HI,

Is it possible to have a custom interface drive with sliders and drop downs etc. drive an APEX rig? For example, the IK / FK Blend auto rig component is driven by an abstract control and I would like to have this in channel box like maya or with a customer parameter interface like you would typically do with a Kinefx Rig.

Also, on the subject of IK / FK Blending, is there a reason why you would need to have an autorig component for this given you can seem to emulate this behaviour by setting up IK controls and then just using the Ctrl & Shift hot keys to get FK behaviour without the need for matching. I'm guessing there must be a disadvantages to the latter but appreciate it if someone could let me know what they would be.

You can do it by piping all these extra geo as dummy TransformObject and drive their position from the AbstractControl.

That's a bit complicate though. I don't know if there is a simpler, built-in way to do this.

To your first point, I put in an RFE a while ago for the same thing. Kodra’s setup looks awesome though, I’ve always loved viewport interfaces.

To your second question, yes the dynamic parenting option is great, but when working with ik there’s an inherent flaw. At the moment (not sure if this will change in the future) the ik controls do not have a proper arc when you animate them in fk - they move in a straight line from point a to b. That scrubs the principle of animation that objects should move in arcs. While this functionality is amazing, it’s still not quite ready for an ik setup.

Thanks Kodra and Max Rose for the reply - I never realised that the pseudo FK mode moved in straight line as opposed to an arc but that's probably because I have generally only used it for posing my characters. Kodra - I totally agree with max rose in that your setup looks awesome but I wouldn't have a clue on how you would set that up so I'll probably just stick with Maya for now though I'm really hopeful that I'll be able to create my own uber rig in Houdini as more functionality gets added along with some more comprehensive tutorials from SideFX. BTW, Max Rose, I've watched all of your videos on APEX and they have been huge help so thank you(:

kodra

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You can do it by piping all these extra geo as dummy TransformObject and drive their position from the AbstractControl.

That's a bit complicate though. I don't know if there is a simpler, built-in way to do this.

This looks great! Any hints on how to set this up?