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character rigging simplified
The shortest distance between inspiration and reality is a bendy line
Characters bring life to a project, but character rigging can be an uphill technical struggle.
Find your beginners mind while building and animating characters the way you always dreamed.
Everything old is new
Whether you want to add something new to your motion work, or you're a seasoned character animator, Rubberhose 3 builds on a legacy of simplicity with a whole new set of super powers.
Superfast overview
Nonlinear character creation
Unlock new ideas while animating your characters. Everything is adjustable and you will never have to trash keyframes because of a new rigging idea.
Stay flexible.
Design
Build a simple rig with a click or by drawing a path. Style limbs with the collection of powerful presets and create your own.
Add additional bend points anywhere along a hose to create S-curves, fingers, tails, dog legs, strings, octopi, or just about anything else your mind can conjure.
Rig
Connect art layers with a new and intuitive hose-parenting and stretchy-bones system to combine anything from small details to complex shapes. Add a whole new level of design freedom to characters.
Or non-characters. Everything is connected and now layers can be too.
Cycle
Reuse a single precomped rig multiple times and leverage the power of After Effects Essential Properties.
Set new keyframes, add styling variation, and reuse animation inside the precomp to speed up production.
What's new?
First released in 2015, Rubberhose v1 forever changed how animators work and think about characters.
A new set of concepts have been introduced in v3, but like always, built on the foundation of:
Animation is hard work, so enjoy the process.
Simple Bend is a new feature for #Rubberhose that can literally cut your renders times in half. There are a few tradeoffs, but if your character doesn't need all the fancy extras, this is a great way to boost performance in #aftereffects. Check the link in my bio for a full tutorial of this character rig.
Rubberhose rigs don't have to be so rubber-hosey. Rubberrig is the fastest way to rig up a character in #aftereffects, and works with any kind of artwork. Full tutorial in bio.
Choose wisely
Personal stylist
Style presets have been a part of Rubberhose since v2, but never as capable of such limitless potential. Bend presets make customizing the way a hose works even more flexible.
Best of friends
Every shot is different and so is every animator. Compare and contrast the top 3 character rigging solutions and pick the best fit for your project.
Spoiler alert: We love Duik and Limber and think they work really well with Rubberhose.
TLDR
What is it?
Rigged animation, but simplified. And far from simplistic.
A powerful set of tools to connect characters or shapes or anything.
An animation system that works like how you imagined animating would be, before you learned about keyframes.
The freedom to let animation inform design in a non-linear interplay of inspiration that never locks you into decisions made by your past self. You are the master of your destiny.
What it's not?
Mathematically perfect IK. Because IK usually looks like a robot. Of course, you are free to dial in the realism to your taste if you’re into robots. Everyone loves robots.
The subject of a heavy manual requiring late nights reading in preparation to start using it. There is a help page, but you probably won’t need it. Simple is kind of our thing.
A rigging solution for every conceivable setup. Rubberhose does a few things incredibly well, and it plays well with other systems like Duik and Limber.
Getting started
Follow along with Jake as he takes you on a journey of the mind. From the basics to pro level power-ups.
Then go deeper into the manual for a more technical look at how it all connects.
