1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including instructions executable to perform an operation to preserve deformer attribute assignments invalidated by changes to underlying mesh points in an asynchronous collaborative authoring system of a digital production pipeline for computer animation, the operation comprising: receiving: (i) a plurality of interconnected mesh points defining a geometric model and (ii) a plurality of deformer attributes defining movement and deformation of the plurality of interconnected mesh points, the plurality of interconnected mesh points are modifiable independently from the plurality of deformer attributes in the asynchronous collaborative authoring system of the digital production pipeline for computer animation; upon determining that a change to at least a first of the plurality of interconnected mesh points has invalidated at least a first of the plurality of deformer attributes that defines movement and deformation of the first mesh point, preserving the first deformer attribute by operation of one or more computer processors when executing the instructions, by automatically reassigning the first deformer attribute to a second of the plurality of interconnected mesh points selected based on reassignment criteria; and subsequent to reassigning the first deformer attribute to the second mesh point, generating an animated sequence by rendering a sequence of images of a scene as the scene changes over time, the scene including the geometric model, wherein the animated sequence is output; wherein the geometric model is represented as a plurality of model layers including: (i) a first layer specifying the plurality of deformer attributes; and (ii) a second layer specifying the plurality of interconnected mesh points; wherein the change is specified in an intervening layer between the first and second layers.