Animated characters for a computer animated production are rigged via a rigging hierarchy. A character rigging system receives a first selection associated with a template character rig description. The character rigging system identifies a first root character rig description associated with the template character rig description, wherein the template character rig description inherits at least one attribute from the first root character rig description. The character rigging system creates an individual character rig description for the animated character based on the first root character rig description and the template character rig description.