The main rig elements used for working with characters are Point Controllers. In the Viewport window, they are represented as black dots which you can select and move by using Manipulators.

Each point controller corresponds to a part of the character model. By changing positions of these controllers, you can adjust the pose of the character.

Point Controller elements of a character rig (shown as the silhouette of the character)

To make Point Controllers visible, enable Point controller mode by pressing the corresponding button on the Timeline.

Point Controller Types

Usually, a joint or a rigid body is associated with three point controllers:

Main Point Controller is placed at the start of the joint

Main Direction Point Controller is placed at the point where the main joint connects with the child joint (if there is one), or at the end of the main joint.
It is used for controlling the direction the joint is facing

Additional Point Controller is usually placed at the side of the two other controllers.
It can be used for adjusting the rotation of the joint.

Fixing Point Controllers

Point controllers can be fixed at their positions by pressing R key.

To learn more about fixing controllers, see the dedicated chapter.

Forward and Inverse Kinematics

When you edit a pose in Cascadeur, you don't have to switch between forward and inverse kinematics, as both these modes are supported simultaneously.

For example, you can select point controllers on a palm and use them to drag the whole hand - or you can select every point in the hand and move the hand right from the shoulder.

Сharacter rig is physics-based, so if you, for example, drag character’s hand, it will drag the whole body after it.

Stretching and Squeezing

Point controllers are placed at fixed distances between each other. As the program calculates character motion, it tries to keep these distances unchanged, but this is not always attainable. In case distances between point controllers are distorted, edges between them change their colors.

Stretched edges are marked red, while squeezed are marked blue.

An example of point edges stretched (left) and squeezed (right)

By pressing the F5 key you can reset these lengths to their default values, returning character proportions to normal.