Rig Setup

Rig Setup tells AutoPose which FK controllers on your character receive the pose, and in what order they run through each limb. You normally do this once per character and reconstruct again only when the mapping changes.

The mode is laid out as three numbered steps, top to bottom.

Rig Setup end to end

character selection, preset and manual mapping, reconstruction, and T-pose confirmation.

1. Choose Rig Mapping

The fastest way through Rig Setup is not to do it by hand.

Control	What it does
Preset dropdown + Apply Preset	Fills all five chains from a known rig family
Auto Detect	Looks at the bone names in your rig and applies the preset that matches
Mirror Left / Right	Mirrors your edits to the opposite limb while you work

AutoPose includes presets for:

• Rigify
• Auto-Rig Pro
• CloudRig
• Mixamo
• Puppet Studio

Custom rigs are supported through manual mapping.

Choose Rig Mapping

the preset dropdown with Apply Preset, Auto Detect, and Mirror Left / Right.

Try Auto Detect even on a custom rig

Auto Detect matches on bone names, so a custom rig built on familiar naming conventions may still be recognised. It costs one click to find out.

Always inspect a preset before reconstruction

Presets save time, but rig versions and custom edits can change controller names. Expand all five lists and confirm that each entry is the intended FK controller before you reconstruct.

2. Review Controller Mapping

Expand this section to see the five chains. Each one carries a badge: Valid or Needs attention. If a preset filled everything correctly, all five read Valid and you can move straight to step 3.

Chain Order

This is the part that matters. Each list is ordered, and the order describes how the chain runs through the body.

Chain	Build the list in this order
Leg R / Leg L	From the end of the foot inward: toe, foot, shin, thigh
Hand R / Hand L	From the wrist inward: hand, forearm, upper arm, shoulder
Spine	From the lower torso upward: torso or lower spine, chest, neck, head

Review Controller Mapping

each chain with its ordered FK controllers and a Valid or Needs attention badge.

Filling A Chain By Hand

Each chain has its own set of buttons down the right-hand side of the list.

Button	What it does
+	Adds the bone that is active in Pose Mode
▲ ▼	Moves the selected entry up or down the chain
–	Removes the selected entry
✕	Clears the whole chain
REC	Stays on and captures each bone you select, in the order you select them

REC is usually the quickest route: turn it on for a chain, then click down the limb in order in Pose Mode. Turn it off when the chain is complete.

Mapping a chain by hand

Add Selected and REC filling a chain, then the arrows fixing the order.

What the Needs attention badge is telling you

A chain reports the exact problem underneath its header. There are three:

• No controllers assigned - the chain is empty.
• Missing - a mapped name no longer exists on the rig, usually after a bone was renamed.
• Duplicate - the same controller is used in more than one chain.

Which Controllers To Pick

FK Controllers

Map the FK controls. Those are the ones AutoPose reads and writes.

Pick the controller that actually rotates the segment, not a deform bone and not a helper. If your rig has both an FK control and an underlying deform bone for the upper arm, the FK control is the one to map.

Fingers are not supported. Do not add finger controls to the hand lists.

Spine Specifics

The first entry in the spine chain is special: it is the controller AutoPose treats as the base of the character. It is the only controller that receives both location and rotation. Every other mapped controller receives rotation only, and existing scale is left alone.

Start the spine at the lowest torso controller that continues upward through the spine, then end at the head. Avoid a controller that only drives a lower chain or moves the legs without belonging to the upward torso chain.

IK Rigs

AutoPose poses through FK. On a rig with both, map the FK side.

AutoPose does not write to IK controllers. If you want to continue in IK, finish the AutoPose result on FK and use your rig’s own FK-to-IK snapping workflow afterwards.

Chains can have gaps

Not every rig has the same number of spine controls. A chain does not have to be full end to end; what matters is that the entries you do map are in the right order.

3. Build AutoPose Rig

Before reconstruction

For consistent results, use a rig with applied object transforms (Location, Rotation, and Scale). Before reconstruction, the character should be at the world origin and facing -Y.

Press Reconstruct AutoPose Rig. This builds the helper rigs AutoPose poses through, and immediately moves into T-pose calibration.

The button stays disabled until the mapping is usable. If it is greyed out, the panel lists why under Before reconstructing: - usually a chain that is still empty, or a REC button that is still on.

Build AutoPose Rig

the synchronized notice above the Reconstruct AutoPose Rig button.

If Your Controllers Are Locked Or Driven

Some rigs lock transform channels on their controllers, or drive them from other controls. AutoPose cannot write a pose onto a channel that is locked or driven, so if it finds any among the controllers you mapped, it stops and asks first.

The dialog is titled Mapped controller restrictions detected and names the affected bones. Continuing unlocks those mapped transform channels and mutes their drivers so AutoPose can move them. Cancelling leaves your rig exactly as it was.

Only the mapped controllers are touched

Nothing outside your five chains is unlocked or muted, and the change is limited to what AutoPose needs in order to pose. If you would rather handle it yourself, cancel, adjust the rig, and reconstruct again.

What Reconstruct Creates

Reconstruction adds three helper armatures next to your character:

Helper	What it is for
YourRig_Blazed	The proxy rig AutoPose poses on
YourRig_AutoPose100	The bridge between the proxy and your controllers
YourRig_TPOSE	The calibration rig used as the reference pose

Leave the helpers alone

Do not rename, delete, constrain, or animate the _Blazed, _AutoPose100, or _TPOSE rigs. Treat them as internal. If they ever fall out of step with your setup, run Reconstruct AutoPose Rig again rather than repairing them by hand.

The T-Pose Confirmation

Reconstruction pauses on a two-stage alignment step. AutoPose needs a clean reference pose to measure your character against, and it asks you to confirm it rather than guessing.

1. Front view

   The panel switches to T-Pose Alignment - Front View and points at the generated _TPOSE rig. Pose it into a proper T: arms straight out to the sides, legs straight down. Press Confirm Front View.

2. Top view

   The panel switches to T-Pose Alignment - Top View. Look from above and check that the arms are straight along the axis and not swept forward or back. Fix anything that is off, then press Finalize T-Pose.

T-pose alignment

the front view stage with the Confirm Front View button.

A T-pose, not an A-pose

This step exists because an A-pose, a relaxed pose, or a slightly dropped shoulder all change how the character is measured. Spend the extra thirty seconds here; every pose you make afterwards depends on it.

Cancel T-Pose Setup leaves the workflow without accepting the alignment, if you need to get out and come back to it.

If You Change The Mapping Later

AutoPose remembers what the helper rigs were built from. Change a chain afterwards, and step 3 warns you:

What the panel says	What it means
AutoPose rig is synchronized	The helpers match the current mapping. Nothing to do.
Controller mapping changed	The mapping and the helpers disagree. Press Reconstruct AutoPose Rig to bring them back in step.

Reconstructing again is safe and normal. It keeps the T-pose calibration you already confirmed.

Rigs AutoPose Cannot Set Up

If the character is linked from another file or is a library override, AutoPose refuses setup and says so instead of failing partway through reconstruction. Rig Setup writes properties onto the armature and builds sibling rigs, and neither is reliable on a datablock owned by another file.

The panel names the exact reason and points at the fix: make the rig fully local with Object → Library Override → Make Local, then reopen the panel.

Ready To Pose When

1. All five chains read Valid.
2. Step 3 reports AutoPose rig is synchronized.
3. The T-pose workflow is finished, not cancelled.

Switch the panel to AutoPose and continue with Posing With Constraints.