dot) edge softness for the Iris modes.

Hair

Re-dye and shade the character's scalp hair. Applies to hair carrying CC's hair maps (root, ID, flow); simpler hair and caps keep their baked color. See Hair.

Parameter	Description
Hair Color Mode	Baked (CC) keeps the exported hair color; Custom re-dyes from the controls below, keeping strand detail.
Root Color / Tip Color	The roots-to-tips ombré gradient in Custom mode. (FBX import only — USD mode does a flat re-dye from Root Color.)
Lightness (Bleach)	Lightens or bleaches the hair, in both Baked and Custom modes. 1 = unchanged; above 1 bleaches toward light/blonde (slider to 20, accepts higher); below 1 darkens.
Highlight Color / Highlight Amount	A second color blended into highlighted strands (balayage/streaks) and how strongly it shows. 0 disables highlights. (FBX import only.)
Controlled Specular Highlights	Uses the hair's specular mask to restrain over-exposed highlights (CC's intended look). Off gives full specular.
Hair Anisotropy	Stretches the specular highlight along the strands (directional hair sheen), steered by the flow map. 0 is off. (FBX import only.)

Brows (sub-folder)

Parameter	Description
Brow Lightness	Lifts the brows' brightness. 1 = unchanged; slider to 20, accepts higher. Applies at any tint amount, including 0. CC's brow maps are near-black, so raise this first or a tint reads as doing nothing — 6–14 is the usual working range.
Brow Tint Color / Brow Tint Amount	Re-tint the eyebrows, keeping strand detail. Amount 0 by default. Use to match brows to dyed hair. Note brows also run through the scalp re-dye, so Custom mode reaches them and these controls layer on top.

Facial Hair (sub-folder)

Beards, moustaches and sideburns. Decoupled from the scalp hair — the Hair color controls above do not touch them. See Hair.

Parameter	Description
Facial Hair Lightness	Lifts the beard's brightness. 1 = unchanged; slider to 20, accepts higher. Applies at any tint amount, including 0 — this alone greys or lightens a beard. Blows out from around 4x.
Facial Hair Tint Color / Facial Hair Tint Amount	Re-tint facial hair, keeping strand detail. Amount 0 by default. CC names every piece Beard1, Beard2 and so on, so moustaches, sideburns and soul patches all follow these.