ATLAS / 01Load joint
The joint that carries weight, compression and the suggestion of effort. Test it against an action—not an isolated turntable.
FIELD COVER / CHARACTER ANIMATION & RIGGING
Test the
performance,
not the promise.
A working field manual for character rigs that have to carry a performance, survive a handoff and still make room for an animator’s judgment.
Open the manualFIELD EDITION / 01
01 / GRIP TEST
A control earns
its place in
the hand.
Before a rig grows a long list of features, it needs a short test: can an animator find the control, understand its range and return to a familiar pose without making the character feel mechanical?
02 / JOINT ATLAS
Give every
joint a useful
reason.
Rigging decisions become easier to review when the purpose of a joint is visible. The atlas keeps deformation, follow-through and handoff concerns from collapsing into one vague “more flexible” request.
ATLAS / 01
ATLAS / 02Gesture joint
The joint that gives a performer room to choose a clear silhouette, a held thought or a quick change of intention.
ATLAS / 03Recovery joint
The joint that lets an animation recover gracefully after a strong pose, without snapping into a convenience position.
03 / PERFORMANCE STRIP
One character.
Two ways to
hold the weight.
Move the pass marker to compare the question a rig asks of an animator. It is not about a score; it is about whether the performer can use the control deliberately.
PASS 01 / PLACE THE LOAD
The character arrives in the pose with a readable centre of effort. The rig supports the idea without deciding the final shape for the animator.
04 / CALIBRATION BENCH
Set the rig’s
limits beside
the scene.
A useful limit is a design choice that protects a performance. Choose an operating condition to see what the bench is asking a rigger to test.
QUIET HELD THOUGHT
Test the control at low velocity. Small adjustments must remain legible and should not cause unwanted secondary motion.
05 / POSE PANTRY
Keep a few
good poses
within reach.
Not an empty rest, but a pose that remembers the character’s balance and active thought.
A useful test for overlapping joints, compression and the distance between a control’s promise and its real result.
A check for silhouette, volume and how the character’s aim travels through the body.
A small follow-through test that shows whether the rig comes back with intention or just resets.
06 / MATERIAL NOTES
Build controls
that feel held,
not merely seen.
The visual language of a control is a working material. Shape, colour and spacing should help a performer understand what they can do before they touch it.
SHAPE Separate the tools that move a limb from the tools that frame a performance.
COLOUR Use contrast to group an action family, not to decorate every available control.
SPACE Leave enough room for a cursor, hand and thought to arrive without a collision.
07 / TROUBLESHOOTING CABINET
Small friction
is still evidence.
Open a field note when a rig feels technically possible but difficult to perform with confidence.
The control is visible but the purpose is unclear.
Reduce its neighbours, name its action in the working guide and test whether its first useful movement confirms what an animator expects. Visibility is not the same as comprehension.
The deformation looks fine until a held pose.
Stop turning the joint in isolation. Test the held attitude, the transition into it and the recovery out of it. Look for a correction that supports the performance rather than an ideal still frame.
The rig works for one scene but fights the next.
Compare the scene demands: weight, speed, contact, framing and acting beat. A production rig needs useful defaults and clear overrides, not a single “correct” setting.
08 / FAQ FIELD NOTES
Practical answers
for the rig at
the table.
Test early enough that the performer can influence the controls, not only approve a finished surface. Start with the actions the production actually needs: a hold, a quick change, a contact moment and a recovery.
Enough to serve the intended performances clearly, but no more than the hand and eye can confidently organize. Count is less useful than purpose: every control should improve reach, range, recovery or a specific production requirement.
Include the intended performance tests, control groups, known limits, version context and a short path for reporting friction. A handoff becomes useful when the next person knows what has been tested and what remains open.
Prioritize failures that block a current performance, damage readability or repeatedly cost time. Keep a distinction between a production stopper, an important refinement and a speculative enhancement so the team can protect the work in front of it.
09 / HANDOFF TABLE
Put the
next rig test
on the table.
Bring a character brief, a difficult pose, a handoff question or a technical concern that needs to stay connected to performance.
10 / DAYLIGHT CLOSE