Get ready to animate your very own character for your video project, with our top character rigging After Effects templates from Envato Elements.
What are Bone-Rigged Character Animations?
Character animations are figures brought to life with movement. Rigged characters go a step further, with extra movement controls for aspects like limbs and facial features. Rigging is made by creating a sort of bone structure which is then used to move the character, a bit like a puppet!
On this page, we take a look at nine of the best Character Animation Kits, including After Effects rigging templates. They will help you create easy animated characters. We’ll review premium templates from Envato Elements and Envato Market.
9 Top Character Animation After Effects Templates for Bone-Rigging
Featured Template Pack: Rigmo — Character Rigging After Effects Template
Rigging your characters manually can be time-consuming. This customisable, character rigging After Effects template gives you a head start — meaning less time setting bones and more time creating your animation.
Project Details
This character rigging After Effects project was created by Envato Elements author creartdesign.
Key Features
Eight unique characters with movement and expressions. There are eight After Effects character animation files with systems for 40 animations. There’s also a video tutorial included with commentary and subtitles to help you get started in creating simple character animations.
Download and Try
With a subscription to Envato Elements you get unlimited After Effects templates, stock video, audio, images, motion graphics, and more. This includes all the premium Adobe character animator templates available on Envato Elements.
More Simple Character Animation After Effects Templates From Envato Elements
Unlimited downloads from Envato Elements mean you can try as many After Effects rigging templates as you like. So, if the above template isn’t quite your style, no worries! Here are some great alternatives for easy animation of characters.
Customisable Character Face Rig
Change characters and adjust individual styles like face width, facial hair, and even nose size with Customisable Character Face Rig. There’s full 3D turn control plus a choice of accessories.
Design and Motion Character Animation Toolkit
Design and Motion Character Animation Toolkit is a cool pack for easy animation of characters. It includes a number of professions with a full range of motions to choose from. You can make simple character animation.
Character Design – Adobe Character Animator Templates
Character Design – Adobe Character Animator Templates has a range of professions and situations with relevant characters and animations. It includes animated backgrounds too!
Six Character Face Rigs – After Effects Rigging Template
If you’re looking for easy animation of characters, then you’ll love Six Character Face Rigs, one of the best After Effects rigging templates. They’ll add a lot of detail and visual interest to your video projects.
After Effects Character Animation Templates on Envato Market
If an Elements subscription doesn’t fit your project or you don’t find what you need, you can try Envato Market. After Effects character animation templates you can help keep your work on time, on budget, and professional. Here are some great character animation kits for After Effects from Envato Market:
Character Animation Explainer – Character Rigging After Effects Toolkit
There are over 30 pre-made characters in this toolkit, which you can use as a starting point to customise, or you can build your own. Modify character length, body proportions, clothes, accessories and much more. There’s 180 degree character rotation and two rigs included to control limbs. It’s a powerful character rigging After Effects option!
Ultimate Adobe Character Animator Templates
10 pre-made, fully customizable characters with over 100 loopable animations and rigged characters. Some actions you can choose from include: driving a car, waving, riding a bike, and sitting down. This After Effects rigging template will help you with simple character animation options.
Turnaround Character Animation After Effects Toolkit
This After Effects character animation toolkit lets you move characters in all eight directions with its full-rigged character module. Download this After Effects rigging template so your characters can interact with a scene and react with a range of expressions.
Animal Adobe Character Animator Template
Something a little different, try this Adobe character animator template featuring animals instead of people. There are more than 30 pre-made animal characters and you can change body size, facial expressions, textures and more. There’s also an advanced character rig to help you create your own animations.
More Resources for Animators
Now that you’ve seen some of the best character animation After Effects templates, you may need extra resources to keep your project going. To help you get creative, here are more free resources from Envato Tuts+.
Keep Studying with Envato Tuts+
Popular Animation Tutorials
- 3 Ways to Colour Grade Cartoon Animation Using After Effects
- How to Add Motion Blur Effects to Cartoon Animation Using After Effects
- How to Add Soft Lighting to Cartoon Animation in After Effects
Recommended Tutorials
If you enjoyed these templates and would like to learn more about character rigging, our free tutorial How to Rig and Animate a Character in Cartoon Animator and After Effects walks you through how to use After Effects in conjunction with Cartoon Animator to create quick and easy animations.
Free Video Courses: Follow Envato Tuts+ on YouTube
If you love animation and would like to learn more, try our free course How to Animate in After Effects, where you’ll learn about keyframe animation, how to reveal text with masks and shape layers, how to animate a logo ad much more.
More Free Articles and Resources for Animations
Find more top templates and tips in these articles:
How to Make a Talking Avatar With Cartoon Animator and After Effects
- How to Animate Any Photo With Cartoon Animator and After Effects
- How to Add Special Effects to Cartoon Animation Using After Effects
- 10 Top Cartoon Animation Elements and Templates for After Effects
About This Page
How We Picked
We looked at projects and considered all kinds of variables, including organization, complexity, experience required and overall difficulty, minimum hardware specifications, included versions and options, formats, resolution, file size, dependencies and required plug-ins (if any), language options, software versions supported, style, design, and cost. You can read more about how we select items at How We Pick Video Templates to Feature on Envato Tuts+.
Editorial Note: Jackson Couse edited and published this page on October 13th, 2021. This post has been updated with contributions from Dacia Egurrola. Dacia is a staff writer with Envato Tuts+.
Share Your Craft on the Envato Forums
Finally, if you put one of these After Effects templates to use, please do let us know on the Envato forums. We love to see the projects you create!
