Kangddan Walks Through Creating a Classic IK-FK Switch in Cinema 4D With Some Xpresso.

IK-FK switch. A system that is equally important for riggers and animators alike. A switch will allow animators to toggle between using a forward kinematic system to an inverse kinematics system and back again, often in the span of a few short keyframes. Typically when talking about IK/FK solutions, they come about in tutorials for Maya, Blender, and other animation tools. They don’t come up that often for Cinema 4D, even though C4D is quite capable with character rigging and animation.

Tutorial author Kangddan posts a look at putting together an FK, IK switching system in Cinema 4D, using a familiar setup. Usually, a system like this starts out with three identical bone chains, one for the FK setup, one for IK, and one for the bind, and Kangddan’s system is no different. The IK-FK Switching is strung together through some Xpresso nodes to offer an easy way to toggle between the different modes when working.