CGTalk - Limiting degree of freedom with IK

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rustbucket

06-16-2009, 12:50 AM

I have built a joint chain which can be seen in the picture below. None of these joints are ball/socket type joints as they are all limited to a single axis which is listed in the picture. Im basically trying rig this with an ik system, but have been getting very unpredictable results due to the limited degrees of freedom (read axis's being locked out of their full range of movement).

Im pretty limited when it comes to rigging, so im wondering how you rigging guru's would approach this problem. Hopefully the picture itself is enough explanation, but let me know if I need to divulge more specifics.

Im basically wondering if IK is the way to go for this, or if linking joints via expressions would be a better option.

http://www.autofuss.com/colin/RigQuary.jpg

Thanks in advance

NolanSW

06-16-2009, 03:17 PM

What I might do here is if think of the IK as a driver to another set of joints that are constrained to this ik system but only follow the orientation rules that you want. So have a duplicate system that rides on top of you IK chain via constraints but only constrain the axises you want. Just a thought.

rustbucket

06-16-2009, 09:18 PM

Thanks for that Sean. It worked brilliantly setting it up that way.

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