Maya IK Solver Issue- Automatically re-orienting joints?

RoxyPox

I am rigging a character for an FK/IK switch setup, but I am running into this issue seen above. When I add the IK solver (ikRPsolver) to the joint chain, it seems to "bump" it a little out of my original joint orientation set up. And... I have no idea why it's doing that. I do have a feeling that it's going to cause me trouble, though, especially when it comes to the FK/IK switch.
Have you guys ever faced this problem? If so, how did you fix it?

RoxyPox

Okay so I got somewhere with this. The pole vector object (blue sphere) was just in the wrong spot. I needed to snap it to the original joint and not the joint with the IK solver on it. Bit of a goofy mistake. X)
However, as you can see by the image, the joints have still rotated a bit. Is that still going to be an issue for the FK/IK switch?

antweiler

yes, to prevent the the pole vector constraint to create a pop in the joints orientation, you need to create it on the virtual plane, that is defined by the joint chain. If you dont want the constraint directly on the joint chain, you can model a poly triangle around your joints, offset its size, and place it on this plane using make live or a geometry constraint

RoxyPox

I managed to fix it! Turns out, when I created the joints for the arm, I mistakenly translated them instead of just rotating them into place, thus breaking the virtual plane. Had to learn the hard way, but at least I got the problem solved.