InstantRig vs MakeHuman

InstantRig is a modular auto-rigging tool for Autodesk 3ds Max, intended for keyframe cartoon animation. It offers auto rigging and skinning, automatic overlapping action, and a pose manager for copying, pasting, and flipping poses. Users can configure fingers and toes and add tails, hair, ears, and breasts to rigs; characters can be resized, and body parts can be stretchy. Animation tools include IK/FK matching and sliding, soft IK, knee and elbow snapping, and customizable controllers. The maker says animations can be baked to deform bones for export to game engines, using formats supported by 3ds Max. InstantRig does not support mocap data. Once a rig is created, it can be used with native 3ds Max versions 2014 or higher without InstantRig installed on that computer. Installation instructions cover dragging the installer into the 3ds Max viewport, manual installation, and quick launch. The free plan is free and provides one license for one user; each additional user needs a separate license.

MakeHuman creates customizable 3D human characters by blending adjustable features on a base mesh. Character targets let users alter traits from sex and muscle tone to earlobe shape. A built-in downloader provides access to community assets, and the application includes a render engine and parametric modeling. Meshes can be exported in Collada (DAE), FBX, Wavefront OBJ, STL, and Ogre3D formats; projects can also be saved in MHM format. Exporting meshes is one-way: MakeHuman cannot open those exported formats again. BVH is the listed rig format, and the documentation says MakeHuman 1.1.0 does not officially support animation inside the application. For Blender workflows, MPFB can communicate directly with MakeHuman instead of depending on file exports. It runs as desktop software on Linux, macOS, and Windows. The plan is free. The site says core assets including the base mesh, targets, and skins are CC0, with no paywall or email requirement for downloading.