Where do I go now?

[brainmuffin]

I'm trying to improve my rigs. I can make a simple rig with IK legs and FK arms, but I'm at a loss as to where to go from there. I'd like to be able to rig and arm capable of IK/FK switching, for example, but I've no idea where to look for instruction. I remember long ago (back when there was still an ARM) there used to be more advanced rigging tutorials, but they seem to be gone now. Does anyone know of anything that might help me?

[NancyGormezano]

I'm trying to improve my rigs. I can make a simple rig with IK legs and FK arms, but I'm at a loss as to where to go from there. I'd like to be able to rig and arm capable of IK/FK switching, for example, but I've no idea where to look for instruction. I remember long ago (back when there was still an ARM) there used to be more advanced rigging tutorials, but they seem to be gone now. Does anyone know of anything that might help me?

 

Holmes did an excellent video tut on A:M films in which he describes IK/FK switching (it's in part 2 of his "creating basic rig" series)

 

Essentially it is a matter of having a pose ON/OFF and creating the constraints for when the pose is ON (say IK), setting the enforcement for those constraints to 100% and then creating the constraints for when the pose is OFF and setting the enforcements = 0%, and vice versa for FK. In addition one sets which bones/nulls are to be hidden or visible based on whether IK or FK is desired.

 

It's confusing only in keeping things straight, but works quite well.

[brainmuffin]

Thanks Nancy, that should be a good start. I see there's also some hand gizmo tutorials there too!

[robcat2075]

And after you digest Holmes knowledge, you may find it useful to dissect a rig that does something you like and figure out how it works.