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[Alpha2]

Alpha2: if you enable "Show IK Controls" (hot key "I", or click on the lower IK button in the left-hand tool bar) then the IK handles are visible in both the working views and in the renders. If you disable it then they shouldn't appear in either.

Can you send me an example of the morph target issue?

Okay, in the video link you'll see:
-I demonstrate the morph on the "wacom tablet" object.
-In scene mode I show how the morph works on the model by adding a key frame which hides the tablet in the character's hand.
-I touch the arm and the tablet reverts to zero(visible) despite the key frame.
-The key frame is still active and the tablet shouldn't be appearing.
-I move the arm to show that it's still visible while animating.
-Scrubbing through the timeline for a frame causes the key to activate.
-But the tablet re-appears the moment I try to move the arm again.
-Also note that the "hover board" beneath the character wasn't there when I first entered scene mode because it was hidden until I tried to animate.

If I don't scrub the timeline they will appear in image renders and you can imagine when you have a character holding several items in preparation for later parts of a scene it gets hard to animate things like the fingers properly because so many elements keep popping into view despite being hidden, and they didn't have this behavior in earlier versions.

As for the IK handles: I understand that the button hides the handles. As I said, they do vanish when you manually hide them (by hitting the button), but I felt like the bones or even the axis that are visible outside of the body don't show in renders even when their buttons are active in scene mode so it stands out as odd that the IK handles show. Like I can understand the the camera is visible if you render in other views because usually that's the position you render from so you shouldn't see it in a shot normally, but all the other things seem to know to hide automatically when using the camera view.

[Steve]

I think I see what's going on. It looks like I update the figure's shape but forgot to reapply the morph targets when you move the arm. I'll fix it.

[Alpha2]

thanks!

[Steve]

Alpha2 give this build #1381 a try and see if it works for your scene.

Note: I haven't fully tested it so unless you have a problem like Alpha2's you're probably better off using build 1380.

[Alpha2]

That seems to have done it. thanks again.

On a side note I notice it still makes a keyframe on a locked layer camera if I use mouse wheel scroll in camera view. Not pressing, but I just noticed it now while testing 1381 and thought I'd let you know just in case.

[Steve]

Alpha2, I can't reproduce this. What camera controller's key is being set, "position"? I tried this:

1. Enable animation.
2. Set the camera's layer to 2.
2. Lock layer 2.
4. Switch to Camera view.
5. Scroll the mouse wheel in the camera view.

No new keys appear for the camera. If I unlock layer 2 then it sets a new key.

[Alpha2]

hmmm my bad Maybe it wasn't the scroll wheel this time I could sworn that's what caused it. But I went back to test it and it did create a key frame when I moved the camera with arc rotate. Here's what I did:

1. Activated animation in scene mode.
2. set camera to layer 7.
3. right clicked the layer number in the top bar to lock it.
4. moved several frames into the animation.
5. turned on Arc Rotate
6. changed position and orientation which resulted in key frames
7. I moved to several other frames to make sure and each time both position and orientation changes with arc rotate created key frames.

(additionally, just to be thorough, I went in to the camera properties and ticked the lock check box and the arc rotate still keyed both position and orientation.)

[Steve]

OK I can reproduce it now. I wasn't using Arc-Rotate but just scrolling the mouse wheel in the camera view. I'll fix it.

[Alpha2]

Excellent.

...Okay so I've run into another bit of weird behavior, which I think I might be tied to why I was getting annoyed with the IK handles showing up in renders. I usually use scanline for simplicity, but today I had an image where the draw distance seemed to be cut off way too close (and I wasn't using fog,) so I was testing the other renderers to see if they extended the the draw distance in the image and after each image render I noticed the IK handle visibility kept getting toggled on when I returned to the scene mode. Every time I turned it off so it wouldn't show in the render, when I returned to the scene it was back on again.

Hope I'm not bugging you with all these.

[Steve]

What tool were you using? If it is the IK tool then it automatically turns IK visibility and Animation on because those are usually what you want.

[Alpha2]

Sorry I took a bit to respond, had to deal with Windows 10 being a jerk all day.

Uh, maybe I don't understand the usage scenario you had in mind where IK visibility is needed that often that it needs to turn back on automatically?

Here's full disclosure for clarity (so pardon the wordiness): I've been using the program for years at this point so actively using IK is a fairly recent thing for me and I mostly use it for movements of groups of multiple bones (ie. lifting a leg so the knee bends naturally). I use Bone Rotate more in general (for individual limbs and/or clean up of things that get wonky after IK movement,) so most of the time I'm using something else like Bone Rotate, Select, Move or Arc Rotate to make sure everything is positioned properly before switching to the camera view. Usually the IK tool isn't even turned on when I go to render a shot or scene, but when I return to scene mode, regardless of what tool I was using, the IK visibility is always turned on again which needs to be toggled off manually every time I want to go back to render another image... Just now while I was testing it for the reply, it seems odd that the visibility would turn on if I'm not even using the IK tool since using the Bone rotate tool (rather than the IK tool) to move IK handles seems counter intuitive as it only seems to move a bone IK chain isn't even supposed to effect.

If you feel IK visibility is that necessary a function I can't deny it's usefulness to other users, I can work around them being always on in scene mode, but it feels like the sensible thing at least would be for the visibility to turn off during a render, the same way the path visual or the axis visuals do, so as not to interfere with renders.

[Steve]

Whenever you activate the "Rotate Bone", "Rotate Joint", or "Inverse Kinematics" tool, both "Show IK" and "Animate" are automatically enabled. This is because that is what you want almost all of the time. You can turn "Show IK" off and still use them.

Now when you render and return to the active tool, bot Animate and Show IK get reenabled. I'm simply trying to explain why it is happening.

I'll see if I can preserve the settings after a render so it doesn't happen after a render

[Alpha2]

Okay, so if I understand correctly, as long as I stay off of the rotation or IK manipulation tools when I render it should not reactivate then? This is probably what I needed to know to avoid complaining and rid me of the assumption that it was a bug. My apologies. I do very much appreciate your patience with me in explaining this. It makes the difference between flailing in frustration and directed towards growing with the program. It wasn't so much that I couldn't understand as it was that the time saver just bumped against the makeshift workflow I'd built up over the years.

Basically I wanted it to work a certain way because these are the first figures I've worked with for an extended length of time that have had any IK so I wasn't aware of the newer features tied to them. Up until the beginning of this year everything I'd done with Anim8or had been done with the Bone rotation tool.

[Steve]

Alpha2: I've updated the way these settings work in build 1382. See if they work better.

[Alpha2]

Oh geez! Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner, Steve. I'd been wrapped up in working on some of my projects I'll give it a look right now.