Animating with IK and FK

Ever wonder how to animate your character's arms and legs the right way? Here are some tips to help you on your quest!
NEW ADVANCED TFK / IK TIPS VIDEO - • Advanced IK + FK Anima...
Here are some tips for choosing the most effective method for your shot!
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In three years, I went from having absolutely no experience in 3D Animation to working at DreamWorks Animation Studios to teach just about all of the 3D software we use- and I'm not done yet!
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Thanks for watching!

[@SirWade]

Hi! There is a new video on this topic - updated in 2020 for advanced workflows, blending, matching , etc. kzbin.info/www/bejne/p6Kti6Svi52soMU

[@KyleHarrisonRedacted]

I've gone years and been through two private tech colleges for 3d animation, not a single one made the distinction between Fk and Ik as clear as this. And it can be boiled down as simply as: When dealing with external force that pushes against a limb, use IK, for the natural motion of limbs, use FK Thank you so much, this has immediately improved this whole process for me. Kind of a huge "ah HAH I SEE" moment

[@theodorathanasiadis6629]

You are the first one that says it correctly.Most people use wrong terminology. Thanks for putting things right. So forward kinematics or fk are intrisinc forces produced by the muscles to the bones by the tendones and sometimes through mebranes fascii.On the other hand inverse kinematics or ik are extrinsic forces or exogen (the oposite is endogen) produce by an external factor,for instance physiotherapist move with his hands a broken arm of a pacient to restore articulation mobility and muscle stifness.

[@SirHosisofLiver]

I was just thinking you can explain the difference pretty good through boxing: FK is good for throwing punches. IK is good for clinching

[@kiraanime101]

Wow you explained it so much better than any of my teachers ever did in college

[@darthdarth4297]

This is the comment on every KZbin tutorial. It’s so true

[@SirWade]

Sorry if the music is a little too loud! Using new speakers- trying to get the mix right. Let me know your thoughts please!

[@krishnateja8192]

Sir Wade Neistadt brother if you don't mind can you please give me the rig... please i Don't you it in wrong way... I'll use just for interview..... please brother

[@rjnanimation]

Really helpful . I wish I had seen it before because I did an animation using ik instead fk so I had to work a lot. Any way really appreciate your work. Thank you.

[@smatthews1999]

Elevator music completely unnecessary

[@chibinejiten]

I finally understand what IK and FK is and their difference and when to use it because of you Sir Wade :). Thanks!

[@jantienevandrunick9857]

YAY! I finally understand IK and FK a bit better. I was having troubles with an animation and you helped me understand it :3 thank you

[@GrowingStrength]

My first video from your channel and really enjoyed! Thanks for the explanation, you made it easy to understand.

[@007Babush]

Thanks for the in-depth tutorial! It really helped me understand the difference between IK and FK

[@Delano762]

I've been trying for years now to understand the concept of IK, and there it is - a clear and simple explanation.

[@andreisubochev8300]

You're definitely the most talented teacher I've ever seen

[@septiflops5486]

That is a rock solid explanation! Well put! I would add a caveat to the "if you're doing arcs use FK", for arcs that wave the arms from one side of the body to the other, or in a specific pattern, like a sword swing or wand spell, IK might actually be better than FK at making those arcs, because you're trying to get the hand to move in a predictable, non-wobbly, swoosh in world space. At that point the hand is almost following the object and it's the object that is animating so maybe that's how it falls into the IK category? But you're totally right it depends on what you're doing and the animation involved. Anyway, well said all around! Thank you for articulating it in such a thoughtful way! I'll totally point new and old animators to your channel.

[@simonthe-light2632]

This is amazing. I am a beginner and i was researching on IK and FK.. this video helped a lot to learn... thanks a lot

[@danydanae8321]

Thank you! I’ve been strugguling with this for a while and you made it really clear :)

[@asapGooby]

This is GREAT! My mentors never told us that we could switch to FK so I had to find out myself, which is great! Gotta get ahead of my class

[@raze1669]

I'm so so glad I found this while I'm just now learning animation this is incredibly helpful

[@dianaAnKylo]

Sir Wade is one love. Thank you!!

[@rubencrespo9699]

Thank you very much for your explanations, they have helped me a lot.

[@RikkaMandanas]

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS TUTORIAL! This helped our class!!! 💓 we appreciate your efforts Sir! 🤗 More power to you, Sir. :)

[@SirWade]

So glad it helped!! Let me know if there are any other topics I can help with!!

[@avidsaeed8160]

Thank you so much Sir Wade... Your a number one teacher!

[@gauravjain4249]

Thanks a lot; it saves too much time. This is the most helpful video, and you are a great artist and person.

[@lustantinoanimations5699]

I find this highly educational! Being an amateur myself, I never knew the difference between rigs. I have always used an IK for the premade models in Source FilmMaker (I know, silly little software, am I right?) and I never knew that FK could make animating easier. Helps a lot, good sir :)

[@anttraveller85]

I am currently enrolled in the animation class and I could not understand which one to use and when. Then I remembered that you made this tutorial, so I watched it. It really makes things clear. Thank you so much for making this great video.

[@lukasallenbaugh4728]

Thanks for the tip on IK FK on the legs, just what I was looking for ( :

[@dshaynietheawesome]

Thank your for this amazing tutorial it helped out alot and made my class projects much better then they would have been

[@tevfikTt9974]

man you tell like a poem.thank you may be ı can start doing animation with your tuts.

[@blablablah12d]

Im not that experience in 3d animation, im 13 years old and when i first start to try maya i was super overwhelmed and just gave up, i would love to see a very basic step by step beginner tutorial on tools and introductions..that will be great!...btw love youre channel!!

[@SirWade]

I can definitely do that! :) The first time I looked at a 3D program I had the exact same reaction, and I was about your age too- I think I was like 14 and I downloaded Blender, opened it, and said "NOPE. CAN'T DO IT." and I didn't open 3D software again until college haha- but I will do my best to help! It's really not as bad as it looks, it just needs to be shown to you in an easy-to-understand manner and you'll be off to a great start!!

[@meagancook8106]

Hey! I’m 14 and downloaded blender a bit ago but gave up on it till now, I made a short animation of board game dices falling but that’s it.mhow are you doing? I would love to see a tutorial step by step to making an actual animation with people in it and stuff haha it’s very complicated but hard and I dream about becoming an animator for a big studio! Good luck! Btw what’s maya?

[@happypanther17vid]

Meagan Cook maya is the software he's using in the video ^^

[@jothammatu7699]

Thank you for sharing this with us.

[@HoxtonGuitarist]

Oh my gosh I'm so glad I watched this. Probably saved me a year of thinking IK was better.

[@BaseballGuy45]

Solid video! Great content. I would love to see a video explaining how to make a character drastically move in world space. For example, if a character is turning around 360 multiple times quickly, how do you manage to do that smoothly, while keeping your values under control in the channel box. Do you move the global control? Or key it individually. Also, it would be great to get a more detailed explanation of how to take something that would come from the layout department, with the crude timing and spacing for the animation, and take it into the correct blocking stages.

[@SirWade]

Great suggestions!! For the first one on crazy rotations and controls, I'm going to probably bring in my friend who works on games to talk about how he handles those 180/360 turns- that's a tough one! Layout to Anim I may be able to make one on my own! I added them to my 2018 list of videos! :) Thank you!!

[@macronchampion]

Thank you, I finally understand IK and FK , a blender user.

[@hazimijaz]

What an amazing video. Thanks alot :) Really helped me

[@Avatarconner]

I've been animation for about six months now, we went over IK and FK in the class I've learned it from, and I'm glad that I go over stuff like this again. I primarily use IK handles since it's faster and usually I just need to adjust the elbow control to fix an animation that doesn't look quite right. However he is completely right about using FK with walk cycles, took me about two hours to do what might have been done in a few minutes with FK. Hoenstly I still prefer IK but this does make me think of using FK more from now on.

[@mch43856]

FK is hell tho for legs when doing a walk cycle, IK is much more intuitive especially the hips. I personally preffer ik for arms too especially for actions like swinging a sword where you can parent both hands to the sword and then just animate the sword and let the hands naturally follow it.

[@marksevastipol1946]

Amazing video I need to stop ik I've been using it way to much but thanks for this video

[@IceFry66]

My teacher spent hours to make me understand this stuff... But this video finally made it possible to get it through my thick skull haha

[@iaaam5361]

Thank you, that’s really helpful. 👍👍👍

[@hy0chan]

hi sir, thankyou for explaining this in one video. i’ve been battling alot with student and animators to get them understand. great video keep goin. My suggestion is just use Gimbal rotation mode to avoid gimbal when animating in FK. (and thats why we also need sub controller sometimes) if there’s no subcontroller on the rig, better to plan our shot from the first.

[@SirWade]

It's a tough one to grasp, and to teach! But useful. Also I agree- it's hard to give good advice considering so many rigs are different too.. And thank you!!

[@TheUrbanAdventurer]

That is good information. Thanks.

[@maxfartuhov]

very clear. thanks a lot!

[@rkpixeldesign]

Thanks for this i just asked you about this a week ago and you have made it

[@SirWade]

I try my best! Haha :)

[@piusgatei3986]

Really helpful video. Thank you

[@SXR123_YT]

For me, I've been spoiled by rigs that have matching functions. as in from the click of a button I can go from IK to FK (or vice versa) and the pose the arm was in would stay the same. Because of this, I've started jumping between IK and FK during animations. Some bits I use IK because it's easier to pose the arm, but for quick, snappy movements I jump to FK, even though I still have trouble with it here and there.

[@vishnuchaitanya8313]

how can we change ik to fk for hands

[@samira.studio7032]

thank you so much this was really helpful

[@tennisphotography]

thats great help Sir :) thanks

[@subhodipk7254]

Thanks sir🌻

[@afronprime51]

Very clear thanks.

[@medievalhedgehog6967]

I wasnt sure about using Ik for a character doing push ups, but after this i think is the right way to go

[@cassandradouglas3088]

You are amazing.

[@teatree5633]

This is really helpful! Out professor taught us how to rig both in FK and IK, but thank you for explaining in detail. In my case, I use FK a lot and forget that an IK rig actually exists 😅

[@SirWade]

I'm glad it was helpful! :D Let me know if there are any other video ideas that would help out!

[@lucasdmc2631]

When rigging I just use Ik on the legs, and sometimes used ik on the arms but now I don't anymore, but I learned that to fix the issue here in 8:45, when rigging you can have the bones of lower body and upper body separated, so that when you add ik chains to the legs, the hips will move the arms with it even when having the ik chains on the arms

[@montroski9652]

such a good video thanks a lot

[@nicole-ruggiero]

this is great thank you

[@muhammadmashhood4611]

You are amazing you explain ow-some

[@TheSkywalker334]

super helpful, thank you very much :)

[@x123Juancho123x]

Very nice explanation. It's also worth noting you can change FK arms so that they don't change rotation when you rotate the spine. IMO it's more comfortable to animate like that.

[@SirWade]

Very true- I'm going to do a whole short little video talking about follow-aligns- which if I'm understanding right is exactly what you're referring to? I totally agree. Having the head and arms allowed to do their own things and not have to follow the body is a huge deal.

[@lomaxdesigns1716]

Good stuff.

[@Devsingh01985]

This video was soo helpfull.. thankyou sir..

[@MrHarraga]

I Like What You Do Man ....

[@deucesmcgee7387]

Sweet I'm using Blender and still found this pretty helpful.

[@rodrigoferriz8267]

Hi, how do you change animation ik to fk without destroy your previous keys?

[@VinayKumar-fu9to]

Thank you so much bro clearly understand fk and ik love you im from India bt ur English is very clearly easily understanding ur English also

[@muditsh3298]

Sir, can you start a whole series of Animation basics walking us from complete basics of animation to animating a little scene maybe teaching us the basics ? Please make one cuz that would be very helpfull to get started and Thanks for this video becuz in alot of videos i saw , they didn't explain anything and they kept saying IK, FK and i was like what is all this stuff which u explained well. Thank You sir !

[@SirWade]

I'll see how much I'm able to do- that would be a LOT haha but as much as I'm able, I'd love to help! But I'm glad this one was useful so far!!

[@atifahmad6457]

you must have more subscribers.Sir!

[@reniferZiolo]

i use ik's only even for tails :) but you have to be very mindful of how things work ,still its much easier for me to get arcs this way

[@carger1887]

Hey there! I'm seriously considering getting into animation as a career path. I went to school for political science and economics, and unfortunately it took me the full 4 years to realize this just wasn't doing it for me. I'm 26 and concerned about starting over, but this is something I'm quite interested in pursuing. If you were to lay out a plan, putting aside finances, for someone to build from the ground up towards an animation career in the most efficient and productive way possible, what steps would you take and in what order given your experiences? Self teaching, Animation Mentor, a community college for basic overviews, etc. Thanks so much, loving the channel!

[@SirWade]

Hey man! First thing: You can totally do it. Those are great questions. If I were to lay out a plan, finances aside... The overarching objective is to learn as much as you can starting as early as you can, at your pace- and to do as many projects as possible in the time you have. So in that- I don't know where you're based, but if you have a community college nearby with classes in 3D Multimedia and Animation, that's probably the first thing you can do, as well as KZbin videos and tutorials to get you competent in the tools and start to develop an idea of what you enjoy doing. I recommend finding the DreamWorks Animation Pipeline video to see what I mean. Community college and self teaching is good for just getting an idea of what you're interested in, but very quickly I would look to Animation Mentor for the real educational piece. That's the base level, but hit me with specifics and I'm happy to keep going!

[@manojkannan2018]

Thanks you cleared my doubts about IK and FK. I am always confused about elbow placement(pole vec) when using ik. Give some tips plz

[@rafaelikenaga]

Thank you so much, youre videos are great!! do you have anything covering Maya Human IK tool?

[@esharatnaparkhi7634]

Sir plz will you explain the functions of snapping ik and fk for foot while animating a walk cycle

[@Gichanasa]

Nice video. Do you have a video on spline IK with twist control in Maya? Tentacles that bend and twist...

[@maeross]

Thank you for your videos. I have a question about Animation Mentor. Did you work during the course? You said the course takes a lot of time. Is it possible to combine it with work/studying?

[@SirWade]

Thank you for watching :) Yeah I did work full time during the whole thing pretty much- most people either work or have families.. Some people have kids, pets, and multiple jobs! It's crazy!! It IS possible, but it's not necessarily easy. Some people struggle with it and with school or a job, so it's very important to manage your time well and stay disciplined. Like, I really didn't have a life for a year and a half- it was a very focused time for me- work, eat, AM, sleep (a little), repeat.

[@lautzu2885]

Keep up the good work Do you use 3DS Max to?

[@alexandrepv]

When you animate, do you set bio mechanical limits to the joints? Like how little the clavicle bone can move, and the limits of rotation on the humerus.

[@SirWade]

Never! Sometimes the performance requires you to push the rig past what was intended naturally, to get something exaggerated enough, or to cheat to camera 🙂

[@mohdsuhail443]

Nice

[@FarmingWithAsifBashir]

Superb You're an awesome guy 👍😍💝❤️🔥😎🌹

[@Jester-media]

That's super helpful, thank you. Also congratulations on getting married 😄👍

[@SirWade]

Thank you!! :)

[@FeAlmeida76]

Hi SirWade, thanks for share your knowledge. When using IK and FK do you switch between them depending on the position you want for your keyframe OR if you start with IK do you go all the way to the end?

[@simnanishaikh165]

Sir you're amazing in explaining animation ik and fk could you please make a full animation playlist in maya i really really understanding the concept please please please sir make it on maya animation start to end animation playlist from basic to advance to end of animation a big fan of u love from india

[@raghvendrakumar3892]

Sir your animation tutorials are brilliant and this rig is quit good from where can I get this rigged model

[@masterskullking4929]

This content really good

[@SirWade]

Thank you! :)

[@alexandrelecomte6544]

Awesome video. That will be so cool if you can do some review of animation from you're followers!! Watch you animate will be really helpfull i think.

[@SirWade]

I'm happy to give it a shot! I'll probably start with a little panel of AM people reviewing stuff first so it's not just me haha! But the watch me animate series would be really interesting!

[@keyscribbler8897]

There are rigs where u can switch between ik and fk rig for the character. Can u make a tut on how to make a rig like that ?

[@LucasSantos-cn4wb]

I wish he went over blending between the two when animating a scene that needs both. I don't get how to do that smoothly.

[@LucasSantos-cn4wb]

@no not many that go over smooth transitions between the two from a custom position

[@Jkikmi]

@@LucasSantos-cn4wb Check out antCGI < his channel is amazing

[@nimisygns1]

3d animation is my lifework.thanks for your channel . How do I activate ik or fk,and what software are you using

[@mikoaccount]

Maya, and it depends on the rig I think. but in that rig just select the small sphere and snap to ik or fk

[@enmanuelvega4881]

thanks for your great tips I've used blender for a while could you make a tutorial on using Maya I feel as if I learn more from your tutorial then from other people

[@SirWade]

Definitely! I plan on it :)

[@meagancook8106]

Enmanuel Vega can you animate on blender? Like this kind of animating?

[@omgitzjas]

Thank youu!

[@SirWade]

You got it!

[@adnan_1_0_19]

Sir Wade Neistadt hi i need to bee come a animater so what thinges i need can you give me

[@NOURATAHERful]

OMG! where have you been ? i'm an animation student , and i was searching a lot to find such a beautiful course like yours , i'll start download all your playlists about animation to start learning , thank you so much for these useful vids , but can you tell me if i studied these all vids in your channel , it will be enough to be an animator ,or i need something else plus ? and thanks once again.

[@SirWade]

Eventually I hope my channel will be enough to learn everything, but I didn't start that long ago so it's an ongoing process :) I do have a Patreon profile though where I do live classes and Q&As and reviewing work, you can also vote on what topics you want videos about! If you're interested in that :) www.patreon.com/SirWade

[@NOURATAHERful]

interesting!! , Would you mind if i need to know something to ask you? sorry for the bad English , i'm still learning .

[@sehece3557]

Thanks a lot for your videos ! They are really interesting and your experience would inspire any animator who would find your channel ! I know that in the industry (Animated movies) Maya is the main software used for animation. I'm willing to be an animator but I only animated on 3DsMax so far (it is the software used in my school). Do you think it is mandatory to be on Maya ? Or that the Industry rather focuses the animation than the software used ? I'm trying to go on Maya anyway but that's a question I keep in my mind. Thanks again for your work, keep going !

[@SirWade]

I agree with Blue Tiger here- what you create matters way more than where you create it! That said, it's very attractive to a studio if they don't have to take the time to train you in some software if you're able to learn it before you get there. Sometimes that's not possible with proprietary software like DreamWorks has for animation- but in some departments it's going to be a much bigger deal and the type of software you know will help determine whether you can actually do the work. So it goes both ways. But in your case- there's nothing wrong with animating in 3DsMax if you're good at it, however I do think it's worth your time to learn Maya since it is SO widely used in SO many studios. Disney uses a version of Maya for their movies for example- they would probably rather you know Maya than having to teach it to you. Learn as much as you can whenever you can! To be an animator is to forever be learning! :)

[@sehece3557]

Okay, thank you very much both of you for your answers ! That just motivate me even more ahah ! Wade, sorry but I have another question, I would really love to go in an animation school such as Animation Mentor, but is it something that take all your time ? I mean, there is the school to pay and I'm willing to work and save money up to that goal, but then do you think it will be possible to mix work and Animation Mentor ? To know if I have to be more preventive and save more money. Thank you !

[@SirWade]

It's absolutely doable! It can be a challenge as you get into the later classes but pretty much everyone does it. I had a full time job and other obligations during my time in AM- other people do the same, or have families, or work two jobs, etc. It's very uncommon for someone to ONLY be doing AM.

[@sehece3557]

Thank you very much both of you Animation Mentor seems to be so amazing ! Keep going you are both doing very inspirational content !

[@unet7292]

He has taought us well

[@hitmangamesyndicate5970]

love all of your videos... im trying to figure out why on some rigs... if you pose a hand in one position then switch it FK/IK it throws the hand, arm whatever into 3d space... what is that?

[@demihan14]

Hi excellent video. I write you because you may be help me. I animated a character using Fk mode but when I move the torso the nurbs move to the same direction but a little more. causing a separation from the nurbs to the skeleton

[@digitalart4245]

plzz... make a full character rigging video

[@vorrch]

what if you are doing a cowboy walk? would the arms be in IK or FK? Like with the hands in the belt

[@trevorwilliams5275]

Do you have suggestions for Ik and Fk Spines specifically in creatures?

[@YeruFox]

Is there a way to lock a hand or feet with FK ?

[@KrypticVisonUnmute]

I wanna see if there is a way to make a rig lock when switching from fk to ik and vise versa ... edit: I didn't watch the whole video, but I don't see a way to do it for blender...

[@vasiligavoyani1819]

bro this video was amazing . thank you

[@SirWade]

Definitely! Go IK on the legs and FK on the tail for sure!

[@pque1430]

Is there a way to do motions like leaning or pushing using FK without the hand sliding around everywhere? Like is there a way to make it stay in place like in IK but still work as an FK arm?

[@Wessey]

Everytime i just do ik for legs and torso and fk for arms and hands... maybe im doing wrong, but works well for me!

[@kazukonalu8520]

Thanks a lot sir! This video really helped in understanding IK/FK. But when i use switch from FK to IK, my previous poses changes. I wish if you can tell me what's the reason.

[@SirWade]

You need to match the system you're about to switch to, to the one you're currently using. If you don't match it first, when you change systems, it changes poses

[@kazukonalu8520]

Alright... I got it. Thanks a lot, sir! :)

[@kitmateyawa7829]

And now there is Cascadeur.

[@hadji087]

Ik only locks the hand if it’s in world space…if you have it in chest space, it moves like FK.