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🦴 Studio Service

Character &
Creature Rigging

The skeleton of great animation. We build robust, animator-friendly control rigs, complex facial setups, and physically accurate muscle and skin simulations for high-end digital actors and creatures.

Request a Rig Setup →View Character Reel

Capabilities

Anatomy Built for Performance

Kinetic Animation provides top-tier rigging solutions that give animators the ultimate control without sacrificing viewport performance. From stylized cartoons to photoreal digital doubles.

  • Advanced Bipedal & Quadrupedal RigsCustom skeletal hierarchies with intuitive IK/FK switching, stretchy limbs, and flexible spine setups.
  • FACS-Based Facial RiggingExpressive, high-fidelity facial rigs using the Facial Action Coding System for nuanced, emotionally resonant dialogue and expressions.
  • Muscle & Tissue SimulationZiva Dynamics and proprietary solvers for physically accurate muscle bulging, fat jiggle, and skin sliding on hyper-real creatures.
  • Prop & Vehicle RiggingComplex mechanical rigging for hard-surface assets, vehicles, weapons, and transforming mechs with automated secondary actions.
  • Pipeline Tool DevelopmentCustom Python and Maya API development for proprietary rigging tools, auto-riggers, and animation workflow optimization.
  • Game Engine OptimizationReal-time skeletons built specifically for Unreal Engine 5 and Unity, fully compatible with advanced retargeting systems.

Rig Features

60+
FPS Viewport

Highly optimized rig evaluation for real-time animator feedback.

Modular
Architecture

Easily transfer animations between characters using standardized naming.

FACS
Facial System

Micro-expression controls for cinematic dialogue and emotion.

100%
Custom UI

Clean, picker-driven interfaces tailored to the animator's workflow.

MayaPythonZiva DynamicsUnreal EngineMetahumanAdvanced SkeletonmGear

Rigging Deliverables

Production-Ready Assets

Feature Film Rigs

High-resolution, topology-deforming setups with intricate corrective blendshapes designed for rendering in offline engines.

Real-Time Game Rigs

Optimized joint counts, single-hierarchy skeletons, and rigid bindings specifically tailored for Unreal Engine and Unity.

Crowd Simulation Rigs

Lightweight, performant skeletons designed to populate massive stadium shots and battle sequences using Massive or Houdini.

Bring Your Characters to Life

Send us your model sheets or 3D sculpts. Our lead technical directors will review your topology and propose a rigging strategy tailored to your animation pipeline.

Discuss Your Rigging Needs →