Meet Stickybones, a Highly-Articulated Puppet That Makes Animating a Whole Lot Easier

If you've ever animated something, whether by illustrating by hand or crafting and adjusting puppets for stop-motion, you know how difficult it is to find a good model, one that can be put into virtually any pose you want and provide a reference for human gesticulations and movements in 3D.

That's where Stickybones comes in. Co-created by character animator Erik Baker, this highly-articulated puppet allows artists, animators, and other creatives to easily manipulate it into precisely the pose they want, no tie-downs or rigs required. This means that animators can use Stickybones for stop-motion, artists can use it as a model, and people like me, who don't animate or paint/draw/sculpt, can use it just to amuse themselves. And seeing as it raised nearly half a million dollars on Indiegogo, which was 557% more than their original goal, clearly there is quite the demand.

Here's a video demonstrating what it's like to get hands on with Stickybones. It also shows one of their accessories, the Fly-Rig. (Which is basically like any rigging system you'd see in animation.)

And this one demonstrates the Versa-Toe, a free upgrade that lets users remove/switch out the foot-magnets to allow for more control. This is especially useful when animating walks.

Key Features

• Pre-tensioned joints
• Wide range of motion
• Articulated hands and midsection
• Precision calibration
• Double-jointed head,neck, and shoulders
• Smooth joint motion
• Magnets in hands and feet
• Capable of micro iterations
• Highly wear-resistant materials
• Engineering-grade polymers

• Stickybones puppet: $89
• Performance stage: $28
• Fly-Rig: $32

If you're interested in learning more about Stickybones, or if you're ready to snatch one up for yourself, head on over to the Stickybones website or check out their Indiegogo campaign.

Source: Stickybones