Rigging

A rig is the machine between a model and its animation. Riggers build joint hierarchies, skin the mesh, set up controls an animator can actually use, and solve deformation where shoulders, hips and faces bend badly by default.

The work is as technical as it is artistic. Scripting generates and maintains rigs across a cast, constraints and corrective shapes handle the hard joints, and every rig has to survive export into the engine with its bone count and performance budget intact.

Maya, Blender and 3ds Max are the usual tools, and character rigging, creature rigging and facial setup are often separate specialisms. The discipline sits between character art and animation, and in smaller teams a technical artist covers all three.