whats the diff between maya's ik and stuff
 

whats the diff between maya's ik solvers? the rp and sp thing? which is most used and for what? and someone told me about constraining the twist manipuaotr ro a locator so my joint dont flip erraticly......how do i do this? any help would be lovely :) ill post the scene or pik of the rig im doing...si that u guys will see what i mean by flip....and lastly...how do i make the manipulator for the twist plane thingie larger?

i think the "someone" was talking about pole vector constraints - if you create a locator, position it behind the ik handle and then select then select the ik handle with the locator and go to constrain>pole vector you should then get the desired effect. (sketchy explanation but experiment and you'll getwhat I mean).
The differences between the SC and RP IK solvers are explained pretty well in the docs :)

in terms of solvers i no of 3: single chain (SC), rotate plane (RP) and IK spline

the single chain is for connecting joints of 2 bones usually, and its ur basic IK handle

the rotate plane is fun, its the same as the SC but gives you a pole vector control. so for example you have a bent elbow, the pole vector would allow you to control the direction the elbow points

the ik spline is for spines of characters (there are some rules you have to follow wen creatin ik splines tho). this solver use the CVs of a EP curve to move bones in the backbone

thanks for the rundown guys :-)
aaaah...thats why my rig is erratic..i used the rp solver hmmm...

kal: aaaaah i get it...that someone i was refering to was someone i happen to talk to in 3december here in manila :-) lousy event...didnt do justice to maya

at least i got free booze and drinks hehehe :-) theres another event in june...i hope its better :-)