Bone movement questions

[writerhoward]

I have a back bone that is the parent of a thigh bone; the thigh bone is the parent of the lower leg bone.

When the back bone moves back I want the thigh bone to move back in the same direction but I want it to move less than the back bone moves. How can I do that?

Secondly, when the back bone and thigh bone move back I do not want the lower leg bone to move. Can I prevent the lower leg from moving just by locking it or is there a better way to do this?

Thanks,
Howard

[heyvern]

You could jump through some hoops to acomplish this like having the thigh bone rotate in a minus direction of the back using a constraint... but... I don't reccomend it.

... at some point you will need to rotate that "back bone" and just rotate the thigh bone in the opposite direction to compensate... this is what I do.

If you lock the feet... then you can't move the body... or the feet... from that spot... this can be more trouble than it's worth. It is easier to rotate the legs after rotating that back parent bone.

You could redo the whole set up so that the hips are the parent at the base of the back... and the legs come off that... this is what i do as well. I usually have at a minimum... two bones for the back and one hip bone. The hip bone covers the arse... the two back bones cover the back area. I do rotate the hips... when I do I rotate the legs as needed.

-Vern

[writerhoward]

Vern,

I think your suggestion to just rotate the thigh bone in the opposite direction should solve my problem.

Thanks,
Howard