What are the best tools and plugins for post-processing character animation in Maya and Blender?

1 Rigging and Skinning

Before you can animate your characters, you need to rig and skin them properly. Rigging is the process of creating a skeleton and controls for your character, while skinning is the process of binding the geometry to the skeleton. Both Maya and Blender have built-in tools for rigging and skinning, but you can also use plugins to speed up and improve the quality of your work. For example, Advanced Skeleton is a free plugin for Maya that allows you to create complex rigs with automatic skinning, facial features, and muscle deformation. For Blender, you can use Rigify, a built-in addon that generates standard rigs with customizable options and presets.

2 Motion Capture and Retargeting

Motion capture is a technique that records the movement of a real actor and transfers it to a digital character. Retargeting is the process of adapting the motion capture data to fit different characters and rigs. Motion capture and retargeting can save you a lot of time and effort in creating realistic and natural animations, but they also require some post-processing to refine and edit the results. For Maya, you can use MotionBuilder, a dedicated software for motion capture editing and retargeting, or Maya Live Link, a plugin that connects Maya with Unreal Engine for real-time motion capture and animation. For Blender, you can use Auto-Rig Pro, a paid addon that offers a complete solution for rigging, motion capture, and retargeting, or Motion Tracer, a free addon that converts motion capture data into keyframes.

3 Animation Layers and Curves

Animation layers and curves are essential tools for post-processing character animation, as they allow you to adjust, tweak, and blend different aspects of your animation without affecting the original keyframes. Animation layers are like layers in Photoshop, where you can add, subtract, or mix different motions on top of each other. Animation curves are graphical representations of the values and timing of your keyframes, where you can edit the speed, ease, and interpolation of your animation. Both Maya and Blender have built-in tools for animation layers and curves, but you can also use plugins to enhance their functionality and usability. For example, AnimBot is a paid plugin for Maya that adds a lot of features and shortcuts for animation layers and curves, such as smart keys, ghosting, snapping, and mirroring. For Blender, you can use Animation Nodes, a free addon that lets you create complex animation effects with node-based logic, or AnimAide, a free addon that adds more options and controls for animation curves.

4 Facial Animation and Lip Sync

Facial animation and lip sync are crucial for creating expressive and believable characters, but they can also be challenging and time-consuming to do manually. Fortunately, there are tools and plugins that can help you automate and simplify the process of facial animation and lip sync, using either audio or video inputs. For Maya, you can use Faceware, a paid software and plugin that captures facial expressions and lip movements from video and applies them to your character, or Animschool Picker, a free plugin that creates a user-friendly interface for selecting and animating facial controls. For Blender, you can use Rhubarb Lip Sync, a free addon that generates lip sync animation from audio files, or Blender Sensei, a paid addon that includes a facial animation tool that uses webcam input.

5 Rendering and Compositing

Rendering and compositing are the final steps of post-processing character animation, where you turn your 3D scene into a 2D image or video, with lighting, shading, and effects. Rendering and compositing can make a huge difference in the quality and mood of your animation, but they can also be demanding and complex to set up and adjust. Both Maya and Blender have powerful rendering and compositing engines, but you can also use plugins to optimize and customize your output. For Maya, you can use Arnold, a high-end renderer that offers realistic and artistic results, or Redshift, a fast and flexible renderer that uses GPU acceleration. For Blender, you can use Eevee, a real-time renderer that mimics the look of ray tracing, or Cycles, a physically-based renderer that produces realistic and detailed images. For compositing, you can use Nuke, a professional software and plugin that allows you to edit and enhance your rendered images or videos, or Natron, a free and open-source alternative that offers similar features and functionality.

6 Here’s what else to consider

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