The BEST tools for Character Rigging in After Effects

Get Duik Angela: rxlaboratory.org/tools/duik-a...
Get Limber (affiliate): aescripts.com/limber?aff=35
Get Rubberhose 3: www.battleaxe.co/rubberhose
What are the BEST character rigging tools for After Effects? Well, I know my top 3, and in this video I'm going to compare them all. Even though After Effects was never meant for character animation, third-party developers have made it possible for us to rig and animate characters. Each tool does things differently and has both strengths and weaknesses. By the end of this video I hope you can decide for yourself which tool is best for the job.
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Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:30 Pricing
03:07 Rigging Workflow
04:07 Capabilities
06:17 Vector Art
07:34 Raster Art
09:22 Rig Management
09:53 Performance
11:09 Rigging Speed
12:43 Features
13:37 Pros & Cons
13:59 Duik Pros
15:56 Duik Cons
17:43 Limber Pros
20:24 Rubberhose 3 Pros
21:52 FBI OPEN UP!
22:15 Rubberhose 3 Cons
23:14 Final Thoughts

[@armaiden]

¡Thanks Jake for the comparission between this tools! For the rotation in Limber you can check the option "Controller User Rotation" in Limber Preferences, with that option you can rotate the controller and the elements attatched rotates!

[@JakeInMotion]

Oh wow, thanks for pointing that out! I wish I had known that before posting the video 😬

[@jirehla-ab1671]

​@@JakeInMotionis duik open source?

[@JakeInMotion]

Yes it is.

[@jirehla-ab1671]

@@JakeInMotion is it also possible to character rig an alphabetical letter?

[@marthjel]

I usually just delete the code in the rotation property!

[@motionbynick]

It's simple. Jake makes video, I enjoy.

[@JanuszSyk]

Thank you very much for your analysis and development of this summary. I spend a lot of time learning how to operate Duik Angela, so I will stay with this tool. Now, however, I am aware of the limitations and advantages of the most important character rigging tools.

[@taylorscott1849]

Jake, I really appreciate the fact that you were honest about your involvement in developing rubberhose 3. I was waiting for this part of the video, and the way that you and adam pulled it off was very cool! Thanks for being genuine and impartial as much as you can be!

[@nmac.]

Thanks Jake, great and straightforward video.

[@vishavaroraYT]

Hey Jake, i liked your detailed comparison between these tools. i always want to try Rubberhose for character rig but the only thing that makes me go back to Duik is that it has auto walk cycle animation feature. As you know, 50-60% of character animation in explainer videos is that a character appears on the screen walking from left to right and pointing something, with the duik's feature of auto walk cycle, half of my work is done in seconds but that won't be possible with Rubberhose. Maybe if you are open for new features suggestions for rubberhose next update, try to incorporate the feature of auto walk cycle like in Duik or maybe can go more advance by giving some presets like waving, pointing etc type of preset animations , i would love to switch from duik to rubberhose. Great video, very creatively explained and as always love your work ♥

[@AntonisPetroulias]

Great job man! Thank you!

[@ammarqureshi3600]

hey jake you nailed it ,

[@kartikeyawarhade6185]

Yes literally can't wait😊😊

[@cme3d]

Oh man this such a tough choice! I use and LOVE all three of them and every project I decide again which one works best. For some month my go to tool was limber, then RH3 came out and I'm loving it so far. Only missing the FK feature for the arms. I would say if I need a fast and easy to use rig, I use RH3. If I need more control I use limber (FK) and if I have a lot of characters in the scene I use DUIK because I have the feeling it is faster regarding rendering.

[@AlexanDrMoskalenko]

Holy Fawn? Ok, I'm sold :)

[@Bilarooo]

What an extensive video! I've worked with DUIK multiple times (though only once since it became DUIK Angela to be fair) but I also bought Rubberhose 3 right when it was released. I didn't get to work with Rubberhose 3 yet, so I was very interested to see how you would compare the two. Personally, DUIK is just way too clunky for it's massive content. I have the luck to have it had taught by my professor but I imagine that many animators are overwhelmed rather quickly by DUIK's interface and sheer extent. It allows really precise rigs supporting masks and mattes for a variety of really special applications, but it lacks in providing a solid framework for standard character styling needs. For example, rigging a character with a reactive cloth crease in their elbow bend is kind of a complicated task to do with DUIK - Rubberhose just caters this as a quick one-click feature (though I don't know how that translates to importing vector artwork from Illustrator - do you have experience with that?). Anyway, great content as always, currently also enjoying your courses on Skillshare :) Would really love a video where you talk about Essential Graphics in the future ^^

[@jayrahcreations]

Thank you for this review. I have been trying to figure out which tool to lean into but I’m glad you talk about the value of using all of them. I love Rubberhose!!! But I did recently see that it doesn’t allow for IK/FK switch, is that something you are considering adding on as a feature?

[@maheshnagaraj9262]

Hello Jake, I've been eagerly anticipating this video, and it proved to be incredibly informative. Ever since I discovered Rubber Hose, it has become my primary rigging tool alongside Duik. I was wondering if there are any plans to incorporate the option to utilize an FK (Forward Kinematics) system and the ability to switch between IK (Inverse Kinematics) and FK in future versions of Rubber Hose. I also would love to see some advance rigging techniques combining Rubber hose and duik. Just an idea for future video,

[@JakeInMotion]

Thanks! Glad it was helpful. No, there are no plans of adding FK to Rubberhose.

[@mohammadsabri5611]

Wow .. That's so helpful Jake, Thank you so much for this. could you please add ( Deekay & HotDog ) to the comparison ??

[@delicialeggett6534]

I used to only work with Duik. But I recently switched to Rubberhose 3. Actually thanks to you. The one thing I really like about rubberhose is that I can save arms and legs to be used in future projects. I can customize them and save those styles. And, I like how the hoses flow naturally compared to the way Duik works? And I like how you can customize the shape layers and stroke features like taper. Duik just has sooooo many layers!!! I have never used limber.

[@delicialeggett6534]

I don’t think a character animator can fully animate without Duik but for just simple movement, Rubberhose is awesome.

[@totlenmoingay]

HI @delicialeggett. How about the rigging time to get a character up ready? I am doing simple movements for characters only as I mainly focus on motion graphics. You comment is very helpful.

[@delicialeggett6534]

@@totlenmoingay I took an online course on how to work with Duik. It really helped. If you create characters properly, like with proper joints, it should be quick with practice. I can rig a full character and set up a walk cycle in less then an hour with Duik. I haven’t done this with Rubberhose yet because I just got it. But the one thing I dislike about Duik is what was said in the video, Duik is a pain to work with if you haven’t done the prep work. In the beginning I was redoing rigs from scratch because the joints were off by a small amount.

[@delicialeggett6534]

With Rubberhose, I watched the tutorial playlist on the BattleAxe KZbin channel.

[@declicvideo9649]

Thank's a lot for this video, wich is useful! What do you think of "BAO Bones" plugin in term of character's animation?

[@siyandaradebe6851]

Cant wait😥

[@Abdo.A]

I was waiting for this one for long but I still need your opinion on what is the best one for line characters?

[@emelio6928]

Thanks Jake. I totally agree with you. But I'd like to point out one more Character extension, it's deekay tool. It also has some nice features and the UI looks really cool. And it's the fastest way to create background characters with deekay tool. Btw, will rubberhose 3 have FK in the future?

[@JakeInMotion]

No, FK will not be coming to RH3.

[@azizakhmedov]

Any thoughts about Deekay Tool?

[@Agente00Ai]

STOPPED WATCHING AT 00:45. only seconds before you made your diclaimer, i thought to myself, "self,, i wonder if Battle Axe makes one of these?" Because if Battle Axe has a rig...case closed. No need to hear more. Gonna get Rubberhose 3...as a personal Halloween treat to self! I just downloaded Duik last month - already gave up on it. Wa looking around tonight for tuts on rigging when I found this vid from last month. Must have missed it...thanks, jake!

[@EvokAi]

Can you suggest to the rubberhose developer to add option to save animation templates for walk, run, jump, excite, cry, angry, fly, etc? This way users can share or sell their animation templates and others can reuse them for faster workflow

[@EvokAi]

Or how about a library where for example hands has 20 different movemtns, feet has 20 different movements etc this way we can mix and match them

[@rodrigobrazao7192]

Incredible video as always! I wonder if the realism in Rubberhose works as the same way the anti pop do on Limber

[@JakeInMotion]

Yes, that's exactly what Realism is doing. If it's set to 100%, there will be no softening of the bend. Lower percentages increase the amount of softening as you transition from extended to bent limbs.

[@rodrigobrazao7192]

@@JakeInMotion Oh, cool! Thanks, Jake!

[@jippalippa]

Jokes on you, Jake... I got them all! 😂

[@broadcastbytes]

Great job Jake.. question I haven't played with adobe character animator does that have a place?

[@JakeInMotion]

That's a great option if you want to use performance capture with a camera, but it's not meant for manual character animation.

[@konstantinnovikovstreams7620]

Match FK>IK exist in DuIK

[@vamboo8918]

Why join option in yt

[@lopsangdlama]

21:52 LOL

[@artemsh6302]

DUIK have IK/FK switch.

[@JuanMendoza]

10:15 AE do really be like "im just built different frfr"

[@VeritasTwentyThree]

I'm curious if Rubber Hose will be able to do a 360 turn in the future. Someone posted this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/lXaroKx8galrn6M&ab_channel=DustinDT demonstrating that it can be done with a combination of Limber and Joysticks and Sliders. Thanks for the vid!

[@Abdo.A]

Duik has the fk to ik thing

[@JakeInMotion]

It allows you to switch between the two, but does not automatically adjust either option to match the other.

[@Abdo.A]

@@JakeInMotion it actually has an option for that. But it's somewhere in the many many maaany buttons they have. BTW, is duik good with outline stroke charachter?

[@smartyoutuber7696]

Don't work a lot on screen, I can see ur eyes losing eyesight and are also in very pain 😢