Hello,
I was using mgear to experiment a bit and after building the rig I noticed there was no IK/FK switch for arms/legs using version 4.2.2
I know you can switch using mGear viewport menu but would be ideal to have a controller visibility for animation purpose.
Screen shot attached
Please advise and thank you-
S
You made some green circles where you expect some controls to be. A custom host control is not included in any limb component. You need to add it yourself, or use a template that already has them.
And then specify that control as a “Host” for each limb. If you don’t specify, the attributes might be on the world control by default. And if they get put on the same control, that control will edit them all at once.
You said you know you can use the viewport menu. But I’ll say anyway: If you don’t know where the switch attributes are, you can always find the uiHost by doing this:
Bonus tip: Avoid parenting the uiHost switch underneath the limb it is switching. For example, for your arm, don’t put the arm uiHost underneath the arm hierarchy. And don’t put the attributes directly on an arm controller. This may cause extra evaluation cycles and slow down your rig by up to 5 to 15 FPS! (in my personal tests.) I suggest parenting these controls under the chest, COG, or world control.
Hi @chrislesage - thank you for your prompt response- greatly appreciated- sorry new to the tool- can you provide screen shots step by step on how to add the controller switch to the wrist- before build?
I did try the “select host” and works great but still would love to see and IK/FK control switch visible for animation. thank you
No, but I suggest you load the Shifter biped template and observe how they do it there.
It’s a custom control_01 component for the uiHost. It doesn’t have to be a control_01, but that’s a good simple choice.
That wasn’t a suggested solution, exactly. That is just how to find the uiHost if you didn’t know where you put it. Or if you are an animator that doesn’t have access to the guide.
Hi Chris- I actually am using the shifter biped template and followed a tutorial with an earlier version and it automatically placed the controls there on an earlier version 3.7.11- my version is 4.2.2 with maya version is 2022- I love the biped template however unfamiliar with the new setup
any help would be greatly appreciated
thank you
When you “Select host”, what gets selected?
Hi @chrislesage The bidped shifter template to change for FK/IK is using the world control however, it only inherits one limb- if you add the arm for example or vice versa you are unable to change the arm/leg to FK/IK. I added my steps in screen shots-
Any ideas how to fix and use the world controller for both arm/leg? Thank you- S
@chrislesage sorry for last post and confusion- I did more research and just generated a rig from the biped template here are the correct select host for both arms and legs- attached
-S
Yeah, so I think that’s your answer. The uiHost controls in the Shifter Biped template are the 6 controls in front of the character. But you can choose whatever you want. The template is just an example.
And the reason they are not parented under the wrist and foot is because of that optimization I mentioned. That was changed in some version around 4.0. I parent mine under a body or COG control, so it follows the torso of the character.
That error you showed. I think that happens when you still have the rig in the scene, and you try to define the uiHost, or space switches. The names aren’t unique because both the guide and rig have a *_root node, so it fails. To fix that:
