Looking for the best free Maya rigs?
You’re in the right place.
The free Maya rigs listed here are sorted by quality as well as skill level.
This will save you countless hours of wasted time.
You see there are 1,000’s of other free Maya rigs out there but – when you’re trying to become a professional animator – the last thing you need is a poor quality rig that makes animating even more challenging than it already is.
So to help you get exactly what you need you’ll find my personal recommendations below.
And there are some premium rig recommendations at the end if you’re looking to get more serious at any point.
Disclaimer: These rigs were created by different artists. Each with their own terms and conditions. Read the terms before you download.
Free Maya Rigs for the Basics
If your new to animation these are the rigs for you. They help keep you focused on the basic fundamentals without giving you to many controls to manage.
You may be tempted to jump ahead to a full body acting rig. Do so at your own peril. Its better to get a firm grip on the animation principles before moving on. At lot can be learned from just a bouncing ball.
Basics Rig
(By Mothman-TD)
This is a fantastic all in one fundamentals package. You get several great beginner rigs here not just the ball with a tail.
theBouncin’Ball
(By Highend 3D)
An old rig that is actually one of the few with squash and stretch rotation setup separately from the ball rotation.
Ultimate Rigs
(By Ugur Ulvi Yetiskin)
An old set of basic rigs thats a nice backup option.
Leaf Rig
(By Truong Rigs)
If you want to build a strong foundation for overlap and follow though animation principles….animating a life blowing in the wind is an amazing simple exercise.
Flour Sack
(By Joe Daniels)
An 2D old school teaching favorite. It’s a simple way to learn how to make a character emotion through posing, and how to add weight without a lot of complicated appendages
Juicebox
(By Joe Daniels)
Another old school teaching favorite. The juice box is very similair to the flour sack but it adds a bit of extra versatility with a straw. Is it an arm? Is it part of his face? Both?
Walking Battle Egg
(By Truong Rigs)
A robot rig that keeps it simple but lets you practice all the basics in an exciting new way
Lego Wall-E
(By Robert Joosten)
Ever wanted to try animating Wall-E? Give it a go! You’ll like be amazed at how much life you can breathe into a basic character. Just compared it to the Pixar movie shots.
Free Maya Rigs for Advanced Mechanics
If you’ve got a good handle on the basics and you feel ready to animate a full body character (spine, arms, legs) here you go.
This section of free Maya rigs will keep you focused on just learning physical movement. This way you won’t be tempted to do dialogues or facial animation while you hone your skills with weight and snap.
Their great for Locomotion exercises like:
- Jumping
- Slipping on ice
- Parkour
- Lifting a heavy object
- Attacking with a weapon and so on.
Body Mechanics Rig
(By Anim Matt Tovar)
Blank faced rigs like these may not look like much but they are amazing for focusing your eye on body mechanics without getting caught up as much in the acting. Highly recommend these free rigs by Anim Matt.
Ultimate Bony and Beefy
(By Ugur Ulvi Yetiskin)
This two rigs have been around a while but they are are still good. Often rigs now have the hip controller setup counter intuitively. . These rigs are very user friendly. All that you need to adjust is the mental ray texture that’s no longer supported.
Endo
(By Anim Matt Tovar)
The main difference with this other rig by anim matt is the body shape and belly controls. Great for practicing difference kinds of weight for different kinds of characters. Or if nothing else a way to easily distinguish 2 rigs without getting too complex.
Spider-verse – Miles Morales
(By WatYanin Studio)
Ever since Spider-verse came out we’ve all be itching to animate Miles Morales or Spiderman anyway we can. This rig let us go ham. And its a great option for demo reel shots.
Doc Ock
(By Amazing Animation)
Who better to fight Spiderman than Doctor Octopus?
Ash
(By Roly)
How will you animate catching them all? Also check out Pokemon creature rigs and the Pokeball prop below.
Thor
(By WatYanin Studio)
Cant believe rigs like this are free. Today its a amazing. There’s also a free lightning bolt and hammer rig you can pick up to go along with.
Aang – Avatar
(By Rijah Kazuo)
Fire, Water, Earth, or Air how would you like to animate your Avatar?
Mikey TMNT
(By Artem Dubina)
Ninja Turtles! You can easily customize the color to make him Raph, Don, or Leo as well.
Free Maya Rigs for Advanced Acting
Advanced Acting rigs are for animators that already know how to move a character around very smoothly.
At this stage your main concerns should be emotion, story, and entertainment.
- What kind of move will sell the emotion I’m going for?
- How will my character move to enhance the story?
- Is this story entertaining enough? (for more on entertainment click here)
Free Maya Rigs for Creatures
High quality Quadruped rigs are hard to come by. Typically there are odd deformations or a lack of extra controls like stretch to make the most of each rig.
Here are the best free ones around. Though, with creature rigs especially, consider the premium options at the end as well.
Regarding skill level – it should go without saying. Don’t mess with these quads until you have a solid understanding of human body mechanics.
These 2 realistic big cat rigs are ideal for a VFX focused demo reel.
In fact, if your ready to start animating big cat check out our free Cat Run Cycle master class and Cat Walk Cycle tutorial. You could have a demo reel piece in a few hours.
Free Maya Rigs for Props and Vehicles
Turbosquid also has a lot of free models you can pick up for simple animation props.
Free Maya Rigs for Environments
To give your shots more context or to give your characters more to interact with – use some of these awesome free background environments. The links below have more options too.
Animation Starter Pack (By MZP Studios)
