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

3 comments:

  1. hey 1 year back an animator wanted me to do this and i couldnt find anything.. didnt even know it was called "soft IK"..i'll try to get to the bottom of this too

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  2. Hey pavithra,
    I've also heard of it referred to as a 'soft effector' solution. You may be able to dredge up some more stuff than what I've found for it. Good luck, and let us know if you do come up with anything.

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  3. First time I heard about it!! Thanks!!

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