Controls tab toolbar

The toolbar in the Controls tab contains the following buttons:

Show/Hide buttons

Let you toggle the display of FK effectors, IK effectors, and the skeleton.

     
Show/Hide IK

Displays or hides the IK effectors of the character.

Show/Hide FK

Displays or hides the FK effectors of the character.

Show/Hide Skeleton

Displays or hides the skeleton of the character.

Manipulation and keying mode buttons

Let you set manipulation and keyframing modes for working with the Control rig of the character. You can manipulate and set keyframes on the character’s entire body (Full Body), a part of the body (Body Part), or only on the selected effector (Selection).

     
Full Body

Sets the Character Controls to Full Body keying and manipulation mode, letting you select individual effectors to manipulate the entire character. For example, translating the wrist effector of a character the in Full Body mode affects the whole body as it moves to reach that effector.

Forcing a stance pose in this mode will force the entire character into a stance pose and the character will be offset relative to its reference node.

Full Body - No Pull Manipulation

Sets the Character Controls to Full Body - No Pull Manipulation mode, letting you manipulate the character in Body Part mode along with the additional functionality of adding keys on the entire body.

Body Part

Sets the tool to Body Part mode, letting you manipulate and set keys on a single body part, based on the selected effector.

Forcing a stance pose in this mode will force the selected body part(s) into a stance pose. If the hips are part of the selection, the character will be offset relative to its reference node.

Selection

Sets the tool to Selection mode, letting you manipulate and key only the selected effector(s).

In this mode, you can manipulate one effector without solving the rest of the character, then use the Blend and Pull controls to adjust how much the rest of the character reaches for that effector.

The Character representation displays white highlighting on cells to show which part of the character is active for manipulation and keying. For example, in the Body Part manipulation mode, when you select a left wrist effector, all left arm cells in the Character highlight in white.

Pinning buttons

Let you activate, disable, or temporarily release pinning on effectors.

Pinning gives you more control over character manipulation, letting you constrain specific effectors from moving or rotating as you make adjustments to the rest of the character position. For example, you can pin the wrist in rotation but let it move in translation, so that as you adjust the wrist position or arm position, the wrist can move but does not twist.

When you create a biped Control rig, IK effectors on the feet of the character are pinned in translation and rotation by default. On a quadruped Control rig, the feet are pinned in both translation and rotation.

Pinning feedback displays on each cell in the Character representation. See Pinning for more information.

     
Pin Translation

Pins and unpins the selected effector in translation.

When pinned, the selected effector cannot be moved, and a T displays on its corresponding cell in the Character representation.

Pin Rotation

Pins and unpins the selected effector in rotation.

When pinned, the selected effector cannot be rotated, and an R displays on its corresponding cell in the Character representation.

Release Children Pins

Temporarily releases all translation or rotation pinning for the selected effector and effectors down the chain.

Pinning Presets

Saves translation and rotation pinning on all effectors as a preset. Click this icon to load, create, rename, or delete a preset. See Pinning a Control rig effector.

Stance Pose

The Stance Pose icon () resets the Control rig to its default T-stance pose.

Selecting this icon in the Full Body mode forces the entire character into a stance pose and the position of the character if offset, relative to its reference mode. In the Body Part mode, the selected body part(s) are forced into a stance pose. If the hips are part of the selection, then the character will be offset, relative to its reference node. Note that this feature does not apply to the Selection mode.

Tip: You can also force a stance pose by selecting > Edit > Controls > Stance Pose.