Hi there :)
This post is about checks that need to be done on Rigs.

In a first step, I planned to publish a list of checks to be done when I discover a new Rig, and I want to know the rig quality. This list is quite global, and can be applied on (almost) any rig.
Then I realised that this list can be used as a check-list before deliver a rig. I’m publishing this list here, and I will eventually update it if I want / need.

  • Parent / Constraint
    • Root

      • First step : verify that there is a root bone. Essential to grab entire rig.


      • Scaling
        When scaling root bone, model should scale uniformally, without deforming some part of the mesh. Otherwise there is a problem of parent or constraint.


    • Change Rest Position / Pose Position
      When switching from one to other, no mouvement should be noticed, except if there is some roll or constraint error.


  • Dependency cycle
    • When you switch armature from Edit Mode to Pose Mode, verify console error. If there are some dependency cycles, some errors will be displayed. If you don’t know what is a dependency cycle, you can read an old post about dependency cycle


  • Bone naming

    • I am using keyingset Whole Character to check bone naming. If some animator unused bone have a keyframe, some bones are not correctly named. If you don’t know what I mean, please have a look on my post about Whole Character.


    • I pose the rig, and using Mirror Pose, I check that Right / Left convention is OK. (look at hand position this is not symmetrical in example)



  • Roll
    • Bone Local axis : Check, for example, that both feet have identical local axis.



  • Locked transformations
    • If some transformations are not available for some bones, I check that these transformations are locked (so no keyframe on it)


  • Skinning

    • Time to play with the rig to check deformations :)


    • Moving root bone far away of world center (200 units up for example), and see … Quickly noticed any problems :)


  • Extras

    • Link: I check that all is OK in order to using my rig in another file, using link system. No details on it here, I will write another post about this particular point.


      • Bonus: I check if rig has bone groups, with color eventually.


    • Bonus again, activating addon Selection Set, I check if there is some entries.
      Note that I am currently developping an addon, ExtraGroups, that enhance Selection Sets. This addon will be available before summer 2017.


Model & Rig used is from Blender Foundation, destroyed by myself :)

Here is a (french) video about all these checks: