03. Inverse Kinematics

1. Introduction

Recall from your 
physics class (or just 
know) that...

KINEMATICS is the 
area of study that 
examines the spatial 
and temporal components 
of motion (position, 
velocity, acceleration).

It turns out that 
kinematics is central 
to animation, and most 
especially to object 
and character animation 
in 3D.

In this Module well 
examine ~Forward~ and 
~Inverse Kinematics~ 
our character's rig.

Forward K. refers to 
the control chains in 
joint hierarchies. 

E.g., we have the hip 
that controls the knee 
that controls the foot 
placement etc.

  hip --> knee --> foot...

Using Forward K. to 
achieve animation is 
tedious and error 
prone. By using IK 
Handles (Inverse 
Kinematic Handles) we 
can rig our skeleton to 
make animating our 
character a WHOLE LOT 
EASIER!

Inverse Kinematics 
allow you to position 
the last element in 
your control chain and 
allow local controls to 
determine the rotation 
and translation of 
joints up the control 
chain's hierarchy.