Animating the Leg
4 of 5
With the IK rotation limits and the IK goals set for the bones, we're ready to animate the leg. This will be a simple animation of the leg landing, compressing, and then taking off.

  1. To begin this process, turn on Auto Key Adjust and Auto Key Create on the General Options Tab of the Options Panel.

    Also, check that the Current Frame slider is set to frame 0.

  2. Make Null (2) the Selected Item and move it to the bottom center of the screen. With Auto Key Adjust and Create on, it isn't necessary to create a keyframe; anytime you move an item, a keyframe is automatically created for you.

    The Null Objects Positioned for the Animation.

  3. Make legRough.lwo the Selected Item and move it to the upper right hand corner of the screen. The leg should be pointing towards the Null Objects.

    Frame 0: the Leg Approaches the ground.

  4. Slide the Current Frame slider to frame 10.

    Move legRough.lwo down towards the center of the screen until it the foot reaches the Null objects and the leg starts to settle.

    Frame 10: the Leg Touches the Ground.

  5. Slide the Current Frame slider to frame 20.

    Move legRough.lwo towards the left hand side of the screen until the leg rotates forward and the knee compresses down.

    Frame 20: the Leg Crouches Down.

  6. Slide the Current Frame slider to frame 30.

    Move legRough.lwo up to the upper left hand corner of the screen.

    Frame 30: the Leg Jumps Up.

  7. Slide the Current Frame slider back and forth in time to watch the leg jump. Notice how the foot rotates and watch how both goals control the rotation of the foot so that it appears to plant firmly on the ground. This allows the leg to rotate over the top of the foot. If the foot moves too much during the landing, you may have forced the leg down too far on frame 10 or 20. You can also fix this by adjusting the Maximum Pitch limit to a larger number.

    At any time in the animation you can adjust the position of the foot by moving either Null Object. Try rotating Null (2) on Pitch to move the foot up and down.

Congratulations! You have used some of the high-end features of LightWave, including: Bones and Multiple Goal Inverse Kinematics to create a simple character animation. To explore more features, check out the Other Options page to learn Advanced Bone options and MetaMation.

Setting Up the IK Other Options
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