Monday, May 24, 2010

Soft IK Solution in Maya

So, I've been hearing a lot about 'Soft IK' lately and have decided to try and give a solution a go. The general idea behind it is to give the functionality of the IK Chain this behavior:


(Pic from http://www.xsi-blog.com/archives/108)

More specifically, the behavior of the bottom chain. I'm going to base it on some of the solutions presented in Jason Schleifer's Animation Friendly Rigging DVD set. I definitely recommend the DVD set if you can swing it.

If you all aren't familiar with Jason, he's an immense resource and aid to the community. I actually emailed him to get some direction with this, and he responded, at good length, within an hour. Actually 5 min for my first email.

This post will chronicle my progress with this. Though, be warned, it may take a while as I'm working to refinish our attic at home and we're expecting our first little one in Sept. So please be patient, hopefully I'll get something underway soon.

-sd