Performance Tools

Tools to keep the viewport responsive when working with complex scenes or high-detail characters.

Simplify: toggles Blender's Simplify option on and off. When active, the sliders below become available.

Max Subdivision: limits the subdivision level displayed in the viewport. Does not affect render quality.

Child Particles: reduces the density of particle-based hair in the viewport. Does not affect render quality.

These settings affect the viewport only. When rendering, Blender always uses full quality regardless of these values.

AXIS Rig

Selector to assign the character rig the panel will control. In scenes with multiple characters, use this to choose which one you are working with. 

If only one AXIS rig is present, it is assigned automatically.

Facial Widget Layers

Visibility controls for the Face Widget rig — a secondary rig used for facial animation and posing.

Each button toggles the visibility of a bone group in the widget. Only the groups relevant to your rig version will appear.

Show/Hide Legend: shows or hides the control legend overlay on the widget.

Follow Head: controls how much the Face Widget follows the head bone of the main rig. Set to 1 for full follow, 0 to keep the widget in place independently.

Main Rig Layers

Visibility controls for the bone groups of the main character rig, organised by body part: Head, Arms, Fingers, Legs, Torso, and Root.

Toggle each layer on or off depending on what you need to see or select. Only the layers present in your rig version will appear.

Gaze / Tongue: additional layers for eye direction and tongue controls, shown when available.

Follow Head (Gaze Options): controls how much the gaze follows the head rotation. Available on compatible rig versions.

Pose Tools

General-purpose tools for posing the rig.

Reset Pose: returns all bones to their rest position.

Switch to Pose / Switch to Object: toggles between Pose Mode and Object Mode directly from the panel, without having to use the mode menu.

Disable / Enable Limits: toggles the bone rotation and location limits on the rig. 

Disable them when you need to push a pose beyond the rig's normal range, for example for exaggerated or stylised animation. Re-enable to restore normal behaviour.

Pose Clipboard

Copy Pose: copies the current pose of the selected bones.

Paste Pose: pastes the copied pose onto the rig.

Paste Flipped Pose: pastes the copied pose with left and right sides swapped.

Flip Pose

Swaps the pose between the left and right sides of the body simultaneously.

• Flip Left → Right: takes the current pose of the left side and applies it mirrored to the right side, and vice versa.

• Flip Right → Left: same operation starting from the right side.

Mirror Pose

Copies the pose from one side to the other without swapping.

• Copy Left → Right: mirrors the left side pose onto the right side.

• Copy Right → Left: mirrors the right side pose onto the left side.

Advanced Pose Tools

Full IK/FK control for arms, legs, and fingers.

IK/FK Switch

Sliders to blend between IK and FK for each limb individually.

• Arm IK↔FK (Left / Right): controls the arm. At 0 the arm is in IK, at 1 it is in FK.

• Leg IK↔FK (Left / Right): controls the leg. Same range. Only shown on full-body rigs.

• Fingers FK/IK (Left Hand / Right Hand): controls the fingers. At 0 they are in FK, at 1 they are in IK.

Global Controls

One-click buttons to switch all limbs at once.

Global FK (Arms & Legs): switches all arms and legs to FK or IK together. The button shows the current state and toggles on each click.

Global Fingers IK: switches all fingers on both hands between FK and IK.

Snap FK/IK

Snap buttons transfer the current visual pose from one mode to the other without any visible change in position. 

Use these when you want to switch between IK and FK mid-animation and keep the pose intact.

Available per limb (left and right arm, left and right leg) and per hand (fingers).

• FK → IK — snaps the FK pose into the IK controls.

• IK → FK — snaps the IK pose into the FK controls.

Global FK → IK and Global IK → FK apply the snap to all limbs simultaneously.

Stretch Controls

Sliders to enable and control the stretch behaviour on arms and legs. When stretch is active, IK limbs can extend beyond their natural length to reach the target control. 

Set to 0 to disable stretch and keep the limb at its natural proportions.

Info

Version: displays the current version of the AXIS Panel installed in the file.

Documentation: opens the online documentation page.

Tutorials: opens the official YouTube tutorials playlist.

AXIS Core Add-on: link to the AXIS Core Addon product page, required for retargeting and facial mocap.