IK Bend Problem
 

Im having some touble with some leg IK i created, when i translate the root down the left leg rotates out..which im assuming is because of the way this little white triangle is oriented on the top of the joint...

http://www.unspokenvibe.com/matt/ikprob.jpg


is there anyway to fix this? i froze the transformation on the joint, but that didnt help...any ideas?

never mind i got it : )

however i have a new problem....when i put keys on my root to translate it up and down to squat the character...it works fine when im keying it...but after that...the IK float around and follow the root...so when i play the animation back it is not at all what i keyed....

and that problem looks a lot like this:

IK Problem

it's because u parented the pole vector for the knee to the wrong joint therefore it's getting double transformations. i would recommend using a sc ik for legs.

i think what happened was that when i made the IK the bone below it was a little off center, so the axis that the IK calculated to turn on was incorrect, how would you parent a pole vector to a joint? and what would it be used for, all im aware of is that you can constrain it to a locator and use it for a orientation of the leg, and why sc ik? whats different between the two?

u would constrain it to a joint so that it moves when the body moves. in your case y can control the direction the knee is pointing with the locator polevector constrain. to parent it to a join (usually the root ) select the locator and the joint then press p.
for the difference between the 2 types of solvers for the ik, u can read up on the manual or help file that came with maya.
i prefer to use sc on legs and rp on arms... makes things eaiser to switch back and forth to fk. not the best rigging method though...

i actually just constrained the rotation of my foot with an aim constraint to a locator...that way i can rotate my entire foot and the orientation of the leg, its not to often that my shin is facing a direction other than the one my foot is facing : ) so i thought i would save a step