Rig Spec Checklist
One page. Due in Week 2 with your design drawing, as part of Project 1.
What this is
Your rig spec is the list of everything your character has to be able to do, derived from your
concept drawing, with the rig element that delivers each one named.
It is also your final rubric. In Week 16 your demonstration animation is screened against this
sheet. If your spec says the wings spread, the demonstration shows the wings spreading.
Fill it out honestly. Marking every optional item does not earn you points; it earns you fourteen
weeks of work you may not finish.
Required of every rig
These are not optional and they are not choices. Each maps to a milestone.
| Rig element | Where it's built |
|---|---|
Resolves to a single MSR node; Geometry / Joints / Controls groups | M1 |
| Main/global control, root, hips/COG | M1 |
| Engine-legal skeleton — single root, no joint scale, ≤4 influences per vertex | Project 3 |
| Bound mesh, weights normalized, range-of-motion test authored | Project 4 |
| At least one corrective blendShape | Project 4 |
| IK/FK legs with pole vector and blend | M2 |
| Reverse foot with heel / ball / toe roll | M2 |
| Spine — FK stack, spline IK, or ribbon (choose one, justify it) | M3 |
| IK/FK arms with pole vector and blend | M4 |
| Clavicle control | M4 |
| Finger controls with at least one driven pose set | M4 |
| Hand space switching, minimum two spaces | M4 |
| Neck and head with head-follow switch | M5 |
| Jaw | M5 |
| Eye aim | M5 |
| Every channel reads zero at bind pose | throughout |
| Verified as a Unity Humanoid avatar | Week 15 |
Elect at least one
Choose based on what your character actually is. Most characters land here naturally.
For each one you select, write the shot reason — what your character does that requires it.
| Element | Your shot reason | |
|---|---|---|
| ☐ | Tail, tentacle, or chain appendage — FK, spline IK, ribbon, or dynamic | |
| ☐ | Wings — feathered or membrane, with a fold attribute driving tucked ↔ spread | |
| ☐ | Prop as a separate asset — socket attachment, space switching to hand / off-hand / holster / world | |
| ☐ | Two-handed weapon — bow with drawn string, rifle foregrip, staff, hammer haft |
Optional — take on what your shot demands
Credit where justified. Not expected of everyone, and not a checklist to maximize.
| Element | Your shot reason | |
|---|---|---|
| ☐ | Stretchy IK limbs | |
| ☐ | Volume preservation on stretch | |
| ☐ | Twist joint distribution, forearm and thigh | |
| ☐ | Ribbon limbs | |
| ☐ | Scapula control | |
| ☐ | Facial blendShape set | |
| ☐ | Phoneme / viseme set for lip sync | |
| ☐ | Additional corrective blendShapes | |
| ☐ | Dynamic secondary motion, baked | |
| ☐ | Cape, cloth strip, or hair chain | |
| ☐ | Weapon swap and detachables | |
| ☐ | Toe or finger IK | |
| ☐ | Squash and stretch on the spine | |
| ☐ | Multi-character or prop-to-prop constraints |
Writing good shot reasons
A shot reason names something the character does, not something it has.
| Weak | Strong |
|---|---|
| "She has wings." | "She lands and folds her wings against her back over about eight frames." |
| "He carries a hammer." | "He swaps the hammer between a hip holster and a two-handed grip mid-swing." |
| "It has a tail." | "The tail counterbalances during a hard turn and settles a beat after the body stops." |
The strong version tells you what to build. The weak version doesn't.
Annotating your design drawing
Your rig spec gets annotated onto the design sheet, so the modeling decisions and the rigging
requirements sit on the same page. Callouts on the drawing should mark:
- How props are held, and with which hand
- Wings drawn both tucked and spread
- Anything detachable
- Anything hard-surface that articulates
- Joint locations that aren't obvious from the silhouette
See also: Project 1 · Naming Convention · Course Home