IK Booster Manual

Adding IKBooster to Lights and Cameras

• Make the light or camera a child object of a null that has IKBooster applied.

UI Overview

Moving Things Around

• IKBooster's primary benefit is that it lets you click-drag any item in the 3d window to move things and it greatly simplifies the process of rigging and animation. This movement is almost always relative to the user's 3d window view regardless of move/rotate mode. This eliminates the problem of changing control schemes as the user moves the viewport around, or when manipulating an object that is a child of a parent object that has been moved, rotated or scaled.

General Notes and Tips:

• IMPORTANT: Make absolutely certain you uncheck "FSPE" (Full Scene Parameter Evaluation) when using IKBooster with things like full character rigs, as it will severely hinder performance while manipulating things. FSPE can be found in the Preferences window (general tab).

• IMPORTANT: For character rigs, avoid scaling the character object signifcantly up or down in layout or else it can adversely affect click-dragging controls on that character. If you need big differences in scale (IE: say you want a character who is half or less of the height of a template rig you're using), re-size the model in modeler and utilize skelegons to adjust the whole rig armature if scaling in layout yields problems.

• Some commands such as Set Goal, Add Link, and Motion Copy, derive their targets from whatever was previously selected.

• If the dope track is open, enabling channel mode can significantly boost Layout playback when displaying many keyframes. Especially helpful for motion capture editing.

• Load from scene works best when the background and other misc elements are loaded to the IKBooster character, not the other way around. Once the background is loaded into a scene that already has an IKBooster rig present, all other load from scene operations should work seamlessly.

• It is recommended that character animation be performed when the frames per second is set to 20 or lower especially when using IKBooster. This reduces computational burden and increases productivity. When done, crank up the FPS and add additional motion detail as needed.

• IKBooster tracks the keyframe selections in the dope track and can use them to perform operations on them. Sometimes these "selected" keyframes become invisible, so a rule of thumb is to left-click an empty space on the dope track before doing a right click operation to avoid unexpected UI behavior.

Known Issues/Limitations:

• In versions of Lightwave after 9.6, the boostertrack is misaligned and does not match the dope track, which forces the user to rely on the number displayed when placing markers.

• The boostertrack will not operate on items that contain a motion modifier or other constraint on them, even if they are disabled.

Bone Dynamics

This enables or disables bone dynamics for the currently selected object hierarchy.

Global fxIK

Enables or disables all fixed items across the entire character. In almost all cases, use the CTRL-LMB functionality instead of this toggle option.

IK Bind

Do not confuse this with the "Bind" function, as this does something different. IK Bind prevents fixed points from moving beyond where they were fixed when the user manipulates a bone chain. Consider this an occasional use option; it is recommended that it be left DISABLED for most situations as IKBind can make controls feel "stiff".

Auto Bind

Whenever the 3D window is clicked, or manipulations are done in the viewport, having this option will automatically re-bind and re-position things that are controlled via BakeSpots. IMPORTANT: If autobind does not update in real time, press D for display options and make sure " Dynamic Update " is set to " Interactive", not off or delayed.

Auto Apply

This performs the Apply Keys command (using "Soft Apply") on the selected item across the current timeline range whenever the 3d window is clicked. The keyframe range that this affects can be changed by adjusting the timeline range, or by selecting keys in the dope track.

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NOTE: When bakespots are in the timeline, Auto Apply performs a "Flat Apply" for the range of that bakespot if your playhead rests within it, and the auto apply range before and after that bakespot will use a "Linear" apply. This is what makes editing animations that utilize bakespots a much simpler process. It should be noted that if the playhead rests between 2 bakespots, the Auto Apply function will operate only between them to prevent undesired wrecking of bakespot-driven motions.

Commands →

Motions →

Options...

FxIk size Determines how far the bone chain needs to move until Lightwave calculates IKBooster's part-time IK relative to fixed items. Setting this to a higher value will improve performance. You should increase the value as high as you can tolerate to optimize performance while editing. It is very important to understand that this setting also affects baking operations.

Group This is a global dynamics setting that applies to all IKBooster objects in the entire scene. Group (also found in other Lightwave dynamics tools) is used to differentiate between objects to isolate dynamics calculations between specific objects.

Gravity This number is factored in when doing IKBooster bone dynamics calculations. Note that you can also use a "gravity" dynamics object instead of this for greater flexibility, or to isolate the effect.

Controller Size Adjusts the size of IKBooster's display that shows you the clickable areas of your rig. It is recommended that this be set to zero as the density of the display can often hinder visibility.

Size Mode Identical to Controller Edit's size mode. Changes the size of the display that shows the currently selected item.

Ghost Mode/Size Provides an "onion-skinning" display guide which can be shown on either the currently selected, or all bone in the hierarchy. Ghost size referrs to the number of frames it will look ahead of and behind the playhead's current position. Ghost mode does not operate well when motion modifiers or IK is applied.

Fix (rotation modes only)

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NOTES: IKBooster is a PART-TIME animation system, therefore fixing items will not prevent things from wiggling around INBETWEEN keyframes. The bake command will plant fixed items solidly in place. As noted above, holding the CTRL key while moving things will temporarily disable the fix property on the whole character.

IKStop

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NOTES: When moving things around, items above the IKStop point will still receive keyframes if you are in All, Parent, or Child+Parent keyframe modes.

FK Control

Handle

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Known Issues: Handle additive rotations will not operate in a usable fashion on bone chains that have had rest rotation applied to them.

Mode →

Quaternion

Identical to rotate with the addition of "quaternion" functionality. To put it simply, it rotates things linearly and is best used on items where rotational problems like gimbal lock are expected. In IKBooster character rigging, this is most often used on the arms and legs to give stability and flexibility to controls.

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NOTE ON LAYOUT SCALING: When using Quaternion bones in character rigs, know that if the rig is scaled significantly more or less than the model's original size in Layout that it will adversely affect quaternion controls. If you need drastic changes in a character template's size, scale them in modeler and adjust the rig rather than scaling them in Layout.

Motion Tools →

Options →

(lock)/unlock

Locks or unlocks the channel. Locked items are denoted by parentheses.

Set/unset limit

Enables/disables limits for the item. While rotation limiting is the same as going into motion options, this is not true for MOVE mode items as IKBooster handles XYZ limiting separarately from the rest of Lightwave. Unconfirmed whether this is a bug or a functionality limitation.

Edit limit

Allows you to specify the minimum/maximum values for the item. Most often, limiting done through IKBooster is reserved for when boosterlink is involved.

Reset value

Zeroes out the channel.

Add Link

Adds a "link" to the previously selected item. See "Boosterlink" below for more details.

Graph Edit

Opens up graph editor and automatically highlights the channel.

Follower-Mode

Select the DRIVING item, then select the DRIVEN, right click a channel (like displayed in the image to the right) and this will cause the driven object to "follow" the driver. There are no settings for boosterlink items applied in this fashion.

Animation Cycling

Boosterlink also contains functionalities very similar to the "Cyclist" motion modifier, allowing you to define a controller for an object's keyframed animation. See the image below for details. The advantage of this method is that boosterlink items can be animated without moving around the timeline in addition to easier setup. The disadvantage is that keyframes 0 - 100 get tied up and therefore makes boosterlink controls less re-usable. Use the animation cycling feature for when you do not intend to remove a boosterlink constraint.

"Link" Right Click Menu

Right clicking the word "link" will display some options related to boosterlink:

Remove removes the link

Change Shift Offsets the animation by a specified number of frames in comparison to the driving item.

Change Ch Allows you to change the driving channel. You will need to switch between rotate/move mode temporarily to assign a boosterlink between move and rotate channels.

Copy/Paste You can copy the boosterlink settings of one link to another which can save the need for extra clicks.

Edit Graph Opens graph editor and highlights the linked channel.

Copy Key From Current

Make Key

Same as Copy Key From Current except that it only copies the channels in which the items are set to (IE: Move mode items will only get XYZ, and rotate will only get HPB). Use this instead of copy key when preparing motions to be saved.

Delete Key

Deletes relative to the keyframe mode setting. The hotkey for this is Shift-D (replaces LW's normal delete dialogue).

Save/Load Pose/Motion (appears in various menus)

When saving poses or motions, know that IKBooster will save all keyframes (XYZ/HPB/Scale) present relative to the keyframe mode setting. In almost all cases, the topmost object in the hierarchy should be selected when saving. Also, the same object or item that was selected while saving, must be the same object selected when loading. If saving animations associated with a specific limb of a character, it is recommended to have good file naming conventions. With non-destructive rig editing practices, IKBooster motions (which are .TXT files), may be used on any character that shares a rig template. Also, IKBind ranges will get saved into the motion file and will automatically "apply" the bind when loaded.

Known issues with motion saving:

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Motion save will insert blank keyframe space for any frames past frame zero, making it problematic to save any motion that does not start at frame 0. If the motion is intended to be re-used, always use the boostertrack to move the motion so that it starts at 0.

Also, when specifying the desired keyframe range, there is an error that causes the resulting saved motion to be short by 1 keyframe. IE: If you save frames 0-20, it will only actually save frames 0-19... unless this is fixed in a later version of Lightwave, always add 1 keyframe to the range you want to save.

If using a bind-null setup for relative motion loading, note that the order in which the bind null hierarchy appears in the CLASSIC SCENE EDITOR must be consistent across all characters the saved motion is compatible with. Move it up or down in the list should its order somehow change (usually when deleting/adding new meshes/nulls to the character). For more info on relative motion loading, see the Comprehensive Guide to IKBooster at the bottom of this page.

If you need to add OBJECTS to your character's hierarchy, add a bone first and make the object a child of that bone. This is neccecary because of the way IKBooster stores and reads motion files. If you want your motions to always work on all characters, adhere to this rule.

TIP: Want to use a pose on multiple different characters that use a same rig template? Use save motion instead of save pose (saving only 1 keyframe). Save pose does not work across multiple characters because there is no way to make it not save certain keyframes; save motion does not have this limitation.

Bake Keys

Meant to be used in conjunction with the "Fix" property. This will hold fixed items in place by baking their keyframes ( preventing interpolation wiggling). Remember this works with IKBooster multi-select. See the fix video for details on how Bake and Fix are used together. IMPORTANT: The "FxIk size" in IKB Options affects baking! A higher value will result in wobbling but will bake instantly, a low value, such as 1mm, will have no wobbling, but can be slow when performing the operation on many keyframes.

Delete Keys

Clears multiple keys relative to the keyframe mode setting. Quite useful. Know that motion modifiers or constraints will prevent this command from operating on items that contain them.

Copy Keys

Copies keys relative to the keyframe mode setting. Pre and Post Mix frames found within the dialogue of this command allows you to fade the animation in or out for a specified number of keyframes.

Apply Keys

This takes the user's last action and gradually applies them over a specified range of keyframes. This is most often used for adjusting/altering heavily keyframed animations or simply to make editing motions easier and more efficient. See also "Auto Apply".

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NOTE:

• A keyframe must be present at the position of the playhead for both the previous and current action when performing an apply keys operation (otherwise it has nothing to reference from).

• Only 1 action (the user's last action) is factored into apply keys.

• Fractional keyframes get ignored. Integer only!

Record Motion

This takes a specified range of keyframes and, when the selected object is moved via a click-drag operation, keyframes will fill and advance in the timeline relative to the Record Interval setting. Recording stops when the user lets go of the button or reaches the end of the keyframe range. Record Interval within the dialogue of this command determines how far you need to move an object in order for a keyframe to be generated. This command is best reserved for 2-dimensional operations due to its limitations.

Set BakeSpot

BakeSpots are used in conjunction with the Bind and Bake commands and specify a keyframe range in which they should take effect when used, or when AutoBind is enabled. Right clicking below a bakespot will bring up additional options. As a general note, in most cases it is recommended that baking be performed with IKBooster multi-select instead of bakespots. It should be noted that the keyframe range of BakeSpots will not be adjusted with changes to frames per second ( including bakespot ranges contained within saved motions), so it is best practice to save motions at a frames per second value you intend to use most often. Bakespots can be utilized with varying FPS values, but it requires switching to the same FPS that the bakespot was saved in, performing the bind operation, then switching back to the new FPS.

Dynamics Effect

Think of this option as a quick and dirty way to quickly get a "wobble" movement out of things like antennae or other semi-rigid chains of bones, or to add detail to currently existing animation (it factors in current keyframes when performing the calculation). Usually when performing this action you will have the lowest end of the bone chain selected... it can take some experimentation to get a good feel for what settings are required for the results needed. For added stability, set all bones that are to be used with this command to Quaternion. This will also factor in any dynamics edit mode changes that have been performed. IKB Multi-select will work on multiple items granted that all of selected items reside in the same IKBooster hierarchy. While this doesn't factor in gravity, collision objects will affect the IKBooster-selected items during the dynamics effect calculation (only the selection, not the whole bone chain).

Bind Motion

This is IKBooster's most powerful feature; most commonly used with BakeSpots but this command allows binding without placing one. It transfers the absolute position of the selected item to the topmost object in the hierarchy which is useful for getting complex "relative" movements. It is difficult to describe all the scenarios where this can be used... it can make your characters climb stairs, roll boxes around with 100% accuracy, automatically factor in distance relative to a character's leg length, allow you to abandon entirely the need for retargeting and other nifty things.

Save Motion

Same as that which is found in other right click menus.

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Contributed by Ryan Roye