Optimizing Rig Bone Count

Modular skinned mesh configurations often contain many mesh nodes that are also included in the avatar as separate bones. These bones don't need to be included in the Rukhanka Animation's animation rig, because there are no animation tracks that exist for such bones. Reducing total rig bone count can have a positive impact on overall processing performance. To remove unneeded rig bones one can prepare a special Avatar Mask and assign it to the Avatar Optimization Mask field of Rig Definition Authoring of configured animated object.

The avatar optimization mask is an ordinary Avatar Mask created from the animated entity avatar with unneeded bones unchecked.

This removes bones from the animation rig itself. It differs from bone entity stripping, which removes ECS transform entities while retaining bones needed for skinning. Keep every bone needed by skin weights, animation, IK, or attachments in the rig. Recheck bone indices after changing this mask and rebaking.