ABSTRACT
The term broken rigs refers to a different type of skeleton creation. It allows for an extremely stretchy rig. The legs, head, spine, and arms all were children of one another. With a broken rig, each of the limbs and sections of skeleton are detached from one another and treated separately. A note about broken skeleton rigs: they become problematic for lighters and the look development department. Since the rig is broken and being cheated, any self-shadowing can give away the illusion. Making sure that the camera angle is not going to show the shadow too badly helps. There is also the concept where parts of a rig that move with the main rig can be detached completely, without the skin staying attached, such as a character whose head falls off—imagine robots, zombies, or something of the like.
