Advanced IK + FK Animation - Blending / Switching

Advanced techniques and workflows involving FK / IK switching, matching, and blending. This video should solve all of your problems!
Original FK / IK Video - • Animating with IK and FK
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[@SirWade]

Hopefully this video clears up all the issues we've all had with IK and FK from posing, switching and blending! I'm going to do another video on two-handed constraints as well. Did this video help you understand what's going on in your character's arms? :)

[@dentedbits9887]

Wait what?! This is a thing, an obstacle in animation? Or is this only just for situations where you have to have two IK and FK setups? I thought there would be something in Maya that is like IK Booster in LightWave 3D for animations. I’ve been using LightWave for years, but I’ve not done that much animation, so I am still learning, and I want to get better in that area. But, my go-to for using IK and FK at the same time is the IK Booster tool. In my limited experience I’ve never had these issues with IK/FK? I am not trying to start a Maya vs LightWave debate or anything, I am just curious why there is not a similar solution in Maya or perhaps Blender to have both IK and FK control at the same time while animating? Or if there is an add-on tool or something you plan to cover in another video maybe? Just to illustrate what I am referring to, here are examples of the IK Boost tool in use: Here is an old 2010 video with instant switching, but you do not lose your animation positioning when you switch from IK Boost to FK: kzbin.info/www/bejne/m6PGcndjgM10mLM Here is a more recent video tutorial I found showing both IK/FK control at the same time using the tool. It is pretty simple to use for me: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d3_SqWlsYseditE Thanks for all the info, this is really interesting!

[@31._.]

Where can I download the character rig used for the video?

[@BenjaminEck]

New to animation here. The whole process of IK-FK switching cleanup seems insanely laborious. Imagine how much work you could get done if you were purely concentrated on the creative instead of constantly going back and making sure your rig is following along. Kind of like needing to tie your shoes every time you take a step.

[@mch43856]

In Blender stuff like this doesnt need to be done as theres tutorials for an ik fk snap and if you are not a rigger there there is Rigify and AutoRig pro and some free human rigs like the MHX rig for Make Human come with it prebuilt

[@marverickmercer1968]

"The whole process of IK-FK switching cleanup seems insanely laborious." It is. You just get numb to the pain as you level up.

[@weksheddweller]

@@mch43856 aaaaand another reason why Blender should be the industry standard

[@alessandrosimoncelli6285]

Hi Sir Wade! I really want to point out that the AnimBot Xform Relationship isn't the only method to match an IK arm on an FK one. It is possible to create a locator in the exact position of the FK hand (select locator ---> then select FK hand ---> modify menu ---> match transformation ---> match all transformation) At this point doing the same process on the IK hand onto the locator at the desired frame will give you the hand in a perfect match, even without Animbot ;) (select IK control ---> then select the locator ---> modify menu ---> match transformation ---> match all transformation) For the IK to FK match this method still work but is needed to match a locator onto the IK joints (searching trough the outliner is still a mess, unfortunately i don't have a solution for this :( ) Once the locators are in place (IK_shoulder_joint locator, IK_elbow_joint locator and IK_wrist_joint locator) is pretty easy and fast. Just match the orientation of the FK controls (select locator ---> then select FK control ---> modify menu ---> match transformation ---> match rotation) Hope this one can help!

[@angelluz01]

Alessandro I appreciate and thank you very much for your help.

[@angelluz01]

Hello Alessandro, I saw your correct comment on the technique of going from FK to Ik and the Ik to FK, I followed your instructions and the change from FK to Ik works! but the change from Ik to Fk no, the wrist and sometimes the shoulder always turns, could you guide me please? Thanks a lot. IK to FK: First I create 3 locators and line them up in the respective Joints, each locator follows (parent) each respective joint: shoulder, elbow and wrist, then I match the orientation, select the locator and its respective joint and give it Modify / match transformation / match all transformation. After this, I make each FK control follow (parent) each respective locator: shoulder, elbow and wrist, then select each FK control to match its orientation: locator + FK control Modify / match transformation / match rotation. The wrist and sometimes the shoulder always turns, could you guide me please? Thanks a lot.

[@Prashantmakwana16]

This is what I was gonna comment, just with max align script ☻

[@WeslleyRudson]

you're a god. first video ever to explain this to me, thanks man

[@turkeymonkeyck]

Duplicating the geometry is so simple and yet so effective that I'm mad I didn't think of this lol

[@emileephillips5714]

Oh my goodness, this video saved my sanity! I'm currently a student at Animation Mentor, and I'm so glad I found this video, because up until I watched it, I couldn't figure out how to get the rig's hands to stay on his knees. I would have never found satisfaction in my assignment if it weren't for this video! Thank you!

[@RoughDonut]

I can't wait for the day that you will start making Blender Tutorials 😍

[@007Babush]

Same here :D

[@greatestmariobros3432]

That's gonna be if he dedicates him self to blender instead of mays

[@AshT8524]

Hi, Sir Wade, another method you can do without animbot: Prerequisites:Maya 2017 or above (we need match translations option) and you need to be able to select bones of the rig. For IK to FK: Make 3 locators snap locators(using match translation option under modify) to the shoulder elbow and wrist *BONES* of the rig (you can select them using outliner). Then switch to FK and snap rotations of shoulder control to the shoulder locator then do the same thing with elbow and wrist ctrls with their respective locators. For FK to IK: Again make 3 locators snap wrist and shoulder locators to their respective controls and for elbow snap the locator to elbow control and then move the locator further in the direction elbow is pointing (usually one of the local axis is pointing in that way so switch to local axis mode and drag the locator in that direction) Now just switch to IK and snap IK controls to their respective locators. Note: some times wrist might look fine but have an extra 360 or more rotation in the them it can be fixed using euler filter in graph editor. May be add this as a small video later sometime. I would have loved to have this method in beginning when I started working. Hope this helps 😊

[@stpauldudko]

I wrote a script for this method last year =)

[@AshT8524]

@@stpauldudko Nice, I also made one but it didn't work with some rigs so I didn't share it with anyone. Did you also face issue with wrist controls in some rigs? (it might be the orientation of bones, I'm not sure but it just didn't work for some rigs) Please let me know if you have a solution for that 😁

[@LucasTbooker]

Please do a video on that

[@LucasTbooker]

@@stpauldudko where is the script man?

[@Itheo378]

Extremely useful video, thank you! And thank you also for continuing posting tutorials for Maya!

[@RXOBANSH33]

Ah man I literally just finished a project where I eyeballed it. Whole time I was thinking, "There is 100% a better way to do this." Was a point I didn't consider during rigging and didn't have time to add unfortunately.

[@remem95]

I am sorta reliefed but also annoyed that even professionals struggle with this. For any Blender heads out here, I find the easiest IK to FK workflow is to make keying sets that key the visual rotation of the FK bones and key them on the last frame of IK. This will make the bones match up *almost* perfectly (FK bones rotation will most likely affect IK effectors if you dont have a double skeleton controller or fancy stuff like that) but definitely enough to work with and not worry about blending too much.

[@atoaster2070]

There's also this method: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bKfHeap-iLKYiLM

[@mch43856]

Theres lots of ways and tutorials out there on how to do an fk ik switch so this isnt really an issue in Blender. And if you dont make your own rig then there is Rigify and Auto Rig Pro and the MHX rig for Make Human

[@WhiteXFusion]

Men, your channel has become a blessing to me since i discover it, i think i have learned a lot this month just seeing your videos and putting stuff in practice. Thanks!

[@SOM_-sy6pv]

I can't believe , This problem(IK/FK switch problems) has happend to me these days and I had challange with that , but before seeing your video I found the solution, however I will watch the whole video to see what's your solution I'm commenting before watching the video , cause I'm happy that finaly someone came and covered it specifically

[@MVARTZ]

I'm working on a shot where I need to do this. Perfect timing!

[@mrgt_animation3175]

You saved my life as usual, thanks so much Sir Wade!

[@felitaong1213]

THIS JUST SAVED MY ANIMATION LIFE

[@anim_devender]

Hi wade.. Let me give you another perfect switching tip for if/fk.. Turn on joints visibility for the rig. Creat 3 locators and constrain them with joints so that they can go to the joints centre. Delete the constrain from locators. Now you have 3 locators on exact postion of ik/fk.. Switch to the other. Constrain the locators to the controlers so that they can reach to the position of the locator. And there you have perfect switching

[@artteam3977]

love you sirWade

[@arthurkhan3156]

Thank you for this! Finishing my first year animation and this helps a lot, I really enjoy your interviews and tutorials! Btw I didn't know that there were a 2 skeleton to control the Ik and FK, thanks for explaining it was very interesting :D

[@satish69406]

Great tutorial ! explains the concept perfectly

[@NoeliaEncarnacion]

This is awesome though another method I find that might help is if your working on an FK arm wanting to match it in IK, make a locator and Parent constrain it to the ball near the fingers (or wrist depending on your rig) with Maintain Offset off. and the locator should lock in place where the wrist is, next delete that constrain, and switch to IK now parent Constrain the IK hand to the locator Maintain Offset off and now your IK hand translation should be exact just need to adjust the elbow and hand rotations and boom. I hope that helps anyone

[@user-xt8mk9dx8k]

Thanks Buddy. That's exactly I needed. I found it thanks to U.

[@bobikoart]

super useful video to prep me for next sem body machanics

[@maciejszczesnik9441]

Great vid as always! You were saying, you'll give Blender a shot in one of your previous videos. I guess that recording some animation tutorials in Blender will double your subscriptions ;). Cheers!

[@dantealighary8400]

Great Tutorial.

[@TheGuyWithWifi]

could you drop a video teaching how to make that ik/fk switch from the anim mentor rigs?

[@hitmangamesyndicate5970]

Cheers Mate!!!

[@xpromisekept]

Thank you!

[@markjackson330]

Wow I had no idea that this was such a headache for animators in Maya... In blender this is just copy/paste. Still if I ever need to animate in Maya, this is very useful!

[@mch43856]

Same here lol

[@svenvenohr6117]

Always nice to still learn something new even though I knew about this one! :) (in this case the idea of within a blend of several frames actually having both systems doing the same motion) Til That point I thought this is mostly just a problem that occurs if the joint orientations of IK and FK dont match and therefore they kinda do some 90/180 degree-jumps. But yeah... smarter now :D

[@user-pj6xf1hc4p]

22:50 bcz of that I love !!

[@justinpedersen9174]

As an alternative to using Anim bot to match your poses you could create a locator, match it to the wrist and elbow, then on your second pose just snap the control to the locator. Not a perfect solve but will get you close enough.

[@TheTonyShopper]

Yep. I actually have full ik fk matching in both directions in the picker. Be it only 1 frame or over the timeline range. Animators seem to be happy about it.

[@arthurcassimiro4604]

Great video, the cool stuff is that I use blender and realized that can do the exact same things on that, so I appreciate the tips :D

[@insanecakes3896]

There actually is another method that can work that can get it theoretically exact, without Animbot (what i used before getting Animbot). You could create locators, have them constrained to the wrist elbow controls (might be a problem with controls, it will work with the joint directly), bake its locations. Then unparent them from the wrist/elbow, switch from ik to fk or fk to ik. Make the locators parent to the wrist/elbow, bake the locations onto the wrist/elbow. Delete the locators and you're good to go. Like you said at around 11:30, you'd have to do the same thing with the animation of the ik/fk control. Or do the blend.

[@andreasgeorgiou1901]

Wow man I have been an animator/ rigger for 12 years and have never known why IK/FK wigs out the way it does during a switch thank you Sir Wade!!!!! could you do a video on setting up Soft IK?

[@artistic_naman]

Great !! Keep going Sir Wade

[@miguelg_]

Match a locator to the wrist ctrl and use that to match the same position when switching over to IK without any issues.

[@MrJJAbrans]

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G video, Sir!!

[@colinmuller3067]

really good, thanks for your content

[@zacharymann393]

thank you this could help out a lot

[@mazuyaki]

Please show us how to make buttons!

[@solrax6026]

I would like to see a vid on using all these techniques in blender. I'm hoping blender will become the animators best tool. Its 2d function are pretty sweet

[@mopolo]

Do a review of the rig made by Chris Jones called Universal Human

[@JAYROUTHIER26]

Wow Sir Wade that joke was Dope! XD

[@SirWade]

;)

[@pooyapedram7250]

You are great!

[@marceloapunte9605]

gracias que buen video es de los mejores que tenemos por disfrutar!

[@jtricker1614]

thank u very much

[@Benimation_anim]

Life changing video.....

[@litjellyfish]

Still seems such and effort. Maybe I am totally wrong out here as I don’t use Maya but in MotionBuilder I always felt it so easy. Just pose it as I want. And then I just keyed the amount of FK/IK. does not the humanIK rigs in maya work the same as in MotionBuilder?

[@FroggySmallLegs]

You can just use a Picker and switch pose from there fk/ik and it moves automatically :)

[@salfazlucario2660]

hey sir wade, for the first method, you can actually create another camera and tear that one out (I have absolutly no idea what it is called in english, I use maya in a different language). So taht you can both see the grease pencil (locked ofc) and the character in 3D prespective at the same time Hope this helps :D

[@Forallusers]

amazing video sir!!! kindly please tell us also the difference in ik vs fk spine which to use and when to use for better results.... for example in walks/runs or in advance body mechanics shot when character is flipping 360 degree. thank!

[@DrivenKeys]

Thanks for making this video, these are some of the best options to this problem I've seen. It's been a decade since I rigged a character, and I'm a bit surprised to see that seamless IK/FK switching is still so rare. Sir Wade, do you ever use Maya's built in Quick Select Sets? I wonder how you feel about them compared to the other select set techniques you've demo'd.

[@Katsuhono]

Is there a reason you didn't talk much about snapping solutions ? Maybe for another video ? I've find a tutorial on the Maya Learning Channel that explains quite well how to write a little script to snap between FK and IK with just a clic, I think's it is quite beginner friendly and far easier than trying to line up by hand the limbs or there might be a reason why you shouldn't a script like that that I'm missing. Anyway great video as always !

[@phill029]

hi what if you do not have any of the tools you were using here (Animbot) or the rig does not come with the blend. is they another way to do this with out having to make duplicates and reposition the two skeletons as you did in the tutorial?. i hope this makes sense

[@mariannabrzezinska5487]

Hello everyone! Great video! I have some question about the last issue. What if my rig don't have this option to "snap FK/IK" ?? How can I do it in different way? Anyone?

[@theUAPwhisperer]

I had a back injury (post-MVA) and I need a chair that i can sit for long hours of time.. What kind of chair are you sitting on here?

[@montserratsuarez1963]

First of, thanks for this video!!. I feel relief I’m not the only one struggling with this. I always thought it was just me. Second of all, have you tried character rigs? They have some free rigs which are pretty cool; they also come with a seamless ik/fk switch that works really good! Hope some day you get your hands on some of those rigs and tell us your opinion :)

[@rug3724]

Ah, I always forget the dope sheet. I've used so many janky ways to select/move every key at once. That's extremely useful

[@user-lz7rf4vn5m]

more tips!!!)))

[@lantletevo3051]

Honest question: why would you ever animate a rig without easy IK/FK switching? Ever since I tried 3ds Max biped/CAT rigs, I could not imagine doing it manually.

[@blackholessbm]

As a rigger, I like your videos to see what you as an animator use. Till now I provided a snapping script with my rigs, but using an enum to do the work is quite simple and effective. however another way to match the wrists is a small 2line matchtransform script. just create a shelf button with the matchtransform command and you can select both controls and match them, just like the plugin you used does, but without the need of a plugin. ^^ just wanted to mention this

[@farookransz9541]

Can u make that script tutorials

[@jinujohn1336]

Hello Sir Wade, can you tell which are your top 10 or 20 animbot tools which you use frequently and show how you use them in your animation workflow. Thanks a lot.

[@hotsauce7124]

Do you have suggestions as to what Rigs are best to purchase for good IK FK matching with every set key? So you don't have to do any blending?

[@Astronet2030]

Hello Sir Wade. I have an absolutely unrelated question and I'm not sure this is the right place to ask. So first, I'm learning to animate using blender and not Maya (for so many reasons I rather not get to) But most of the videos I watch about animations are done in Maya. While I can most time translate the process into blender I just cannot reconcile why most animators animate with a tablet! Does Maya make it easier to do so? Because from my experience I find it much better animating with a mouse in blender. Maybe I'm not just pro enough to understand the tablet workflow. So my question is have you animated with a mouse before and how much more better is using a tablet to a mouse? Is Maya animating system designed around using a tablet or is it just some generic workflow that's software independent? (Mind you I have never really used a screen tablet before and maybe I don't have the right workstation for such setup. Just a laptop at the moment)

[@addisondebolt5308]

It’s really what’s comfortable to you (and your budget). Many studios I’ve worked at have provided me with tablets but some have given me on screen tablets. I personally love working this way because it feels more “connected” to the control rig. But there are plenty of times I go back and forth. I have colleges who just can’t deal with on screen tablets because their hand blocks part of the screen. There no wrong way and blender actually makes things a bit easier to animate with how they let you move things around.

[@hotsauce7124]

Ooops, I meant to ask about Auto Rigging tools. Tools that you can use to rig any character with FK and IK. Do you know of any good ones that have an Auto rig feature with IK and Fk matching? Have you used the Maya HIK or the Perseus Rig?

[@TiredTom67]

Sorry, I may have missed it in the video, but as I've learned rigging, why not just set a key on the ik/fk channel attribute? -Pose and key Ik controls frame 1 -Set channel attribute ik/fk key -Create timeline bookmark for reference -Pose and key FK controls frame 10 -Set channel attribute ik/fk key -Create timeline bookmark for reference I've only started learning animation in 3d wanting to learn rigging first, so I haven't experimented much. These other blending methods just seem a little time consuming?

[@SirWade]

The reason you can't do this and expect it to work reliably is the dual skeletons coexisting that I show, where things drift

[@TiredTom67]

@@SirWade Adoi, my bad.

[@tahliahurst7299]

Just wondering what's the best way to animate a quadrupeds spine, FK or IK? I'm animating a leopard walk cycle at the moment but am unsure which to use. Thankyou!

[@balakrishna4992]

I am A fresher i am done the shot of fight seen i keep for demo reel tell me??

[@benjoe1993]

All that manual material/blockout/grease pencil stuff because 3d software doesn't have built-in onion skinning? :D

[@konstantingurtovoy5709]

There is a good script to outline meshes - bhghost. Saves me often

[@mohammednabil7875]

regarding last tip you said about using FK for a free arcs does this mean an FK in combat with sword animation is preferred over IK? Thanks for the great video

[@filipebefx4140]

Hi Sir Wade, I really love your videos. I am quite new in 3d animation so regarding this Ik/Fk switch, would you do it during the blocking stage or when you are splining everything? I am animating a man grabbing a box and dropping it, and I want to practice Ik/Fk animation, I am currently in the blocking process and I am not too sure if I should work on it right now or after. Thanks in advance.

[@teejtheanimation9065]

Does anyone else add a locator where the wrist is ? Matching the translation and rotation then matching the FK with the locater

[@j3r0m36]

Who is the rigger for the Animation Mentor rigs or is it multiple riggers? Do they do tutorials? I'd love to learn from them.

[@Epona1357]

I have the free version of animbot but I still would love to see how you made the selection script tool. Do you make a new one for every new rig you use or is it special and works with every rig? Also an idea for a future video would be how to do a slow-mo in your animation. I can't seem to figure out a good way to do it.

[@michaeloboh9008]

is it better to use a mouse to animate over a tablet... i am thinking of switching but i needed an expert thought on egronomics

[@DREAMTEFO]

we need how animet on blender

[@salfazlucario2660]

IMO maya is better than blender at animation

[@MauroSanna]

You need to search for Blender tutorials then.

[@charlesjoshi5154]

I use rectangles all the time to mark things 😂😂

[@michaeloboh9008]

ps do a video on maya scripts basics for animators

[@Bbentley81]

This is a great video. I have a question about the FK/IK matching functionality of the rig. Do you know how that is working under the hood? Generally you have to run an external script to match IK/FK. Do you know how A.M. is getting this functionality to follow the rig file?

[@jimbodrew4776]

you can do it with a scriptJob. not sure if that is how this one is working but you can for sure do the same thing with a scriptJob

[@mch43856]

In Blender stuff like this doesnt need to be done as theres tutorials for an ik fk snap and if you are not a rigger there there is Rigify and AutoRig pro and some free human rigs like the MHX rig for Make Human come with it prebuilt

[@31._.]

Where can I download the character rig used for the video?

[@_eggs_bene]

yea i think im simply gonna refuse to use a rig that doesnt have an fk/ik snap built in. im learning maya after having used blender and ive never run into a blender rig that DIDNT have that. now im working with what seems like a really high quality maya rig but i cant find the snap anywhere. i cant imagine working on a production and not having it built in

[@michaeloboh9008]

i like your new chair,,, what happened to the ikea old one 8))))

[@michaeloboh9008]

do you still work at anim mentor

[@No_Plastic]

Think he's started to look like the Buzz Lightyear? Is that intentional? :)

[@rameshpeddine7123]

Sir many rigs doesn't have snap then how can we blend ik to fk?

[@SirWade]

I spend the first 8 minutes this video showing you how

[@mohamedshaheen4826]

Todoroki is that u

[@WishingIris]

Will you make blender tutorials?

[@artteam3977]

Love from Pakistan

[@RivenbladeS]

there is no way you did the first 3 methods. you just show it for content

[@masterninjason157]

Why does everyone get so scared of nodes? Am I the only one who thinks they look friendly and fun?... Well, I have seen some scary stuff, but usually they look fine to me...

[@necrago]

Why do all rigs suck!? I really nees those animation mentor rigs

[@kordaling]

Why people still use the ik/fk switch when you can have an hybrid ik/fk controller that have the exact same features without having to snap. After years of trying, I totally dont get why you want to waste time and mental sanity, snaping stuff when you can just... dont have to.

[@VJsubstanceJ]

Please elaborate.

[@kordaling]

@@VJsubstanceJ this is pretty hold but he explains it very well ; www.joleanes.com/ikfksolver.html

[@enigma_dy]

I dont get why rigger dont use d hybrid controller that offer the same feature instead all dis unnecessary rubbish. I net some dont even know the feature exist or some just like to flex the rigging knowledge

[@hadinajafpour7858]

Always you are talking very very fast I can't understand it at all

[@SirWade]

You can slow down the video

[@eddieandersson5570]

Instead of using greaspencil to outline a limb, get Brian Horgan's Bh_Ghost script. You can find it at graphite9.com Also super good for timing/ spacing/arcs.

[@leenbarghothi7798]

Thank you!