CA Arm

Creates a cartoon arm without any fingers. Features include IK/FK, ribbons, twist, soft IK, stretch, pin ctrl, etc.

Guides:

• ‘Base’ – Position approximately on the Clavicle.
• ‘Root’ – Position at the shoulder.
• ‘Mid’ – Position at the elbow.
• ‘Tip’ – Position at the wrist.
• ‘Pole Vector’ – Position where the IK pole vector ctrl will be placed. Movement is limited to the ‘Root’, ‘Mid’, and ‘Tip’ guides plane.

Attributes:

1. ‘Ctrls Scale’ – Scale all the node ctrls. Note that the attachments ‘Ctrls Settings’ and ‘CtrlsShape’ will override this.
   [As of version 1.06.03]  ‘Update’ button to change the ctrls size without requiring a rebuild. [Video] 
2. ‘Clean Transformations’ – If checked, the zeroed pose will be the same as the bind pose; if unchecked, when zeroing the ctrls, they will align with a world axis specified in the following two attributes. [Video]
3. ‘World Orientation’ – The world axis the ctrls will align with when zeroed. Usually, this attribute’s default value is the correct value. [Video]
4. ‘World Orient Twist’ – Along with ‘World Orientation’, defines the ctrls zeroed pose. Usually, the default value of 0 is the correct value. [Video]
5. ‘Expose RotateOrder’ – Exposes all the ctrls ‘RotateOrder’ attribute in the Channel Box. [Video] 
6. ‘Secondary Ctrls’ – Secondary ctrls are added under some ctrls to help prevent gimbal lock.
   A visibility attribute is added to the parent ctrl. [Video]
7. ‘Ik Fk Switch’ – Select where the ‘Ik Fk Switch’ attribute and other shared attributes are placed: [Video]
   • ‘switch_ctrl’ – Places them on a ctrl that follows the arm tip (default).
   • ‘proxy_attrs’ – places them as shared attributes (proxy attributes), on both the IK tip ctrl and the FK tip ctrl.
8. ‘Switch Ctrl Offset’ – Position offset of ‘switch_ctrl’ from the ‘tip_jnt’.
9. ‘Volume’ – Adds ‘Auto Volume’ and ‘Manual Volume’ attributes.
10. ‘Pin Ctrl’ – Add a ‘pin_ctrl’ that constrains ‘mid_ctrl’ when activated. To activate this ctrl use the ‘Pin’ attribute on ‘mid_ctrl’.
    Use a ‘SpaceSwitch’ attachment on ‘pin_ctrl’ to properly use this feature.
11. ‘Roundness’ – A cartoon feature that rounds the shape of the limb. The ‘Roundness’ attribute is added to the ‘switch’ ctrl.
12. ‘Mirror Behaviour’ – Only affects mirrored nodes.
    • Unchecked – The IK ctrls of mirrored nodes will align with the world, meaning that both arms will move and rotate in the same direction (default for legs).
    • Checked – The IK ctrls of mirrored nodes will mirror orientations, meaning that both arms will reflect each other (default for arms).
13. ‘IK Twist’ – The attribute ‘Twist’ is added to ‘ik_tip_ctrl’, giving you another control over the IK chain twist.
14. ‘Stretch’ – The attributes ‘Auto Stretch’ and ‘Manual Stretch’ are added to ‘ik_tip_ctrl’ for control over the arm length.
15. ‘Toggle Pole Vector’ – The attribute ‘Toggle Pole Vector’ is added to ‘ik_tip_ctrl’, which can turn off the pole vector constraint.
16. ‘Soft IK’ – The attribute ‘Soft Ik’ is added to ‘ik_tip_ctrl’, which helps fix the ‘pop’ in the animation when the IK chain gets fully extended.
17. ‘Auto Clavicle’ – (As of version 1.05.00) Enables automatic rotation of ‘base_jnt’ based on ‘ik_tip_ctrl’ movement.
    Add attributes ‘Auto Base X Mult’ and ‘Auto Base Z Mult’ to the ‘ik_tip_ctrl’.Values of 0.2-0.4 are recommended for those attributes.
18. ‘Ctrls Translate’ – If checked, animators will also be able to translate the FK ctrls.
19. ‘Ribbon Joints’– How many skinning joints each ribbon will have (total x2; upper ribbon and lower ribbon). [Video]
20. ‘Ribbon Twist’ – Allow the ribbon joints to twist. Turn this off for creatures with external skeletons, such as spiders, or for characters wearing rigid armor.
21. ‘Ribbon Micro Ctrls’ – Add a ctrl for every ribbon skinning joint. [Video]
22. ‘Bezier Ctrls’ – Add ctrls that deform the ribbons like a Bezier curve. [Video] 
23. ‘Bezier Ctrls Offset’ – Position offset of the Bezier ctrls from the joints chain.

Connections:

• ‘Root Input’ – Drives the ctrls of this node except the ‘ik_tip_ctrl’ and the ‘ik_pv_ctrl’. Usually driven by the spine node.
• ‘IK Tip Input’ – Drives the ‘ik_tip_ctrl’ and the ‘ik_pv_ctrl’. Separate from ‘Root Input’ because we often want the IK ctrls to move with the ‘Base’ node.
• ‘Root Output’ – An output at the ‘root_jnt’ (shoulder).
• ‘Tip Output’ – An output at the ‘tip_jnt’ (hand).

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