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Subject: Why does IK not work properly


Loopspon ( ) posted Thu, 14 November 2024 at 2:06 PM · edited Thu, 21 November 2024 at 5:07 AM

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when I apply IK to the right arm then it turns into this crap


Richard60 ( ) posted Thu, 14 November 2024 at 2:42 PM

IK is one of those things that is best to use or not use.  If you use it start from the beginning and move the hand which will move the rest of the arm.  What it appears you have done is posed the figure then turned on IK and the hand is still set to it's default position and it jumped back there and since it is an impossible move the rest of the arm distorts.  If you set the figure to default pose and then tried to move the hand to in front of the chest without changing the bend angles of the wrist you end up with weird angles.  IK for the feet are easier since the foot almost always faces forward. The hand will change direction simply by moving it.  IK for the arms is best used when the hands are constrained to another object, such as a steering wheel.  That way the hands move a bit and the arms follow without as much distortion.  

The question is why do you need to have IK on the hands on?

IF you are doing an animation and want to use IK for the hands it is best if you set the Keyframes to Linear as that will prevent overshoot that occurs when there are several keys and they are not symmetrical. 

Poser 5, 6, 7, 8, Poser Pro 9 (2012), 10 (2014), 11, 12, 13


Loopspon ( ) posted Thu, 14 November 2024 at 4:17 PM
Richard60 posted at 2:42 PM Thu, 14 November 2024 - #4491350

IK is one of those things that is best to use or not use.  If you use it start from the beginning and move the hand which will move the rest of the arm.  What it appears you have done is posed the figure then turned on IK and the hand is still set to it's default position and it jumped back there and since it is an impossible move the rest of the arm distorts.  If you set the figure to default pose and then tried to move the hand to in front of the chest without changing the bend angles of the wrist you end up with weird angles.  IK for the feet are easier since the foot almost always faces forward. The hand will change direction simply by moving it.  IK for the arms is best used when the hands are constrained to another object, such as a steering wheel.  That way the hands move a bit and the arms follow without as much distortion.  

The question is why do you need to have IK on the hands on?

IF you are doing an animation and want to use IK for the hands it is best if you set the Keyframes to Linear as that will prevent overshoot that occurs when there are several keys and they are not symmetrical. 

Thank you.I'm trying to make an animation that the arm move backwards first then move forward to touch a still rock.I want to use IK when the hand  is supported on the rock.Now I cannot get what I want,should I change all the other body parts Keyframes to Linear?


Richard60 ( ) posted Thu, 14 November 2024 at 6:25 PM

For the Key Frames I would change them to Linear since it is a controlled known movement.  The problem with the default is that the Spline try's to go through all the points and that messes with the movements before and after you place a new key frame.  I will post a couple of examples when I am at home and can get to them.  Or you can search for posts that I have made, and you will see some of the issues.

IK Test Jump by Richard60

above is a link to a video that shows how to use IK and constraints to try and do what you want.  I had a thread or an answer to a thread about how to do IK.  I will try and look that up later also.  The thing is that I would put in a prop (ball) that you can be the constraint for the hand.  Put the ball where the default hand is and constrain and turn on IK.  Now slowly move the ball prop to where you want it to touch.  Adjust the Wrist of the hand along the way to keep it in the proper real-life position.  Do this by adjusting the constraint object and not the hand. This will be somewhere along the timeline, and you will be working backwards to bring the hand to the starting position either by moving the ball with the constraint on OR by dialing down the constraint till the hand is free at 0.  Now when you dial the constraint up the hand reaches for it.  ONCE you have the movement exactly the way you want it then you will bake in all the movements so that you can work without the IK.  

IK is one of those things that you use all the time or none of the time.  However, you can make small sections using IK to get the movement you want and then bake it in and turn off IK.  Tha way you don't break the rule of IK On or Off both not both.


Poser 5, 6, 7, 8, Poser Pro 9 (2012), 10 (2014), 11, 12, 13


Loopspon ( ) posted Fri, 15 November 2024 at 6:42 AM
Richard60 posted at 6:25 PM Thu, 14 November 2024 - #4491360

For the Key Frames I would change them to Linear since it is a controlled known movement.  The problem with the default is that the Spline try's to go through all the points and that messes with the movements before and after you place a new key frame.  I will post a couple of examples when I am at home and can get to them.  Or you can search for posts that I have made, and you will see some of the issues.

IK Test Jump by Richard60

above is a link to a video that shows how to use IK and constraints to try and do what you want.  I had a thread or an answer to a thread about how to do IK.  I will try and look that up later also.  The thing is that I would put in a prop (ball) that you can be the constraint for the hand.  Put the ball where the default hand is and constrain and turn on IK.  Now slowly move the ball prop to where you want it to touch.  Adjust the Wrist of the hand along the way to keep it in the proper real-life position.  Do this by adjusting the constraint object and not the hand. This will be somewhere along the timeline, and you will be working backwards to bring the hand to the starting position either by moving the ball with the constraint on OR by dialing down the constraint till the hand is free at 0.  Now when you dial the constraint up the hand reaches for it.  ONCE you have the movement exactly the way you want it then you will bake in all the movements so that you can work without the IK.  

IK is one of those things that you use all the time or none of the time.  However, you can make small sections using IK to get the movement you want and then bake it in and turn off IK.  Tha way you don't break the rule of IK On or Off both not both.


I'm not sure I fully understand what you said:(...I just want to know,I set the pose in frame 1 then I apply IK to the arm then the arm turns into this crap.How should I avoid this?


Richard60 ( ) posted Fri, 15 November 2024 at 1:02 PM

Try it the other way around.  That is apply IK FIRST then the pose.  When IK is off the hand is not moved rather the shoulder and elbow move the hand.  The problem is that the hand has a known location, and IK is trying to apply that location to the hand and the hand is no longer at that location because it was moved by the rest of the arm, so when IK is turned on the hand is trying to move to where it thinks it should be.

Poser 5, 6, 7, 8, Poser Pro 9 (2012), 10 (2014), 11, 12, 13


Loopspon ( ) posted Fri, 15 November 2024 at 1:27 PM
Richard60 posted at 1:02 PM Fri, 15 November 2024 - #4491379

Try it the other way around.  That is apply IK FIRST then the pose.  When IK is off the hand is not moved rather the shoulder and elbow move the hand.  The problem is that the hand has a known location, and IK is trying to apply that location to the hand and the hand is no longer at that location because it was moved by the rest of the arm, so when IK is turned on the hand is trying to move to where it thinks it should be.

So ,the hand will try to move to its" known location" when I apply IK  and the location is not the same as where I posed it originally in frame 1,is that right?


Richard60 ( ) posted Fri, 15 November 2024 at 4:54 PM

Correct.  If you apply IK to the feet of a figure and then drag the hip up into the air you will see ghost footprints where the IK target is.  The target is not a part of the figure and will be placed wherever you move the foot (or hand) to after IK is turned on.  It would be really nice if you could move the target directly, however you have to use constraints to do about the same things.

Poser 5, 6, 7, 8, Poser Pro 9 (2012), 10 (2014), 11, 12, 13


ChromeStar ( ) posted Sat, 16 November 2024 at 11:16 PM

Maybe it's a setting thing but that doesn't match my experience with IK.

* I don't see any target. I see that in the documentation but I've never seen it on the screen. Maybe it is a setting that can be toggled?

* You can override the target by using the X/Y/Z controls to move the hand or foot. Whatever you dialed in is the new target and it matches the position of the hand/foot.

* When I turn IK on or off, the hand/foot stays in more or less the same point.


The circumstance where toggling IK on or off causing a figure to change pose is when the current frame is not a key frame. The key frames will recalculate to keep the same pose either with or without IK, but the way movement from one key frame to another is achieved might be totally different (and sometimes badly broken).

I've largely stopped using IK because, although it's easier to precisely position a hand or foot with it on, the animations often become jerky instead of smooth. (I wish hands and feet kept the X/Y/Z controls when IK was off!)




Richard60 ( ) posted Mon, 18 November 2024 at 10:06 AM

The IK target is only visible while you hold and move say the hip and pull the body away from the ground.  As soon as you release the hip then the IK targets disappear.  Which is why they are only slightly useful.  In that you can see where the target is when moving but not always and if the foot/hand is still at the target location then it is hidden, and you never see it.  It would be really nice to have the targets visible all the time, except that you would not see them if they were covered.

Poser 5, 6, 7, 8, Poser Pro 9 (2012), 10 (2014), 11, 12, 13


Loopspon ( ) posted Mon, 18 November 2024 at 9:12 PM
Richard60 posted at 10:06 AM Mon, 18 November 2024 - #4491479

The IK target is only visible while you hold and move say the hip and pull the body away from the ground.  As soon as you release the hip then the IK targets disappear.  Which is why they are only slightly useful.  In that you can see where the target is when moving but not always and if the foot/hand is still at the target location then it is hidden, and you never see it.  It would be really nice to have the targets visible all the time, except that you would not see them if they were covered

Eh..this may be a stupid question,but may I ask what should I do when I want to make an animation,such as a man doing push-ups without using IK?


ChromeStar ( ) posted Mon, 18 November 2024 at 10:40 PM

Maybe it's just that the constraints are the same color as the background, but even when I went deliberately trying to see them by moving the hip up that the feet lift well off the floor, I don't.


Anyway, the alternatives to using IK are either manually adjusting the positions of the arms/legs to keep the hands/feet in the correct place, which is tedious and not super precise, or you could try Richard60's suggestion of using Constraints. I have not played with that myself.

But IK generally will do what you want. I would just suggest saving before you turn it on/off, and then check things are ok. Set keyframes to avoid them getting messed up by the switch. The whole thing about targets is largely moot if you aren't moving the body so far that the hands/feet are getting dragged away from their starting point.


Loopspon ( ) posted Wed, 20 November 2024 at 1:19 AM
ChromeStar posted at 10:40 PM Mon, 18 November 2024 - #4491493

Maybe it's just that the constraints are the same color as the background, but even when I went deliberately trying to see them by moving the hip up that the feet lift well off the floor, I don't.


Anyway, the alternatives to using IK are either manually adjusting the positions of the arms/legs to keep the hands/feet in the correct place, which is tedious and not super precise, or you could try Richard60's suggestion of using Constraints. I have not played with that myself.

But IK generally will do what you want. I would just suggest saving before you turn it on/off, and then check things are ok. Set keyframes to avoid them getting messed up by the switch. The whole thing about targets is largely moot if you aren't moving the body so far that the hands/feet are getting dragged away from their starting point.

Yeah,I guess because  I simply copy frame from one to another so this problem happens


nerd ( ) posted Wed, 20 November 2024 at 2:49 PM
Forum Moderator

I think these are the IK goals you're referring to. That's really just an artifact of Poser Traditional skinning. I guess it was a useful bug but it's been fixed for Poser Unimesh figure skinning forever. If you really want to see the goals. Set the figure to traditional skinning. Top Menu > Figure > Skinning > Poser Traditional.



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