Selectively enabling IK constraints for animation

Hello,

I have a character model rigged and ready for animation. Some of his animations require there to exist an IK constraint between bones in his hands and a weapon I have him aiming. Other animations, like running, crouching, etc, require that this constraint be removed in order for the animation to look right.

How can I have both types of animations for my model? I suspect this would require disabling the IK constraint so his arms/hands aren’t awkwardly clutching things while he’s running/not holding a weapon, but how would I do this?

Let me know if there is any additional information I can provide.

Thanks

You right click on influence and ad a drive. look for a tut on drivers. here is a video i have not seen. The influence driver is the same as other drivers. Just make a slider to control the IK influence and turn it off when not needed.
.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMoBFzXFAUM

Interesting, didn’t know about these. I’m rushed for time now, but will check this video out when I make it home.

Thank you!

So, I’ve had trouble finding time to work on my project for quite a while, but was able to solve my problem very easily.

When you go to animate, in the animator window where your keyframes are displayed, you can select the bone that has the IK constraint applied in ‘pose’ mode and press ‘i’ on the keyboard while hovering over the IK weight slider. This will record the bone’s IK weight in the animation. You can apply different weights to different animations, acheiving my initial goal.