What are the best rigging tools and resources for motion design in Blender?

1 Blender Rigify

Blender Rigify is a built-in add-on that allows you to generate a variety of rigs for different types of characters, such as humans, animals, robots, and more. You can customize the rig settings, such as the number and shape of bones, the type and location of controls, and the level of automation. Rigify also provides a library of presets and templates that you can use as a starting point or reference. To use Rigify, you need to enable it in the preferences, select your model, and choose the rig type from the data panel.

3 Blender Duik Bassel

Blender Duik Bassel is a free add-on that is based on the popular After Effects plugin of the same name. It is designed for 2D animation and motion design, and it provides a set of tools to create rigs for cut-out characters, shapes, and text. You can use Duik Bassel to create bones, controllers, constraints, and drivers for your 2D elements, and animate them with keyframes, expressions, or physics. Duik Bassel also has a friendly user interface, a comprehensive documentation, and a community of users and tutorials.

4 Blender Animation Nodes

Blender Animation Nodes is a free add-on that allows you to create procedural animations and motion graphics with node-based logic. You can use Animation Nodes to manipulate objects, meshes, curves, texts, particles, and more, with various parameters, such as time, sound, randomness, or logic. Animation Nodes can also interact with other add-ons, such as Rigify or Auto-Rig Pro, and create dynamic effects, such as secondary motion, follow-through, or overlapping action. Animation Nodes is a powerful and flexible tool that can enhance your rigging and animation workflow.

6 Blender Books and E-books

Blender also has a rich and diverse literature that can help you learn and master rigging and animation in Blender. You can find many books and e-books that cover different topics and levels of rigging and animation in Blender, such as the theory, the practice, the examples, and the projects. Some of the best books and e-books on Blender rigging and animation are The Complete Guide to Blender Graphics by John M. Blain, Learning Blender by Oliver Villar, Character Development in Blender 2.5 by Jonathan Williamson, and Blender 3D By Example by Romain Caudron and Pierre-Armand Nicq.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?