Animating HumanIK characters in Trax

If you want to create clips for a HumanIK character and edit the animation in a non-linear fashion using the Trax Editor, note the following:

• Character sets are required for creating animation clips in the Trax Editor. You must create a character set to contain your HumanIK character, including any parent/reference object at the top of your character hierarchy. See Create character sets.

  Ideally, all of the character's IK and FK objects are parented to the same reference object, and you can add this reference object to the character set.

• The HumanIK solver in Maya lets you animate characters using IK or FK solving, or by animating a blend between both solvers (see Adjusting IK blends). (The IK Blend T and IK Blend R sliders in the Character Controls let you blend between solvers.)

  Whether or not you have animated the IK Blend properties becomes important when blending clips for the HumanIK character. When specifying an offset object for the blend, note the following:

  If your HumanIK rig has static IK Blend values (no blending between IK and FK solving), set either the Hips FK object or the Control rig reference object as the offset object. If you use the Hips FK node, ensure that all of the rig’s IK objects have IK Blend T and IK Blend R set to 0.

  ImportantThe Hips IK object cannot be used as the reference object.

  If your HumanIK rig has animated IK Blend values, the Trax Editor cannot evaluate the clips properly unless you use the Control rig reference as the offset object. In some cases, however, even using the Control rig reference does not allow Trax to evaluate the blended clips properly. If you experience issues with this workflow, use the following workaround:

  1. Create a separate character set containing only the character skeleton.
  2. Bake the HIK rig animation to the skeleton (Bake options in the Character Controls), then create clips.
  3. Set the Hips joint as the offset object when blending clips. (See Match poses and align clips.)