Archive notice: This article was originally published on July 29, 2013. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
According to the manufacturer, Anzovin Rig Tools will reduce the artists’ drudgery involved in preparing a characater for animation. ART is currently still in pre-alpha, however, and an exact release date is not yet in sight.
Unlike auto-rig tools such as the Setup Machine, which organises existing Maya rig nodes to make a predefined rig available, ART relies entirely on its own nodes with new bones and deformers to make the rigging process in Maya easier.
ART offers spline-based rigging and deformation, simplified weight painting, built-in pose-space deformation, a simple muscle system and much more. ART will probably cost around 499 US dollars.
Further information is available at www.anzovin.com. For now, here are the tool’s new videos. Enjoy.
Anzovin Studio was founded in 2000 by a father-and-son team dedicated to CG character animation. The company is located in the Five College Area between New York and Boston and offers many useful small tools that can be used for anmation in films and games.