How embodiment works

Understand how Convai builds each character's embodiment infrastructure at runtime and the fixed order in which modules run every frame.

Every embodiment module a character carries shares one runtime object per character, and every frame Convai runs those modules in a fixed order so two modules never write the same bone or blendshape in conflicting ways. This page describes what happens at runtime: what appears in the hierarchy when a character starts running, the order modules tick in, and why writes to the Animator and the face never collide. For the composition-root model behind these mechanics, see Character embodiment.

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What appears in the hierarchy when a character starts running

The first embodiment module that resolves itself on a character creates an EmbodimentContext on that character's root, silently. You never add one yourself — it carries [AddComponentMenu("")], so it does not appear in the Add Component menu — but once created it is an ordinary component: select it in the hierarchy and you can inspect what it resolved.

The context then provisions the infrastructure modules share, the first time a module needs each piece:

Component	What it does	How you see it
StandardRigBinding	Resolves which bones and blendshapes play which semantic role — head, spine, jaw-open, and the rest — for Humanoid, ARKit, CC3/CC4, and other common rigs.	Appears in the Add Component menu as Convai > Embodiment > Character Rig, but Convai adds it for you the first time a module needs rig data.
AnimatorConductor	The single writer of Animator parameters; modules submit named parameter writes through it instead of calling Animator.SetFloat directly.	Hidden ([AddComponentMenu("")]) — Convai adds this for you.
EmbodimentTickScheduler	Runs every registered module through the tick order described below.	Hidden ([AddComponentMenu("")]) — Convai adds this for you.
FacialBlendshapeCompositorHost	The single writer of facial blendshapes; composites every module's contribution into one set of values.	Hidden ([AddComponentMenu("")]) — Convai adds this for you.

Convai deliberately does not hide these components from the hierarchy, even the ones absent from the Add Component menu: a component you cannot select and inspect is a component you cannot debug when a character's behavior looks wrong.

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The order modules run in every frame

A module with per-frame work registers with the context as an IEmbodimentTickable instead of relying on Unity's own Update order. The scheduler runs every registered tickable through three phases, always in this order: Cognition, then Expression, then Finalize.

In practice, this means Conversation Flow, Gaze, and Emotion sample their inputs and update their readings during Cognition, before any module writes to the rig. By the time Gaze's or Body Animation's actuator runs in Expression, the dialogue state it reads is already current for that frame — not a frame behind. Finalize runs last so the facial compositor and the Animator conductor apply their writes only after every module has had a chance to contribute.

Within a phase, a module declares its own position with a TickOrder value — lower runs first — rather than depending on where it sits in the hierarchy or when it happened to enable. Reparenting a GameObject or adding a module in a different order cannot change which one writes to a shared bone first.

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Why two modules never fight over the same blendshape

Two modules writing to the same Animator parameter or the same facial blendshape in the same frame is the kind of bug that shows up as a visible glitch, not a compile error. Convai avoids it by giving the Animator and the face exactly one writer each — the AnimatorConductor and the FacialBlendshapeCompositorHost from the table above.

A module never writes Animator.SetFloat or a blendshape value directly. It submits its intent to the conductor or the compositor instead, and the conductor refuses a second module's registration for a parameter another module already owns. The compositor resolves overlapping claims on the same facial region — Emotion and LipSync both have an interest in the mouth while a character speaks — using the region rules in a ConvaiFacialCompositionProfile, rather than letting whichever module wrote last silently win.

Cross-module contracts, such as how Gaze tells Body Animation to turn, are internal to the package. They are not a published extension point — only the components and their profiles are.

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Where to look when something seems off

Open Convai > Embodiment Editor to see this runtime picture directly: the Setup tab reports what each module resolved, and the Live tab, in Play mode, shows the character's current conversation state and emotion scores.

Character embodimentEmbodiment quick startTroubleshoot embodiment