Awesome Features:
A UNIQUE APPROACH!
Unlike all other auto-rigging systems on the market that rely on templates, PuppetSoul uses a much simpler method: it's faster to use, easier to learn, and more efficient.
No templates or specific requirements for your scene—PuppetSoul simply records the joints where you want to add a Monk (rig element) in a description file.
With a variety of tools to help you work faster than ever, we guarantee the quickest way to rig a character.
RIG EVERYTHING!
When we say everything, we mean it!
PuppetSoul is highly flexible—feel completely free to create any rig morphology you want.
PuppetSoul lets you build any creature, without ever restricting you to a template. In fact, PuppetSoul imposes no limitations at all.
You're entirely free to create whatever you imagine.
No limits!
PuppetSoul is designed to be as open as possible.
Thanks to the Monk approach (see below), PuppetSoul can be used to rig bipeds, quadrupeds, dragons, serpents, props—anything you can think of—with absolutely no restrictions.
HYPER FLEXIBILITY:
Apply 'Monks' wherever you want
A 'Monk' is a rig element (body part or utility like a mirror)
It can operate on any object of your scene.
No limitation to the amount, the place, the side, the name.
It ensure maximum flexibility and no limitation
on the way you add parts to be rigged.
RIG QUICKLY!
PuppetSoul is designed with workflow speed as a top priority.
It’s built to be as fast as possible when creating creatures.
It’s also made to support on-the-fly changes—whether you're updating meshes or adjusting rig options.
You’ll never get stuck. You’ll build complete rigs quickly and efficiently.
EXHAUSTIVE TOOLS!
PuppetSoul comes with all the Monks you need—arms, various spine types, tails, wings, feet—as well as tools like mirroring, dynamics, space switchers, and more.
It’s been used in production for over 10 years and benefits from real-world experience across countless scenarios.
We’re confident PuppetSoul is ready for your pipeline/production.
RIG IN MASS!
Reuse as much data as possible between creatures—skin weights, rig descriptions, joint placements, controller shapes—everything can be transferred from one file to another.
For example, on Richard the Stork at WTD Belgium, we rigged over 100 complex birds in just four months with a small team.
Why? Because with PuppetSoul, it's easy to share and reuse data across multiple characters.
FAST LEARNING CURVE!
PuppetSoul is easy to use, easy to understand, and easy to learn. It features a comprehensive UI and strikes the perfect balance between simplicity and power.
You won’t need more than a day to get the hang of it.
We’ve put a strong focus on user experience—especially for riggers.
NON-DESTRUCTIVE
Change whatever you want—whenever you need to!
All options can be tweaked, adjusted, and tested. You’ll never get stuck, and you’ll always stay flexible.
Tried a spline rig with 3 controllers but realized you need 4? Just update the settings and run PuppetSoul again—no problem.
Same goes for the mesh: need to update the topology? The tools are all there to handle it seamlessly.
...AND OPTIMIZED WORKFLOW
Three tech artists can work simultaneously:
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One on the body rig
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One on the facial rig
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One on the blendshape modeling
This workflow is fully supported and guided in PuppetSoul.
The puppet remains fully parametric throughout the entire process—everyone can make changes freely, and everything will compile successfully.
ANIMATORS WILL LOVE IT!
PuppetSoul comes packed with powerful features for animators, including a Right Mouse Button menu that lets you:
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Copy, paste, mirror, or swap poses
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Select controllers by side
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Select controllers by group
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Switch between FK and IK
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Tween poses
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Easily create fake-overlap
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And much more...
It’s a great complement to animBot and significantly speeds up the animation process.
PuppetSoul also includes custom hotkeys for animators, making selections fast and effortless.
Plus, it offers features like auto-overlap and Object-to-Button, which lets you turn any object into a control button—making rig interaction even easier.
ANIMATE MORE!
The rigs are designed with the animator's experience in mind:
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Animator-friendly controllers
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Animator-friendly attributes
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Real-time puppetry. Always!
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Clear and intuitive rigs
As a result, PuppetSoul rigs are faster to animate and incredibly easy to use.
DYNAMIC FOR ANIMATOR
PuppetSoul allows animators to control dynamic elements tailored specifically to their needs.
During animation, you can easily manage overlapping objects like hair or cloth, with real-time collision, wind effects, and more!
It's the perfect way to drastically reduce character FX time, give animators more control, and save production time!
It’s an incredible production time-saver!
And it’s simple for animators to use.
You can choose between two dynamic types:
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Muppic: Uses only Maya's standard nodes.
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dynaNode: Utilizes a plugin, enabling collision, wind effects, and 12fps animations for faster performance.
Both of them are:
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Simple to rig.
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Simple and yet effective to animate and control.
FACIAL RIG INCLUDED!
Of course, the facial rig is included—and it’s awesome!
A special module allows you to:
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Rig each part separately: eyes, mouth, etc. Do only what you need.
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Everything is guided and easy to follow.
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Automatic skinning gives you a usable base, saving you days of work.
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It also handles head deformations: jaw, squash & stretch, eye deformations, and more.
'LOCALS' FOR UNBELEIVABLE FACIAL DEFORMATIONS
Also known as preBindJoints.
Blend shapes are great for their modeling flexibility, but they offer linear and fixed deformations.
Skinning provides more control over deformations, but it can be difficult to set up.
Locals allows you to apply skin deformations on top of blend shapes, giving you the best of both worlds—quickly.
It's the ideal balance for facial deformations and expressions.
Get the perfect and unlimited facial deformation done quickly, keeping the total artistic control over it!
ALLOWS CUSTOMISATIONS
It’s impossible to predict every need in advance.
PuppetSoul is built with rig customization in mind. You can add any custom rigs—it’s fully integrated into the workflow!
ADD YOUR OWN NEEDS
Adding your own Monk (rig element) is incredibly easy.
PuppetSoul comes with its own API/Framework.
No UI is hardcoded—everything can be added on the fly:
Monks, options, UI elements.
Need to add a special tail for your production, for example? With PuppetSoul, it's a breeze!
PIPELINE FREE
PuppetSoul can be integrated into any pipeline.
There are no restrictions—whether it’s names, file names, joint orientations, or anything else.
Whatever your production requires for publishing or object/file naming, PuppetSoul can easily adapt.
SOUL TOOLBOX:
MAYA AS IT SHOULD BE!
PuppetSoul comes with an awesome and complete toolbox.
It’s designed for the daily needs of riggers and significantly extends Maya’s features.
For example, it includes:
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Copying deformers
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New deformers, like superSoftMod
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Saving/loading deformer weights
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Managing controller shapes
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Managing node connections
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Cleaning scenes
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Handling duplicate names in scenes
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Managing skin weights
And much, much more.
It extends Maya the way it should be!
POSES/ANIMATION/SELECTION LIBRARY.
It allows you to share selections, poses, animations and even assets between scenes and users.
It’s fast and easy to use.
While StudioLibrary is widely used, this tool is integrated into PuppetSoul and free to use.
It’s smooth and simple.
REAL TIME RIGS!
Of course, all rigs are real-time!
We guarantee a minimum of 20fps in most cases, even with highly complex rigs.
Animate faster!
