Graph Editor axis confusion

[Tiaan_Adlem]

Hi,

I would like to use the graph editor to fine tune my lamp animation, however the x, y and z axis transforms in the editor, does not correspond to the global transforms in the viewport. This makes reading the graph editor very confusing. Is there a way to have my bone axis in the armature setup as local, however still be able to use the graph editor in a global coordinate aspect?

Kind Regards

[Mark_Jackson]

It’s best to animate in Local space because that’s how keyframes are recorded. The bone’s local axis and rotations are used to record animation data…

So here in my example, I always try to have control bones aligned to a world axis when I rig anything because it makes it easier to edit the curves in the graph editor if there’s a clear plane to animate to.

Here I’m moving the IK control bone down on one axis. If I had had it angled, this becomes more confusing to work with.

One useful thing you could try is to add a control bone which is oriented to global axis which the deformation bone follows.

I hope that provides some insight despite the fact I’m not an expert rigger nor animator but it’s something I like to do.

[Tiaan_Adlem]

Thanks so much Mark, this makes sense. Something I will need to remember for my future rigging. Thank you taking the time to help me out.

Kind Regards

[Mark_Jackson]

Great! I’m glad you found that useful. If you need any extra help setting things up in your rig, perhaps to heads can be better than one so let me know. Good luck with it!