MHX Layers

• Enable all layers:  Turn on all MHX layers (but not layers used for internal mechanisms).
• Disable all layers: Disable all layers except for the active bone layer.
  

The individual layers are just the layers in the armature context, with names for convenience.

Root Layer

The root layer contains the following bones:

• master: Moves the entire character, including the hip bone and the IK targets.
• hip: Moves the entire character, except for the IK targets.
• back: Bend the individual spine bones by the same amount. Convenient for quickly bending the spine smoothly.
• neckhead: Bend the neck and head bones by the same amount. Convenient for quickly bending the head smoothly. 

 

Spine Layer

The spine layer contains the individual spine, neck, head, and pelvis bones, and also the left and right clavicles. The exact number of bones depends on the Genesis genertation.

 

Head Layer

The Head layer contains the eye and ear bones. The eyes are looking at the corresponding gaze bones by default.

This behaviour can be change with the left and right Gaze properties in the MHX properties panel. Gaze Follows Head determines if the gaze bone moves when the head is moved, or if it remains fixed in space

On the Head layer we also have the lowerJaw bone, which opens the mouth, and the tongue bones which move the tongue.

 

Face Layer

The Face layer contains the DAZ face rig (for Genesis 3 and 8 characters). The bones can only be moved if no face morphs have been loaded, or the bones have been made poseable.

 

Tweak Layer

The Tweak layer contains deform bones which can be used to tweak a pose. These bones can be moved freely, but should be used sparingly.

 

Custom Layer

The Custom layer contains extra bones added by clothes and geografts.

IK Arm Layers

The IK arm layers contains bones for posing the arms in inverse kinematics (IK) mode (the default).

• hand.ik: The IK effector which positions and rotates the hand.
• clavicle: The shoulder bone (not part of the IK chain).
  
• elbow.pt.ik: The pole target which determines the location of the elbow.
  
• elbowPoleA: Rotating this bone is an alternative way to locate the elbow, using a single angle rather that three locations.
• upper_arm.ik.twist: Tweaks the twist of the upper arm.
• forearm.ik.twist: Tweaks the twist of the forearm.
  

 

FK Arm Layers

The FK arm layers contains bones for posing the arms in forward kinematics (FK) mode.

• clavicle: The shoulder bone.
• upper_arm.fk: Upper arm.
• forearm.fk: Forearm.
• hand.fk: Hand.

 

IK Leg Layers

The IK legs layers contains bones for posing the legs in IK mode (the default).

• foot.ik: The IK effector which positions the foot and rotates it around the heel.
• toe.rev: The reverse toe rotates the foot around the toe tip.
• foot.rev: The reverse foot rotates the foot around the ball
  
• knee.pt.ik: The pole target which determines the location of the knee.
  
• kneePoleA: Rotating this bone is an alternative way to locate the knee, using a single angle rather that three locations.
• thigh.ik.twist: Tweaks the twist of the thigh.
• shin.ik.twist: Tweaks the twist of the shin.

The MHX rig uses a reverse foot setup, which allows independent rotations around the heel, toe, and ball of the foot.

 

FK Leg Layers

The FK leg layers contains bones for posing the legs in forward kinematics (FK) mode.

• thigh.fk: Thigh
• shin.fk: Shin.
• foot.fk: Foot.
• toe.fk: Toe.
  

 

Extra Layers 

These layers contain various bones that don't fit in elsewhere.

Sockets

 

The arm and leg sockets are the parents of all arm and leg bones. Unlike the twist bones, moving a socket bone moves the entire underlying hierarchy.

 

Ankle IK

If Ankle IK is turned on, the ankle bones on the Extra layers become the IK effectors instead of the IK foot bones. The feet are posed with the FK foot and toe bones. This mix of IK and FK bones needed also appear on the Extra layers.

Markers

The Extra layers also contains bones which determine the location of the toe, ball, and heel. These bones are used for automatically keeping all parts of the foot above ground, especially for characters in high heels. If you don't intend to use the tools that keep the foot above ground, these bones can be ignored.

By default the location of the marker bones is determined by the foot and toe bones. This may be a good approximation to the bottom of the foot for barefoot characters, but not for character in high heels.

Change location of the marker bones in edit mode

Now the markers indicate the location of the foot's toe, ball and heel.

 

Hand Layers

The Hand layers contain the long finger bones, which control the individual finger links.

 

Fingers Layers

The Fingers layers containt the individual finger links and palm bones.

Toes Layers

The Toes layers contain the individual toe bones.