locking rigs

#1

Is it common practice to lock/hide elements on rigs or would it be better for me to leave them as is? I have seen both often or sometimes assets provided with elements locked/hidden and another scene file with them all untouched.

Similar question for limiting value ranges? I personally prefer this isn’t done but I have seen rigs where it is implemented. An example of this would be a blendshape for a finger movement, limited can only do accurate real movement but without the limit an animator can extend it slightly past normal for an extreme pose for emphasis.

#2

I lock/hide certain attributes that will break the rig if the animator messes with them. Like if scaling a certain control will make the rig explode then I’ll lock/hide the scale values on that control.

I don't limit values cause I don't want the rig to restrict the animator in anyway. The way I look at it is that I setup the character so the animator can move it around and it's up to the animator on what looks best for the animation.

For example, technically the knee/elbow bends in one axis, but I don't force that restriction in the rig by limiting the knee/elbow FK controls to one axis cause you never know what will look good as the character is animating. I've seen tons of animations that an animator has done with my rigs where they'll bend the knee or elbow in an unrealistic way but it looks good for that particular animation.
#3

Thanks for the response, that is what I assumed. I had been locking out scale on everything and transform on many controllers aside from a hand or foot.

#4

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