IK Handle & Wrong Pole Vector Direction
 

Hi,

When I create an IK handle and pushing up the foot the knee is bending sidewards instead of to the front. (see 3 top pictures)

I tried moving the pole vector but it rotates the whole leg with it. So it didn't help either. (2 bottom pictures)

I need to rotate the pole vector without affecting the leg rotation so it then bends to the front. Or shall I change something at the joints?? I dunno ... :( Please help.

If you haven't got the rig's knees bent, this can cause problems of movement in undesired directions. The free rigging tutorial video on this site explains it quite well, far better than I can at this hour of the day. It's only about 6MB, well worth downloading.

You can get it here.

S.

yea when creating your rig, it's a good idea to leave in a 'natural' bend... you know which way your knees bend, so you kinda create the bones that way as well. even the slighest change in angle like that allows IK to know where to put the pole vector in accordance to how you want it to bend.

Jus to back up what the guys have already said, itlooks like your rig was setup at the knees, with a straight leg. You will need to create a bend, detach the skin from the model and then go in and move the joints to this kinda position. Use the move tool and press inset to move the joints about, then inesrt again, do this with each one to reposition it. Also check the local rotation access as well.

OK, thank you guys. I just tried it out and it really works that way. It's a pitty you can't correct the pole vector but have to redo it all (detaching skin, moving joints, placing ik handles, attaching skin ...).
But well OK, never will do the same mistake. ;)

The joys of rigging. Its one of the toughest jobs (IMHO).