The character rig in Cascadeur is strictly hierarchical: it always starts with a single element, while every other element is its child.
This hierarchy, however, is not set in stone: it does allow for some alterations, and there might be cases when you’d like to make changes to it.

This page describes such cases.

Rig Hierarchy

The character rig in Cascadeur is a hierarchical structure that includes several ‘layers’:

The first ‘layer’ is the controllers: Points, Boxes, AutoPosing.
The second one is the elements connected to the controllers: Edges, Constraints, Triangles, Twists.
The third is the ‘deform bones’ i.e. the Joints that directly deform the mesh when moved.
And the final one is the Mesh itself.

The complete list of the parts of the rig is stored in the Rig Info object.

Props and Hierarchy

A prop can be either a part of the skeleton hierarchy, or a completely separate object that you import into the scene

Either way, you can integrate it into the character’s rig.

if it is already a part of the skeleton, you can rig it (using points or box controllers, see here how to do it), and parent the rig element associated with the prop to another rig element that is a part of the character: like attaching a rig element in the sword to the rig element in the hand

If a prop has Joints, you might also want to rig them after you attach the prop to the character - if you plan to animate the prop.

How to do this should depend on the size of the prop.

A big one - like a two-handed sword, for example - would have a mass that could impact the way the character moves. So for props like these, it’s a good idea to create a full rig element - and then maybe even set the mass for the rigid body (as by default, the mass is always 1).
A small prop won’t have any significant impact on the character’s motion; such props you can rig with just Box Controllers. 

See the Adding Props page for more information on this topic.

Custom Hierarchy

Sometimes, you might encounter characters with unconventional skeletons: for example, each limb might have a separate set of Joints, independent from other limbs or the spine.


Here, each body part has an independent Joint hierarchy.

If you try to rig such a skeleton by simply creating separate sets of rig elements, you won’t be able to use many of the Cascadeur features: AutoPosing, AutoPhysics, or even inverse kinematics for Point Controllers.

So a better solution would be to create your own hierarchy that would combine separate Joint chains into a single structure.