Just checking with folks who beta'd C4... Does the new IK solver work with any parent-child relationship or just with bones? The reason that I'm asking is I have a few 'bots that are purely joint constraints and do not use bones. I'm kinda hoping that they will work that way, so I don't have to re-build the structure of these guys... Ken

Hi Ken, It's a bones thing, but... you can save off your joint parameters and re-apply them to the bone constraints. A little extra work but not much - hopefully. Mark

Darnnit all.... Oh, well... I've had the constraints saved for a while now and to put the pieces back together in one model would just requires an export to OBJ and then import as a single mesh. Had to ask, I guess... Ken

Unless you don't want to, you can bone your existing geometry after grouping it together. You will obviously need to remove the current constraints but exporting to make a mesh isn't mandatory.

I believe it does work with any parent-child relationship. It isn't limited to just bones. I just did a test with a few spheres and everythig works as expected.

Yow! Thanks Brian! I stand corrected and now have some serious playing to do. When this was introduced early in Beta it was originally linked to bones usage only. Every beta tester seems to focus on different areas and I missed the enhancements to this one. Way cool. I love surprises! You know, the problem with C4 is that it's got so many features now, I haven't had a chance to completely play with them all! ;)

Mark, God don't I know it... I've had C3 since beta and still find new things every now and again... (like the Rotation point a few posts down) Nick, THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! You've just saved me a little more time... and when I get C4 I'll run a test and upload the anim when I'm done. I'm finding more and more to like about 4 and when I get it, I might actually be able to realize a few ideas that just didn't pan out in 3. On a sad note (OT), most of the prelim work done for my little animation (.car files with the prelim animations) were destroyed when my computer bit the dust... I'm back now, but with a slower machine, and not as much drive space. I've restored the character files for the animation from backup CDs, but have to do the tedious re-animation procedure... this is why I hope that the new IK lives up to the hype from the site... It'll make the movement seem a little more natural... and it'll be faster than posing joint by joint. Thanks again, guys! Ken

Your welcome! Your welcome! Your welcome! Your welcome! Your welcome! 4 is awesome. Very awesome:)