Uploaded January 2017 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
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This is a lesson from the course Rigging a Character in After Effects
Ok. Setting Up Forward Kinematics
Let’s continue from where we left off.
In this lesson we will set up the forward kinematics.
For those of you who don’t know what inverse kinematics and forward kinematics are, let me explain really quick.
There are three levels. This one, the No Kinematics, is the stage we are currently in.
This is faster than animating frame by frame, having to draw each frame, but... it’s still time consuming.
Because if I wanted to change the position of the arm, then I will have to move a lot. I need to rotate and reposition each part of the arm.
And as you can see, the animation good but it took me some time to put each layer in the correct position. Very time consuming.
Now. If you connect it... then, you have forward kinematics.
That means that, if I rotate the shoulder,
All the layers in FRONT of that layer rotate with it... And if I rotate the forearm then the hand also moves along with it, because is in front of the forearm, but not the shoulder, because the shoulder is behind that layer.
And rotating the hand, affects nothing else but the hand, because it’s the layer that is in front of every layer. That’s why it’s called forward kinematics.
And the animation for this is very time saving. Because everything is connected. You just move each part and you don’t have to worry about repositioning.
Super easy.
See?
That’s the Forward Kinematics.
Now, the inverse kinematics. This is the 3rd stage.
After you have the forward kinematics set, you can set a bunch of mathematical equations and programing to get to this result...
Instead of worrying about the shoulder, and all the subsequent layers in front, like in the forward kinematics set up, you just set the goal, the hand, and all the layers BEHIND the hand, BEHIND... that’s why it’s called inverse kinematics, because it move the layers BEHIND it, you just move the hand, and everything moves automatically.
Super Simple. (Animate) You just move 1 layer, instead of 3. Of course I need to move and rotate, so I’m using the short cuts V, for the selection tool to move the layer, and W for the rotation tool.
Easy. This is a huge time saver.
Because you are saving a lot of time, you can get more creative and use the extra time to explore more options for your movements. Great...
Now, back to our project.
What we want to do right now, is set up the Forward Kinematics.
I will ignore the Hands and Feet, because those will need extra preparation for the replacement animation switches, but I will set it up for the rest of the body.
What we do here is use a feature in After Effects called parenting. A way to link one layer with another.
Just select the left forearm
And in the timeline, press the little pickwhip and drag it to the left arm layer
You can see that is linked because it now says that it’s parent is the layer 35, Left arm.
Ok. So now. Link the left arm with the upper torso.
Upper torso with lower torso
Lower torso with hips
Then, right forearm with r arm
Right arm with upper torso.
The head to upper torso
We will ignore the mouth and eyes for now, but we will link the nose and eyebrows, I select those three, you can hold shift or control for that, and link them to the head...
And finally the legs. I will ignore the feet for now. Select the left calf and link it to the left thigh
The left thigh with the hips
And do the same for the right side. The right calf with the right thigh
and the right thigh with the hips
And I’m all done.
All the body is connected, except for the feet, hands, and face, because those need to be prepared for the switch layer, and set up replacement animation... but all the other parts have all the forward kinematics connected.
Great. Now we are ready to move on to the next lesson in which we will start preparing the hands, feet and face for the forward kinematics. See you there.
Get COMPLETE COURSE FOR FREE at tr4ckit.com/d48v
This is a lesson from the course Rigging a Character in After Effects
Ok. Setting Up Forward Kinematics
Let’s continue from where we left off.
In this lesson we will set up the forward kinematics.
For those of you who don’t know what inverse kinematics and forward kinematics are, let me explain really quick.
There are three levels. This one, the No Kinematics, is the stage we are currently in.
This is faster than animating frame by frame, having to draw each frame, but... it’s still time consuming.
Because if I wanted to change the position of the arm, then I will have to move a lot. I need to rotate and reposition each part of the arm.
And as you can see, the animation good but it took me some time to put each layer in the correct position. Very time consuming.
Now. If you connect it... then, you have forward kinematics.
That means that, if I rotate the shoulder,
All the layers in FRONT of that layer rotate with it... And if I rotate the forearm then the hand also moves along with it, because is in front of the forearm, but not the shoulder, because the shoulder is behind that layer.
And rotating the hand, affects nothing else but the hand, because it’s the layer that is in front of every layer. That’s why it’s called forward kinematics.
And the animation for this is very time saving. Because everything is connected. You just move each part and you don’t have to worry about repositioning.
Super easy.
See?
That’s the Forward Kinematics.
Now, the inverse kinematics. This is the 3rd stage.
After you have the forward kinematics set, you can set a bunch of mathematical equations and programing to get to this result...
Instead of worrying about the shoulder, and all the subsequent layers in front, like in the forward kinematics set up, you just set the goal, the hand, and all the layers BEHIND the hand, BEHIND... that’s why it’s called inverse kinematics, because it move the layers BEHIND it, you just move the hand, and everything moves automatically.
Super Simple. (Animate) You just move 1 layer, instead of 3. Of course I need to move and rotate, so I’m using the short cuts V, for the selection tool to move the layer, and W for the rotation tool.
Easy. This is a huge time saver.
Because you are saving a lot of time, you can get more creative and use the extra time to explore more options for your movements. Great...
Now, back to our project.
What we want to do right now, is set up the Forward Kinematics.
I will ignore the Hands and Feet, because those will need extra preparation for the replacement animation switches, but I will set it up for the rest of the body.
What we do here is use a feature in After Effects called parenting. A way to link one layer with another.
Just select the left forearm
And in the timeline, press the little pickwhip and drag it to the left arm layer
You can see that is linked because it now says that it’s parent is the layer 35, Left arm.
Ok. So now. Link the left arm with the upper torso.
Upper torso with lower torso
Lower torso with hips
Then, right forearm with r arm
Right arm with upper torso.
The head to upper torso
We will ignore the mouth and eyes for now, but we will link the nose and eyebrows, I select those three, you can hold shift or control for that, and link them to the head...
And finally the legs. I will ignore the feet for now. Select the left calf and link it to the left thigh
The left thigh with the hips
And do the same for the right side. The right calf with the right thigh
and the right thigh with the hips
And I’m all done.
All the body is connected, except for the feet, hands, and face, because those need to be prepared for the switch layer, and set up replacement animation... but all the other parts have all the forward kinematics connected.
Great. Now we are ready to move on to the next lesson in which we will start preparing the hands, feet and face for the forward kinematics. See you there.
