Rigging: Maya IK/FK switch

Mira Reed

Hello there,
recently I found out a cool method of animating switch between IK and FK without any flip and any pain - through the Animate > IK/FK Keys menu. Instead of using normal keys, you use Set IK/FK keys. Switching between IK and FK is done by checking/unchecking the Enable IK Solver option. If the IK handle was left behind while working in FK, you just need to do "Set preferred angle" in Skeleton menu. It totally works!:poly142:
In the light of this, I really do not understand, why do we need all these scripts for seamless IK/FK switches, heavy 3-chained joint systems (I mean IK, FK and skinned chains), when it is already there. From the very beginning of Maya actually. Do people forget nice simple things? Or is there some hidden problem I do not see?

melviso

I am not a rigging expert and I have animated a full character with just FK.Kinda helped me understand how every bone works.I now animate with a simple skeleton and ik handles for legs and hands,no contraints or control curves.Will probably add pole vector contraints for the legs and hands later but,my rig is quite simple,even without the contraints for the ik handles,l have no problem tweaking them when I need to.Never really needed an ik/fk switch.

Don't get the whole complex rig,contraints and control curves thingy.sometimes some of the contraints stop working or the bones start acting funny.I think scripting kinda sounds cool and professional that noone pays attention to the simple things these days.

Mira Reed

Sometimes IK/FK switch is a necessary thing. For example, your character throws the stone (arms FK) and then put his hand over his lips in some emotional affect (arms IK) and then quicly walks away (arms FK). In this animation it is very convenient to use such switch. I won't like to do it all in just FK.
So, in this example, after animating FK throw and switching to IK, there is a flip of handle towards IK control. So far, I saw like 3 different approaches to avoid this. Personally, I used a 3-chains joint limbs with IK/FK switch script (with constraining, keying and subsequently deleting constraints), but its heavy and buggy - I could only use the switch twice for some reason.
Anyway, the old method with setting IK/FK keys works smoothly. I wonder, why it is not a standard approach. I cannot believe that the reason for all these scripts development is the coolness, there must be something more to it...

melviso

As for me,I would prefer IK for throwing the stone,I just need to key the handle at specific positions and tweak the curves in the editor.Same IK for taking his hands to his mouth and walking away.I just need to key the movement at the right positions to maintain the arcs and then make sure the timing is good.

Mira Reed

IK will also work. Maybe it was not the best example. But sure as hell, there are times when you need this switch. And the last thing you want is a flip.