Ik handle not moving mesh in all directions

[yyumii]

Hello,

I added ik handles to both legs and now am trying to do the same to the arms. I Left arm's ik handle is working fine but the right side is not working although I have followed the same steps. I tried restarting the project, checked that stickiness option was chosen, and the hierarchy looks identical for the right and left arm rig but I am not getting the same effect. I can move the right controller up/down, forward back, but non inwards toward the body.  

Any ideas on what is going on?

Thanks

[yyumii]

attached another photo, the arms do move but they ignore the middle joint...

[yyumii]

  

[Kahylan · Accepted solution]

Hi!

This could be a prefered angle problem. If your joint chain is straight when you create it, maya doesn't know in what direction to rotate when you move the IK control, which can result in maya trying to rotate along the main axis of the joint for the IK calculations.
What you can do against this issue is:

1) Deleting the IK Handle and Effector

2) rotating the elbow joint in the direction the arm would bend.

3) selecting the joint and using the Rigging Toolset, Skeleton -> set prefered angle, command. then rotating the joint back and redoing the IK setup.

I hope this helps!

[yyumii]

thank you, that was it!