In Setup mode, select Spine_C and hit the "+" button to create a new bone. Position it to become the shoulder bone. Once in place hit the "+" button a few more times to create the arm chain.

Go to the File Tab and create a new Null, call it Name_Null_Wrist_L. It should be a child of the Master Null. Go back to setup mode and place the null near where the arm bone meets the hand bone.

Enter the animate tab, select the Arm bone then bring up the Inverse Kinematics section. Turn on Anchor.

Select the hand bone, then in the Inverse Kinematics section choose the Null_Wrist_L as the goal. Turn on "Calculate IK"

Switch to another view, select the Null_Wrist_L (make sure you have this selected and not the hand bone). Move it around, if it's not bending correctly like in this picture follow the next step.

Select the forearm bone, under the Inverse Kinematics tab change the Direction to "-" negative. This should snap the arm into the correct place.

Go into the command tab and Align the Hand Bone to the Wrist Null. Right-click the little IK flag so it turns red so that it's calculated after IK. The hand will spaz out and change directions.

Go back to animate mode and rotate the null until the hand faces in the correct direction. Make a note of the rotation values. Go into setup mode and enter those rotation values into the null. Go back to animate mode. The hand will spaz out again.. just hit Reset:All and it will return to its setup values with the hand aligned correctly.

In File mode create a new null, call it Null_UpVector_L. Then in setup mode place it in front of the characters elbow. It should also be a child of the Master Null just like the Wrist Null.

Create a new command, you'll use the KneeConstraint Command. For the first value us the Arm, then the Upvector Null, then the wrist null. Enter a zero in the last field. Activate it and you'll have an Up Vector to control the direction of the elbow.

For some reason I can only get Up Vectors to work in the opposite direction they're supposed to point.. They have to be placed on the opposite side of the body and they move the elbow right when you move them left.

I'm an idiot, the vectors are an easy fix. Just rotate the arms 180 degrees. Place the Vectors behind the body and all is good. One of these days I'll get around to re-doing this section, my apologies.

Note: the picture shows kneeconstraint using Bone_Hand_L, but instead you should use the Wrist Null.


With the Up Vector, IK and Hand align in place you dont need to touch the arm bones while animating. So to clean things up it's best to hide them and lock them out.

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