Creating a Better Dual Knee & Elbow Setup in Maya

Nazmi Yazici Shows How to Create a Dual Knee Setup in Maya using Blend Nodes

Everyone has their favorite way to create an IK/FK switch, or a dual knee or three-joint bone setup. Some are more complicated and feature-rich than some others. Some, like Nazmi Yaz?c?’s setup, are a delicate balance between being easy to set up and working quite well.

Watch Nazmi walks through how to create his dual knee setup, using Driven Keys and some node-work in Maya’s Node editor. In the end, you will have a pretty excellent working IK/FK switch that blends without any popping or jolts. What makes Nazmi’s technique unique? “In the standard way you have to duplicate the IK joint chain twice(these chains are for noFlip and PoleVector), and then these duplicated joint chains blend for the original IK chain — Which is time-consuming and may lead to errors quickly, more nodes and objects added to the rig. In my version, there is no need for duplicate joint chains.” Nazmi says.

Similar techniques include Damon Lavenski’s multi-part tutorial for creating space-switching in Autodesk Maya and
Bjørn Blaabjerg Sørensen’s Super Mega FK system.