7. I will use spine IK for its tail. This tool is great for joints like �V tails, antennae, snake etc.

Go to Skeleton -> IK Spine Handle Tool��s option, number of span set to 1. This will create 4 CVs for the curve. Too many CVs will make animation tedious.



After spine IK was made, Maya will create a curve that allow you to control the motion of the tail.

In Pick Masks select by object type, toggle on Select by Type: Curve to select the curve, then right click and hold, select CV from the hot box.



Then, switch your Pick Mask to Select by Component Type: Points. Select the curve��s CVs

I will only select from 2nd CV onward because 1st CV is the root. Later on, I will parent them to locators to make this CVs easy to select.



8. Select 2nd CV and go to deform -> create cluster��s option, select relative then create. You will find out CV has a C beside. Do the same to 3rd and 4th CV.



In Hypergraph, you may notice cluster nodes have been created.



Then I will display clusters selection handle to make them easy to be selected.

9. Select clusters then -> Display -> object components -> selection handles

Toggle Pick Mask to Select by Component type: Handles, the select the clusters in window. You may notice + (selection handle) have turned to yellow. Move them away from joints (visible location)



Now switch to Select by Object type: handles, and select the clusters�� handles, try to move them.



This setup will save us some time when we want animate it in future.

Select the Pelvis joint and move it forward, Cluster handles are not following. To modify it,

Groups the cluster handles together and select the group, parent it to pelvis. Now select the Pelvis joint and move it again. Cluster handles are following.



O.K, we have finished spine IK setup for tail. Its up to you whether you want to use IK or FK for its arms.

Adding Attributes

I would like to use Add Attribute feature to create new attributes to my setup and use Set Driven Key to control them. Before I start, I will do some clean up works.

1. Select pelvis joint and go to Window -> General Editor -> Channel Control.



Highlight the channel that you dont want to be key, click Move >> to make them non-keyable.

2. Go to Modify-> Add Attribute to bring up its window.
I named the attribute name to Jaw, Data Type set to Float, Minimum=0, Maximum=10, Default=0. Then O.K.



3. Now we have got Jaw's attribute in Channel Box. New attribute has been added to pelvis joint.



I will use Set Driven Key to connect Jaw's attribute.