Quadruped / Digitigrade Animal Leg Rigging

[PaperWaspNest]

Hello everyone!

Please take a look at the bone setup for this Cat/Raccoon/Squirrel/Whatever character of mine, Rakitty:


I'd like to set this guy up so his hind legs have the extra "foot base" bone by the foot that keeps the feet planted to the ground unless I explicitly move the "foot base" bone. The example characters in AS11 have this setup:


I was able to copy it for my other character who walks biped, but Rakitty is causing me trouble. I tried applying it to the hind legs, but it doesn't work as expected.
I think it's because he has that extra "ankle" bone on his hind legs. I can go into more detail or post a video of the problems, if that helps.

I've also tried telling the foot bone (the yellow bone at the very end of the hind leg chain) to "Lock" and Unlock during walk cycles, or when he sits up like a cat does, but this often glitches out and weird things happen. The "foot base bone" method seen in the example biped rigs works very well, is it possible for that to work here?

BTW, you can see Rakitty fully rendered here, though I don't have any full body movement of him yet because of this problem. So far I only show him sitting, or acting from the torso-up. This is on purpose because of this leg problem
http://pwnart.tumblr.com/tagged/rakitty

[PaperWaspNest]

I think I stumbled upon a solution. I ended up using IK / Foot Target Bones for when I want his feet planted on the ground, and using FK for when the feet have left the ground and are traveling through the air.

This is possible by setting up your target bones as a smart bone, and following the directions this helpful fellow points out:
https://youtu.be/SHPV4YgThQI?t=397

So here's a basic Rakitty walk cycle! I'm sweating after dealing with all four legs. It's not perfect, but I'm satisfied with it. I can build on it later to make a more happy, angry, or determined walk.