# Lock a bone position with IK and override animations?

**URL:** <https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/lock-a-bone-position-with-ik-and-override-animations/286063>\
**Category:** World Creation\
**Tags:** unreal-engine, constraint, Physics, question\
**Created:** [June 17, 2014, 12:05am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/lock-a-bone-position-with-ik-and-override-animations/286063 "2014-06-17T00:05:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Stephen\_Hess](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Stephen\_Hess](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Stephen_Hess)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 12:05am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/lock-a-bone-position-with-ik-and-override-animations/286063/1 "2014-06-17T00:05:23Z")

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I’m trying to find a way to lock the neck bone of a character to a position in the world and have this limit the body positions of the character’s playing animations. (i.e. the animations might be an idle sway or a hit reaction that would normally move the head a bit - but I want the head bone anchored while the rest of the skeleton tries to play the animation as best it can blending with this anchored point.)

I’m currently based on 4.1, so I’ve set up a 2 bone IK node in the animation blueprint, setting the neck as the IK bone, and the End Effector to be a world space position.

This works well to make that neck bone always orient toward that worldspace End Effector no matter the animation, but animations can still pull the neck away from the End Effector position.

Is there any way to force the position?

Thanks for the help!

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**Author:** ![anonymous\_user\_3a7b8b1e](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@anonymous\_user\_3a7b8b1e](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/anonymous_user_3a7b8b1e)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2019, 4:43pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/lock-a-bone-position-with-ik-and-override-animations/286063/2 "2019-10-19T16:43:33Z")

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Did you end up finding a solution for this? Currently looking to accomplish the same thing.

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**Author:** ![Stephen\_Hess](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Stephen\_Hess](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Stephen_Hess)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2019, 4:10am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/lock-a-bone-position-with-ik-and-override-animations/286063/3 "2019-10-20T04:10:21Z")

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I’m sorry, this was 5 years ago and I don’t remember, and I don’t have a way to go back and look at this project. My guess is that it would have involved layered animations in conjunction with the IK node.

Wish I could be of more help, good luck!

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**Author:** ![MostHost\_LA](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/mosthost_la/32/907035_2.png) [@MostHost\_LA](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/MostHost_LA)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2023, 1:48am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/lock-a-bone-position-with-ik-and-override-animations/286063/5 "2023-11-13T01:48:56Z")

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That definitely wasnt a thing 4 years ago. Even worse 9 years ago.

And it probably still shouldnt be a thing.

A proper solution to the OP’s question would be to lock _the character_ in place, then to override the position of the bones based on a translation from the position of the neck.

Overall translate from rootbone position - neckposirion as the location of every bone could work.

At that point, its cheaper to create a model so that the root is the neck, and that every animation moves around the neck by design.

This is actually achievable with some work, patience, and the retargeting system, since it works by nature on bone location values…