MakeHuman Inverse Kinematics

Question

I have a makehuman model that I want to use for animating. However, with the current forward kinematics, it's very difficult to animate each bone one by one. So after messing around, I figured out how to use inverse kinematics. However I'm having trouble making the legs calculate their rotation realistically.

The legs when I did the IK looked like this:

The problem is the legs aren't turning on the Z axis so that the foot faces the direction it is at. It only really utilises the X and Y axis. How am I able to make it so that it can only move on its own local Y axis (which is based on its own rotation) with that rotation controlled by the Z axis?

The end result should look something like this.

This is what it currently looks like:

Note how from the top-down view, the foot is not facing in the same direction from the leg bone. Its angle is very off.

Answer 1

It looks like you have too many IK constraints on your legs and arms. You should have just on per leg or arm (on the shin or forearm bones) and then set the targets to the foot or hand, and the chain length to the number of bones in the leg arm. To avoid bending on the twist bones at the top of each arm/leg, you will need to adjust the settings to lock particular axes on the bone ik panel in pose mode.

See https://www.blender.org/manual/rigging/armatures/posing/bone_constraints/inverse_kinematics/introduction.html

Answer 2

I realised my problem. The helper bone is not meant to be attached to the leg bone. It should be parented but not connected, and the helper bone should move further outwards to make the leg point as expected.