Get free modular Maya character rig builder Mansur-Rig 3.0
Former MPC Lead Rigging TD Assaf Ben Zur has released Mansur-Rig 3.0, his free modular toolset for building Maya character rigs.
The update moves Mansur-Rig to a “partial open-source structure”, removing the need to register and activate the software, with the old license server due to be turned off in 2026.
A flexible high-performance system for building character rigs in Maya
First released in 2021, and made available free in 2024, Mansur-Rig is an “advanced modular rig builder” for Maya.
It can be used to build joint-based full-body and facial rigs for human and humanoid characters, although it isn’t an auto-skinning tool.
Key selling points cited in the online FAQs include the high performance of the rigs generated, its flexible, non-linear workflow, and its ability to rig non-T-posed models.
Other notable features include a readymade animation picker UI and a LODs Tool for managing switches between Level of Detail states of a character.
The software comes with a library of character and vehicle rigs, also available free.
Now no longer requires an online account or license activation…
Mansur-Rig 3.0 moves the software to what Assaf Ben Zur describes as a “partial open-source structure”, although the actual C++ code remains private.
For character artists, the main change is that it is no longer necessary to create an account on the Mansur-Rig website, then activate the software, in order to use it.
Instead, you can just download the software from the Releases section of the new GitHub repository, then install it directly.
…but update before 1 March 2026 if you’re running an older version of the software
The old licensing server will be shut down on 1 March 2026, making previous versions of Mansur-Rig – which rely on online activation – unusable.
If you’re currently using a 2.x release, you need to update before then.
Also important for making older rigs forwards-compatible
Another reason to update to Mansur-Rig 3.0 is support for Maya 2026.
As well as simply making Mansur-Rig compatible with the latest version of Maya, it may be the last chance to make rigs created in older versions of the software forwards-compatible.
Autodesk deprecated DoubleLinear attributes on math nodes in Maya 2026, and while the old versions of the nodes are still available, they may be removed in future releases.
If so, the only way to make old Mansur-Rig rigs compatible with Maya 2027 and beyond will be to open and update them in Maya 2026. You can find more details here.
Currently available for Windows only
However, Linux support has been “temporarily dropped”, which Assaf Ben Zur attributes to the increasing technical complexity of maintaining the Linux edition.
In the release notes, he writes: “Keeping up with Autodesk’s requirements is getting more and more challenging, and it got to a point where I can no longer justify complying with it.”
System requirements
Mansur-Rig 3.0 is compatible with Maya 2020+ on Windows only. The software is free, including for use on commercial projects. You can also sell character rigs created with Mansur-Rig.
Download modular Maya rig-building system Mansur-Rig 3.0 for free from GitHub
(Registration required)
Read more about Mansur-Rig in the online documentation
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