IKHandle rigging issue in Maya 2011

Base

Hello! So, I'm not sure if anyone else has run into this issue. My friend imported the .smd's of all of the TF2 characters into Maya 2009 for me, since I have 2011 and the import/export scripts don't work for it anymore.

Now, everything for the most part seems to work pretty well. The textures show up properly, weight painting is intact, etc. Except, if I try to put an IK handle on the arm or leg, the effected joints go completely straight and refuse to bend at all, and will ONLY rotate from the shoulder/hip joint. I have no idea what's causing this issue and it's preventing me from really doing anything with these assets. Does anyone have any idea on how I can fix this? Thanks in advance!

Vrav

I don't know Maya, but what you describe would happen if the IK target was off in space beyond the rig's reach. Maybe there's some sort of discrepancy regarding the location of the IK handle versus the end of the chain. Unless this is a totally common issue, posting a screenshot would probably help the other Maya users here be of assistance..?

Base

As you can see, it warps the mesh as well. Like I said, from here you can't make the bones bend at all with the handle.

kodde

Here's a theory.

If you make a completely straight chain of joints and try to place an IK-handle between them it won't bend in any direction as you move the IK-handle. One way to get around this is when creating the joints, place them so they are already bent in the direction they will be bending when animated.

If you create them straight and then bend them before placing your IK-handles you will get the same issue. Now here's why. There's something called Preferred Angle which is by default the angles which the joints are created in. IK-handles will assume? calculate? from the Preferred Angles. So what you have to do if the joints were created in a straight fashion and then bent is to tell Maya to set the new joint angles as the new Preferred Angles.

You can access these commands by right-clicking a joint. So try using the "Set Preferred Angle" command before creating those IK-handles.

Base

Wow, that did it! Thanks a ton Kodde. I bet the translations got messed up in the conversion process.

Thank you very much!

kodde

Nice. Glad to help.

WonkyKim

Wow, this question and answer is perfectly helpful for my problem. Thank you so much guys! Thank you kodde!