my understanding so far

we need the DEF-CTRL(which are named with no prefixes) to make the IK of the body or the rig we are working on. I hope that I got that Right the MCH in that case are used to connect to FK bones to achieve their movement and the FK are parented to the DEF bones. Am I right or wrong in here. If I am wrong please show me in a simple video the relation ship between them if you may. https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/7awvqub2wis9ha13zf1ku/09-wrangler_rig_00.blend?rlkey=2zy35lxi3zcivwhr2oz2t5ovf&st=qh94u31z&dl=0
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  • Dwayne Savage(dillenbata3) replied

    It has been awhile since I saw this one, but from what I remember you are correct except you have IK and FK swapped. The DEF-CTRL bones are the FK. The IK use the MCH bones. 

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  • Wayne Dixon replied

    Your understanding is almost correct Samy.

    CTRL - yep.  There's no prefix on those.  They are the ONLY bones that the animator will interact with.  They do not deform the mesh although you can bone parent objects to them.

    DEF - these DO have a prefix.  They are used to deform the mesh.  They don't need the prefix to achieve that, but we use that naming convention to reduce cognitive load and set up the most commonly used convention.

    MCH - These will do whatever they need to.  They could be a parent, or a child, hold a constraint, or be a target for a constraint.  They are the Swiss Army Bone of rigging.  If you are referring to the Limbs in this rig - then the MCH bones hold the IK constraint chain that does the stretching (and IK obviously).  The DEF bones then tag along for the ride but we set it up in a way that avoids them scaling on all 3 axes which would happen if you tried to use the IK directly on those bones.

    Here is that simple video that breaks down these concepts.
    https://www.cgcookie.com/lessons/01-rigging-concepts-in-a-nutshell


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  • samy rezk(kadory87) replied

    thank you wayne for the video, It refreshed my memory a lot 


    I think it is time to rewatch the luna course again

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