byniko

I’ve always loved character animation for the endless creative possibilities it offers. Building a personality through movement is such an interesting process. Character traits, mannerisms, movement speed, even something as subtle as the blinking of the eyes can make a difference. Context matters, too. Should the character behave in an exaggerated, cartoony way, or would a more realistic approach work better?

Whether you’re going for something stylized, realistic or simplistic, one thing is certain: your character needs to be planned and rigged with the animation in mind. Over time, I’ve experimented with different tools to achieve this, and here are a few of my favorites.

Limber is by far my favorite tool to use because it can give you the freedom to really stylize your character. While it can be a bit tricky, especially for some designs (and if you don’t prepare your rig properly), I think the end result is very fluid and makes animations stand out.

Another great tool is Rubberhose. I find it particularly useful for simpler, stick-figure-style animations where the focus is more on communicating the content than on visual complexity. It’s also a great choice for longer videos, as it eliminates much of the tweaking and setup involved in more elaborate custom rigs.

And for the face here, I used Joysticks n’ Sliders. As silly as it looks with the front hair all over the place, it was actually an easier approach for this specific animation.

Another cool tool is using Duik Angela’s puppet tool. In this case, I used it on the tail of the cat so it can have an organic arch when hitting the surface.

There’s a lot more to explore when it comes to character animation, along with plenty of other amazing tools that can make the process easier and more enjoyable. But I’ll leave it here for now.