Meet Stickybones, a Highly-Articulated Puppet That Makes Animating a Whole Lot Easier
Working in animation has plenty of challenges, one of the bigger ones being that your subjects aren't real and must be fabricated out of nothing.
![Stickybones](https://nofilmschool.com/media-library/stickybones.png?id=34083830&width=1245&height=700&quality=90&coordinates=0%2C4%2C0%2C4)
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