Yes, character sets seem to be very complex entities. That's probably the reason nobody likes them I've never used them, but as far as I know, you can get around that by using the KeySelected on the dropdown menu in the channel box.
For a command on a KeySelected shortkey, you can refer to this thread:
http://www.11secondclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=4144

I for my part actually mostly shift-select them (but that's just because I'm an old fart and cant cope with new things ), or just recently started using poseman which has some built-in feature that enables you to do that, too. You could also create quick selection sets, or go with the display layer thing but select them in the viewport instead of going the way you mentioned.
And if you're having some combination that you're using very often, you could also prepare a script for selecting what you want.

Droo, quickSelectSets are awesome for what you're talking about. I use zooSetMenu to have a handy flyout and gui menu way to deal with them but their function in built into maya.

Few bits about quick select sets and chararcter sets....this is from a class I taught a few years back:
Quick Selection Sets vs Character Sets
Both quick selection sets and character sets are tools that enable us to quickly select and key those things in a scene that we want to.
Nodal difference

Quick Selection sets

What are quick selection sets?
They are simply a grouping by which you can easily select and reselect a preassigned set of controls or objects

Quick-select sets are useful to:
-Make it easier to quickly select commonly used sets of objects/components.
-Save a complex selection so you can re-use it later without having to reselect each object.
-Be flexible in how you work with keys

Quick-select sets do not:
-Work on a per attribute basis <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< This is wrong, see below
-Your selection is lost if you deselect

To create a quick-select set
-Select the objects or components.
-Select Create > Sets > Quick Select Set.
-Type a name for the set.

To select the members of a quick-select set
-Use zooSetMenu or another tools like it
-Select the set in the Edit > Quick Select Sets submenu.
-To edit the membership of a quick-select set
-Use the Relationship Editor to control which objects are in a quick select set.

Character Sets

What are character sets?
They are node based connections by which you work with animation on preassigned attributes

Character sets are useful for:
-Using many tools in Maya - trax editor, dope sheet
-Easily working with all of the keys for a given character
-Creating easy to use hierarchies of keyable "sets"
-Keying exactly and only those attributes that you want to

Character sets do not:
-Allow for easy on the fly changing of members of your sets
-See Maya's documentation for details on working with Character sets
-My biggest pet peeve with them is that they can wreak serious havok in referenced animation if you ever have to change them as all animation curves first go through the character set node before moving down the chain.


Hope this is helpful.

Last edited by jjburton (06-15-2012 1:35 pm)

Know this is digging up this topic, but I remembered providing information I recently learned was incorrect and wanted to correct it. Wish I'd known back when I wrote this but...alas.

This is WRONG:

Quick-select sets do not:
-Work on a per attribute basis

They can work a per attribute basis. Wrote a post on the subject today:
http://www.cgmonks.com/adding-attribute … s-in-maya/

Last edited by jjburton (06-15-2012 1:36 pm)