I have TM Arm IK on so I can constrain it to the axe for late 2_08 scenes. All works quite well but now I have him moving to a position of putting the axe over his shoulder and I can't seem to control his elbow - at all resulting in a 1 frame flick from a horizontal position to down by his side. I can switch to FK to fix it but then I lose the constraint on the axe.

Any ideas/advice most welcome.

Cheers

I'm not sure from the description...could you send me an Action that shows the problem, David? Or tell me the specific scene?

David, have you tried constraining the axe to Tinman's hand instead of the other way around?
The axe has given me problems too and I think it is because no one has actually set out a constraint system that works well in all cases. I asked about this months ago but didn't get a reply. Sometimes the axe needs to pivot on the head and at other times it pivots from the end of the handle. I know that each situation has it's own little problems. If it is impossible to make a clean transition from IK to FK maybe that is a good place to put in a cut.

Scene is 2_8_82. Files committed.

Cheers

I have to be missing something...I don't see the 1 frame flick, David. I made sure that I updated the folder, but I don't see any jerking of the arm anywhere. It does look like the axe could be a little longer...it's making you twist up Tinman's hand pretty good to make sure there is room for Woot to hang off of it. You could also cheat a little and squash the right forearm using the "Animation_Controls/Squetch_Controls/arms_IKFK_SQUETCH_biceps_and_forearms_individual/right_forearm_IKFK_SQUETCH"...I had to squash it by about -16%, so it might be too noticeable. It might be easier to constrain the axe to the hand and use FK, that axe is tough to manipulate...a bigger bone would help.

Could you tell me the frame number that it happens on?

I made a few tweaks last night that shifted the Elbow rotate key to an earlier keyframe and this seemed to solve the problem!

Cheers