What is the shortcut for the puppet pin tool?

Ctrl+P on Windows and Cmd+P on macOS, in both After Effects and Premation.

What is the difference between Position, Starch and Bend pins?

A Position pin is pinned to a point you drag. A Starch pin stiffens the area around it so it resists bending, and a Bend pin rotates around a point carried by the other pins.

Why is my puppet tool greyed out?

In Premation the puppet tool needs a single shape or image layer selected. For a group or pre-comp, use Rig Logo for Animation instead.

Glossary

Puppet pin

Name: Premation
Author: Premation

A control point placed on a mesh generated over flat artwork. Dragging the pin deforms the artwork around it, so a drawing can bend without a skeleton.

Also called Puppet Position Pin tool, Puppet tool, Pin for puppet, Puppet pins.

In After Effects

In After Effects it is the Puppet Position Pin tool (Ctrl+P on Windows, Cmd+P on macOS) in the toolbar, which applies the Puppet effect to the layer. The same toolbar slot also holds the Starch, Bend, Advanced and Overlap pin tools.

In Premation

The Puppet Position Pin tool (Ctrl P). The mesh follows the artwork's outline since 0.7, and bend pins keep a rigid core at the joint.

Step by step

Select a single shape or image layer; the puppet tool is disabled for groups and pre-comps.
Press Ctrl/Cmd + P for the Puppet tool, and use its menu on the toolbar to choose Position, Starch, Bend, Advanced or Overlap pins.
Click on the artwork to drop three or four pins: one at each end of the part that moves and one where it should stay put.
Drag a pin to deform the mesh, then tune Density and Expansion in the Rigging panel (Window ▸ Panels ▸ Rigging).
Move the playhead and drag pins again to write keyframes, or use Puppet sketch to record pin movement by dragging in real time.

Tips

Start with as few pins as possible. Every extra pin is another point you have to keyframe.
The mesh is built from the layer's alpha. Artwork on an opaque background meshes as a rectangle, so cut it out first.
Use a Starch pin to keep a region rigid, such as a head or a hand, while the rest bends.
For jointed motion like arms and legs, bones are often easier than pins; the two can share the same layer.

Walkthrough: 2D character rigging

Read the docs: Puppet

Questions

What is the shortcut for the puppet pin tool?: Ctrl+P on Windows and Cmd+P on macOS, in both After Effects and Premation.
What is the difference between Position, Starch and Bend pins?: A Position pin is pinned to a point you drag. A Starch pin stiffens the area around it so it resists bending, and a Bend pin rotates around a point carried by the other pins.
Why is my puppet tool greyed out?: In Premation the puppet tool needs a single shape or image layer selected. For a group or pre-comp, use Rig Logo for Animation instead.

Related terms

Keep exploring

Try it in PremationFree · AGPL-3.0-only · macOS & Windows