Example 1: Bending over to touch the floor

To pose and animate a character bending over to touch the floor

1. Pose your character so that it is standing at its initial pose.

   

2. Pin the LeftFootEff and RightFootEff effectors in translation and rotation.

   

3. Set your character’s Reach Mode to IK and Key Mode to All. You can set reach and key settings from Animate > Set Full Body IK Keys > or the FBIK marking menu.

   This sets all your character’s Reach values to 1 and puts the character into All keying mode.

4. Select Animate > Set Key > .

   The Set Key Options window appears.

5. Turn on Set FullBodyIK keys, click Apply, and then click Close.
6. Press s (Set Key hotkey).

   This sets keys on all the FBIK effectors and FK joints in your character.

   Your character’s foot effectors now influence your character’s FBIK solution during playback. Also, setting IK keys like this keeps your character’s feet perfectly still during playback. This is useful because you do not want your character’s feet to move during its animation. If you had instead set FK keys, your character’s feet would slide around during playback rather than stay still.

   Throughout this example you will be repeating this step frequently to make sure that your character’s feet stay still during each segment of the animation.

7. Move forward in time.
   • Manipulate the character’s back so that it is slightly hunched.

   You can create this pose by rotating the SpineEff and NeckEff effectors or by rotating the spine joints of your character’s Input skeleton directly.

   • Translate the RightHandEff effector slightly downward so that it is reaching towards the floor.
8. Press s (Set Key hotkey).

   

9. Move forward in time.
   • Translate the HipsEff effector downward.

   Your character’s knees are now bending.

   • Manipulate the character’s back so that it is more hunched.
   • Translate the RightHandEff effector downward some more.
10. Press s (Set Key hotkey).

    

11. Move forward in time.
    • Pin the LeftHandEff effector in translation.

    This prevents the LeftHandEff from swinging backward as the RightHandEff continues to move downward.

    • Translate the RightHandEff effector downward until it reaches the floor.
12. Press s (Set Key hotkey).

    

13. Move forward in time.
    • Unpin the LeftHandEff effector.
    • Translate the HipsEff effector upward.

    Your character’s knees are now less bent.

    • Translate the RightHandEff effector upward.
    • Manipulate your character’s back so that it is less hunched.
14. Press s (Set Key hotkey).

    

15. Move forward in time.
    • Manipulate the character’s back so that it is no longer hunched.
    • Translate the HipsEff effector upward until your character’s knees are no longer bent.
    • Translate the LeftHandEff and RightHandEff effectors until both the arms are back at the sides of the character.
16. Press s (Set Key hotkey).

    

Example 2: Crawling on hands and knees across the floor

To pose and animate a character crawling on its hands and knees across the floor

1. Pose the character so that it is on its hands and knees at its initial crawl pose.

   

2. Select Animate > Set Key > .

   The Set Key Options window appears.

3. Turn on Set FullBodyIK keys, click Apply, and then click Close.
4. Pin the LeftHandEff and RightLegEff FBIK effectors in translation.

   LeftHandEff and RightLegEff effectors will now not move when you manipulate the RightHandEff or LeftLegEff effectors.

   Throughout this example you will be repeating this step frequently to make sure that your character’s left hand and right knee stay still during the segments of animation when the right hand and left knee are moving.

   

5. Set your character’s Reach Mode to IK and Key Mode to All. You can set reach and key settings from Animate > Set Full Body IK Keys > or the FBIK marking menu.

   This sets all your character’s Reach values to 1 and puts the character into All keying mode.

   

6. Press s (Set Key hotkey).

   Your character’s left hand and right knee effectors now influence your character’s FBIK solution during playback. Also, setting IK keys like this keeps your character’s left hand and right knee still during playback. This is useful because you do not want your character’s left hand and right knee effectors to move when its right hand and left knee effectors are moving. If you had instead set FK keys, your character’s left hand and right knee would shift around during playback rather than stay still.

7. Move forward in time.
   • Translate the RightHandEff, LeftLegEff and LeftFootEff effectors slightly upward and forward.
8. Press s (Set Key hotkey).

   

9. Move forward in time.
   • Translate the HipsEff effector forward.
   • Translate the RightHandEff, LeftLegEff and LeftFootEff effectors upward and forward some more.
10. Press s (Set Key hotkey).

    

11. Move forward in time.
    • Translate the HipsEff effector forward.
    • Translate the RightHandEff, LeftLegEff and LeftFootEff effectors forward and then down to the floor.
12. Press s (Set Key hotkey).

    This step is important because keying all these effectors keeps the left hand and right knee still, and prepares your character for the next frame where you want to keep the right hand and left knee still while the left hand and right knee begin their segment of the crawl animation.

    

13. Move forward in time.
    • Repeat steps 7-12 with the LeftHandEff, RightLegEff and RightFootEff effectors to complete the crawl animation. This will complete your crawl animation.
      Tip

      • You can use Simple Keys to tweak or fine tune the positions of your character’s body parts between keyframes. For example, If the placement of your character’s right hand is not quite right during certain segments of its animation, you can use Reach Mode: Simple with Key Mode: Body Part to correct the positioning of the right hand without changing your character’s Reach settings.
      • If your character’s body twists or moves undesirably when you translate its Left or Right LegEff effectors, you can prevent this twisting by pinning your character’s hips in translation and rotation.

Example 3: Walking across the floor

To pose and animate a character walking

1. Pose the character so that it is at its initial pose.

   

2. Set your character’s Reach Mode to IK and Key Mode to All. You can set reach and key settings from Animate > Set Full Body IK Keys > or the FBIK marking menu.

   This sets all your character’s Reach values to 1 and puts the character into All keying mode.

3. Select Animate > Set Key > .

   The Set Key Options window appears.

4. Turn on Set FullBodyIK keys, click Apply, and then click Close.
5. Press s (Set Key hotkey).

   Keys are set on all the FBIK effectors and FK joints in your character.

6. Pin the LeftToeBaseEff FBIK effector in translation and rotation.

   The LeftToeBaseEff effector now will not shift or slide when you pose your character’s right foot.

   Throughout this example you will be repeating this step frequently to make sure that when one of your character’s feet is on the floor, it does not slide around when the other foot is moving.

   

7. Move forward in time.
   • Translate the HipsEff effector forward.
   • Translate the LeftFootEff effector upward.

   This creates a heel lift motion for the left foot.

   • Translate the RightFootEff upward and forward.

   This creates a lifting motion, and the beginning of a swinging motion, for the right foot.

   • Rotate the RightFootEff so that the toe of the right foot is pointing slightly upward.

   This prepares the right foot for its heel strike motion.

   • In the Input skeleton, rotate the RightArm (left shoulder) joint so that the right arm swings slightly backward and rotate the LeftArm (left shoulder) joint so that the left arm swings slightly forward.

   This begins the arm swinging motion for the walk animation.

   

8. Press s (Set Key hotkey).

   Keys are set on all the FBIK effectors and FK joints in your character.

9. Move forward in time.
   • Translate the HipsEff effector forward.
   • Translate the RightFootEff effector downward so that the heel touches the floor.

   This creates the heel strike motion for the right foot.

   • Rotate the LeftArm joint so that the left arm swings forward some more and rotate the RightArm joint so that the right arm swings backward some more.

     

10. Press s (Set Key hotkey).

    Keys are set on all the FBIK effectors and FK joints in your character.

11. Move forward in time.
    • Translate the HipsEff effector forward.
    • Rotate the RightFootEffPivot1 effector so that the right foot is now flat on the floor.
    • Unpin the LeftToeBaseEff effector, translate the LeftFootEff effector upward and rotate the LeftToeBaseEff to straighten out the left foot.
    • Rotate the LeftArm joint so that the left arm swings backward slightly and rotate the RightArm joint so that the right arm swings forward slightly.

      

12. Press s (Set Key hotkey).

    Keys are set on all the FBIK effectors and FK joints in your character.

13. Move forward in time.
    • Repeat steps 4-6 so that the right leg swings forward, the left foot lifts at its heel and rolls from its ball, and so on. This will complete your walk animation.

      

      TipYou can use Simple Keys to tweak or fine tune the positions of your character’s body parts between keyframes. For example, you can use Reach Mode: Simple with Key Mode: Body Part to add more detail to your character’s walk cycle—such as translating the hips along the Y-axis to add more bounce to its step—without changing your character’s Reach settings.