🦁 TOON QUADRUPED RIG PACK – DOCUMENTATION & USER GUIDE

By Chaftop Animation Studio

📦 1. Overview

Thank you for purchasing the Toon Quadruped Rig Pack.
This collection includes stylized, animation-ready quadruped characters designed for high-quality 3D animation in Blender, and exported versions in FBX, GLB, and OBJ for compatibility with other software.

Each rig has been crafted with:

• Clean, animation-friendly topology
• Full UV unwrapping
• Advanced IK/FK body systems
• Facial controls
• Eye blink and eyebrow controls
• Stable deformation and production-tested motion
• Compatibility with iClone, ActorCore, Mixamo, and mocap workflows

These rigs are ideal for YouTube kids’ shows, games, TV production, short films, and educational projects.

🧰 2. Folder Structure

Inside your downloaded package you will find:

/Blender_Files

    AnimalName.blend

/Exported_Files

    /FBX

    /GLB

    /OBJ

/Textures_Baked

    Body_Color.png

    Body_Normal.png

    Body_Roughness.png

    Eye_Color_Baked.png (if needed)

/Documentation

    README.pdf (this file)

⚙️ 3. Software Compatibility

✔ Native Format

• Blender 4.x — full features and procedural eye system supported.

✔ External Formats

• FBX
• GLB
• OBJ

Some Blender-native features (procedural eyes, shader nodes, drivers) may behave differently in external applications. See Section 6 for workarounds.

🔧 4. Rig Controls & Features

IK / FK Limbs

• All legs support IK and FK switching for flexible animation.
• If you do not own Auto-Rig Pro, install the free Rig Tools Add-on included in the download.

IMPORTANT:

Do NOT install both Rig Tools and Auto-Rig Pro at the same time.
They provide similar functions and may create internal conflicts with snapping and bone constraints.

Facial Rigs

Each character includes:

• Eye blink controller
• Independent eyebrow movement
• Head and jaw controls
• Expression-friendly deformation

Body Controls

• Spine controllers
• Neck chain
• Tail spline controls
• Clean pivot-correct controls for animation
• Zero-stretch rig logic for stability

👁️ 5. Procedural Eyes (Very Important)

These rigs use Blender-native procedural eye shaders for maximum stylization and flexibility.

✔ Works perfectly in Blender

→ Full color, refraction, gloss, and depth remain intact.

⚠️ Limitations outside Blender

Procedural shaders do NOT export to:

• FBX
• GLB
• OBJ
• Unity
• Unreal
• Cinema 4D
• Maya

Workaround

In external formats, swap the procedural eyes with:

1. The included “Eye Baked Texture”
2. A custom eye mesh or material of your choice
3. A simplified PBR eye shader

This ensures correct iris appearance across all pipelines.

👁‍🗨 6. To View Proper Eye Colors in EEVEE

Procedural eyes require ray interaction to look correct.

✔ In EEVEE, enable:

Render Properties → Raytracing → Enable

This allows:

• Light bounce
• Transparency accuracy
• Correct iris color
• Depth and rim lighting
• Specular highlight rendering

Without this, eyes may appear:

• Flat
• Dark
• Wrong color
• Without refraction

🎨 7. Textures & Materials

✔ Blender-native materials

Fully stylized, procedural shaders included.

⚠️ Texture Translation Issues (Non-Blender Formats)

Some materials will NOT convert perfectly during export because:

• Blender nodes are not supported in FBX/GLB
• Procedural textures collapse or flatten
• Non-color data may lose detail

✔ Solution

Use the baked textures included in the /Textures_Baked folder:

• Color
• Roughness
• Normal
• Eye color (if needed)

Apply them in:

• Unity
• Unreal
• Cinema 4D
• Maya
• 3DS Max
• Godot
• WebGL

This ensures the character looks as intended.

🎞️ 8. Animation Compatibility

The rigs work perfectly with:

• Auto-Rig Pro Remap
• iClone Motions (FBX)
• ActorCore
• Mixamo
• Any BVH/FBX mocap
• Hand-keyed animation

Notes:

• Always retarget to FK for clean motion
• Switch back to IK after baking for refinement
• Apply scale = 1 when exporting/importing
• Keep scene frame rate consistent

💾 9. Export Notes

Blender → FBX

• Use the standard FBX exporter
• Procedural materials will convert to basic placeholders
• Replace eyes as described above

Blender → GLB

• Similar limitations as FBX
• Use baked textures for accurate color

📑 10. Character List

Depending on your purchase tier:

10-Pack

Lion, Leopard, Zebra, Giraffe, Rhino, Hippo, Warthog, Gazelle, Buffalo, Elephant.

Big Five Pack

Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Buffalo, Rhino.

Individual Rigs

Each animal available separately.

🛠️ 11. Known Limitations

• Procedural eyes not supported outside Blender
• Some shading features are Blender-specific (subsurface, procedural ramps)
• FBX may flip certain joint axes (industry standard behavior)
• Mixamo retargeting requires FK mapping

🧑‍💻 12. Support

For assistance or updates, contact us through:

• CGTrader Messages
• Blender Market Messages
• Gumroad inbox
• Or email (optional, if you provide one)

Updates are free for life.

🎉 13. Final Notes

Thank you for purchasing our Toon Quadruped Rigs.
These characters were handcrafted for creators who want:

• Smooth, reliable animation
• High-quality stylized characters
• Fast production workflows
• Multi-software compatibility

We hope these rigs bring your stories to life!