Mikan Documentation

Welcome to the Mikan documentation. This project aims to provide a flexible Python framework for rigging in both Maya and Tangerine.

What is Mikan

Mikan is a modern rigging toolkit developed for Autodesk Maya and Tangerine, a high-performance animation platform originally built in-house at TeamTO and now available to external partners. Mikan enables the creation of robust, software-agnostic rig blueprints — from guide placement to advanced deformation setups.

Born from years of production experience, Mikan combines performance, modularity, and ergonomics to deliver consistent, scalable rigs that are ready for demanding pipelines.

Key Concepts

• High-Performance Autorig
  A fast, user-friendly autorig system capable of generating high-quality, customizable rigs with minimal friction.

• Round-Trip Workflow
  Mikan supports a seamless template → rig → template feedback loop. Any changes — from control tweaks to deformation adjustments — are performed directly on the blueprint, then rebuilt and propagated across both Maya and Tangerine.

• Pipeline-Ready by Design
  Mikan industrializes rigging: it guarantees consistent, predictable outputs ready for external production teams and partners.

• Modular Blueprint Prototyping
  Mikan allows fast and scalable prototyping of rig mechanisms. Thanks to its modular design, technical artists can easily author and iterate on reusable components, enabling precise control over the structure and behavior of rigs — from simple props to advanced facial systems.

• Software-Agnostic Rigging
  A single, unified blueprint drives rig generation across both Maya and Tangerine. These blueprints can also be exported in neutral formats such as Alembic, ensuring compatibility with any DCC tools.

Target Audience & Prerequisites

• Target Audience
  Studios, clients, and external partners looking to adopt Tangerine for animation, and in need of advanced, production-ready rigs optimized for this platform.

• Prerequisites
  Basic knowledge of rigging in Maya is expected (joints, constraints, hierarchies).

Blueprint Concept

A Mikan blueprint is a high-level, software-agnostic description of a rig. It defines both the structure and logic of the rig in a way that can be consistently interpreted and rebuilt across different platforms. In Maya, this blueprint is represented using standard DAG nodes, following conventions that make it both readable and interoperable with formats like Alembic or USD.

This structure serves as the central reference throughout the rigging process. It enables rigs to be parsed, rebuilt, and synchronized reliably between Maya and Tangerine, making it a solid foundation for iteration, collaboration, and deployment.

Mikan interprets this structure through a set of conceptual object types, inferred from metadata and naming conventions. These types assign meaning to raw scene nodes, enabling advanced features such as rebuildability, modular design, and cross-DCC compatibility.

Blueprints can be authored visually in Maya, via Mikan’s UI, or programmatically through its API. Their simplicity also makes them easy to compose: for example, using Maya references, teams can assemble rigs from modular components like facial systems or full skeletal structures.

Understanding this hierarchy and its logic is the foundation for working effectively with Mikan.

Type	Role in the Rig	Notes
Asset	Top-level container for a rig blueprint and its generated rig.	Multiple assets can exist in a scene. Each one acts as an isolated rig root.
Template	Main building blocks of the rig: define skeleton guides and pivot hierarchy.	Represented by transforms and joints. Added hierarchically. Blueprint logic starts here.
Helper	Nodes embedded in the hierarchy carrying metadata or logical groupings.	Used to define spaces, behaviors, or structure without affecting the guide layout.
Shape	Controller shapes parented under Template nodes.	Ignored by the build process but used to define visual handles.
Modifier	Logic metadata: defines custom rigging behaviors, constraints, plugs, etc.	Acts like a programmable customization layer.
Deformer	Binding metadata: defines how geometry is connected to the skeleton.	Executed after modifiers by default. Covers skinClusters, wraps, lattices, etc.

Workflow

Creating a rig with Mikan follows an iterative authoring loop. The blueprint remains the central structure, updated and reused across every build.

1. Blueprint Assembly

   • Define the rig’s structure using conceptual elements: Template, Modifier, and Deformer objects.
   • This blueprint encodes hierarchy and logic, and serves as the foundation for all rig builds.

2. Rig Build

   • Mikan generates a functional rig from the current state of the blueprint.
   • This includes controller creation, constraints, and deformers — everything needed for a working setup.

3. Binding and Manual Adjustments

   • Deformation work (e.g. skinning, corrective shapes, wrap deformers) is performed directly on the built rig.
   • These operations are usually manual and geometry-specific.

4. Injection and Iteration

   • All manual changes (skin weights, added deformers, modifiers, etc.) are reinjected into the blueprint.
   • From here, the workflow loops back flexibly to either:
     • Step 1 to continue assembling or refining the blueprint structure, or
     • Step 2 to rebuild the rig incorporating the latest changes.
   • This iterative cycle enables continuous improvement of the rig, balancing structural edits with deformation adjustments without losing any work.

This workflow makes it easy to iterate, collaborate, and ensure consistency across all rigs in a production.

Pipeline Integration

Once a blueprint is complete, Mikan offers flexible options for integrating it into production pipelines. The blueprint becomes a deployable artifact that can be exported, processed, and adapted to meet the needs of various departments — whether in Maya or Tangerine.

To target Tangerine, the blueprint is exported as an Alembic file and processed using Mikan's API to generate the final animation-ready rig. This process can be customized to include updated modeling, versioned assets, and other pipeline-specific logic.

The same approach can be applied to Maya scenes, depending on the project's structure. It's up to pipeline teams to define how these deliverables are generated, versioned, and distributed.

Mikan’s API is intentionally lightweight and modular, making it easy to embed into studio-specific tools or batch scripts. The system is designed to be extensible, encouraging studios to build their own wrappers around it if needed.

In addition, Mikan supports rig variations within a single blueprint — enabling multiple rig builds (e.g. for layout, animation, FX, etc.) to be generated from the same source file. These variations are fully customizable and can be tailored to match production workflows.