The Best Rigging Tools for After Effects

When it comes to rigging characters in After Effects, there’s certainly no shortage of available options. Depending on what the character animation requirements are, there are different tools offering different capabilities and some may be more suitable than others. Some of these tools come in the form of scripts while others come as native plugins for After Effects. Understanding which tools excel at what can help you choose the best one for the job. In this article, we’ll go through the most common options available and discuss their pros and cons.

Rigging tools in After Effects are essential for animators who want to create smooth, natural character movements without manually adjusting every frame. Tools like IK Studio, Duik, RubberHose, Limber, and Joysticks ‘n Sliders simplify the process by providing intuitive ways to rig limbs, control facial expressions, and automate complex motions. IK Studio and Duik, for example, offer advanced inverse kinematics (IK) systems, making it easier to animate arms and legs with realistic flexibility. RubberHose, on the other hand, focuses on a more simplified, cartoon-style rigging approach. Joysticks ‘n Sliders is a great tool for facial rigging, allowing animators to blend between different expressions seamlessly. These tools not only speed up workflow but also open the door for more expressive and dynamic animations in After Effects.

It’s important to discuss the benefits and disadvantages of the different types of tools. In After Effects, scripts and plugins both extend functionality, but they work in fundamentally different ways. Scripts are essentially automated sequences of commands written in JavaScript that help streamline repetitive tasks, like renaming layers, organizing comps, or setting up complex animations. They don’t change the core functionality of After Effects but act more like advanced macros. Plugins, on the other hand, are compiled programs (often written in C++) that integrate directly with After Effects’ engine, adding new effects, features, or even entirely new workflows. For example, a script might automate the process of creating a camera rig, while a plugin like Element 3D introduces real-time 3D rendering capabilities that wouldn’t be possible otherwise. Scripts are platform-independent so they can run on both Windows and Apple computers, while plugins are platform-dependent and require a specific version for each computer. Let’s discuss the pros and cons of each.

Scripts

Pros: Scripts are cross-compatible between platforms. This means scripts can be run on both Windows and Mac OS computers without requiring a different version for each.

Cons: Scripts are slow. Since they rely on scripting within After Effects, using expressions to perform tasks, they often lag due to poor performance.

Plugins

Pros: Plugins are much faster than scripts and fully-integrated within After Effects. This makes your workflow much faster and easier to deal with.

Cons: Plugins are platform-dependent. This means Windows and Mac OS computers will each require their own compiled version to run.

Because rigging is such a computationally-taxing process, speed is essential and a natively-compiled plugin will always excel over a script. Additionally, rigging scripts often require several layers – for example a layer for the start-point, a layer for the limb, and a layer for the end-point. When you multiply this by the number of limbs required for any given character, the layer-count will explode, impacting workflow and productivity. With a native rigging plugin, the start-point, limb and end-point all lie within the same layer thereby keeping the composition window clean and tidy, and improving After Effects performance.

Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s discuss the best rigging tools for After Effects.

IK Studio

IK Studio is a powerful After Effects plugin that generates a joint angle using inverse kinematics. It’s a sophisticated IK solver designed for the facilitation of complex character animation and, unlike all other existing After Effects IK scripts, it’s a blazing fast native plugin.

IK Studio provides an impressive number of customization options. Animators can adjust limb curvature, direction, thickness, and length, making it versatile for various character styles, from humans to quadrupeds. It supports apparel features such as outer sleeves, inner sleeves, cuffs, and seams, each boasting a flexible number of adjustment options. Advanced stroking features provide precise control over how limbs integrate with character designs through the options of full stroking, side stroking, and more.  

IK Studio limbs can be modified to round or butt cap and stretchiness features allow for snappy, squash-and-stretch style character animation. IK Studio can bind any layer to the parent or child limbs, thereby allowing the attachment of clothing accessories as well as fully custom-designed character limbs. Its rotational constraints account for realistic movement by limiting unnatural bending beyond defined angles.  

IK Studio offers a professional set of features suitable for just about any type of animation, and for just about any level of animator. It has quickly become the leading choice for professional-level character rigging and animation in After Effects. IK Studio comes in the form of a compiled plugin. For a complete list of all features, please check out the product page download the free demo. 

Duik

Duik in After Effects is a free third-party tool that acts as a powerful character rigging and animation tool, allowing users to easily create complex character movements and control them with intuitive controls, essentially bringing advanced 3D animation techniques to 2D animation within After Effects; it’s considered a leading tool for character animation in the software, providing features like inverse kinematics (IK), bone structures, and automated animation controls. While Duik is entirely free, it comes in the form of a script.

RubberHose 2

RubberHose is a third-party tool for After Effects that functions as a character rigging tool, specifically designed to easily create flexible, rubberhose-style animation limbs, often used for cartoonish or exaggerated character movements, by essentially allowing you to rig a character’s limbs with a simple hose system that bends and stretches easily; it’s known for its user-friendly interface and ability to quickly set up character rigs with minimal complexity. Like Duik, RubberHose comes in the form of a script.

Limber

Limber in Adobe After Effects is a third-party tool that functions as a character rigging system, allowing users to easily create flexible, bendy limbs for animation by utilizing vector artwork or simple paths, making it a popular tool for quick and efficient character animation within the software; key features include stretchiness, foreshortening, and the ability to switch between IK (Inverse Kinematics) and FK (Forward Kinematics) animation modes. Like Duik and RubberHose, Limber comes in the form of a script.

Joysticks ‘n Sliders

Joysticks ‘n Sliders is a third-party tool for pose-based rigging in After Effects. It uses joysticks and sliders to control characters and it’s commonly used for 2.5D character rigging and facial animation. Like all the previous tools, Joysticks ‘n Sliders comes in the form of a script.

Puppet Tools 3

Puppet Tools 3 is a third-party tool for Adobe After Effects that acts as a user-friendly rigging tool, allowing users to easily set up complex character animations by creating custom controllers for puppet pins, shape layer path points, and other elements, essentially making it much simpler to manipulate and animate artwork within the software, particularly for character rigging with features like inverse kinematics (IK) that can be applied with just a few clicks. Like all the previous tools, Joysticks ‘n Sliders comes in the form of a script.

Conclusion

As you can see, all of the above third-party rigging tools come in the form of a script with IK Studio being the only exception. This means if performance and capabilities are fundamentally important, IK Studio comes out as the best solution. Not only does IK Studio provide a powerful feature set of tools targeted to both professional and novice animators, but it also ensures efficient workflow remains a top priority. Additionally, IK Studio supports inverse kinematics which is considered a must-have feature for any serious character animation. Check out IK Studio at the product page and download a free demo today.