Erlich Dynamic Tools for Maya by Santi Erlich

Erlich Dynamic Tools is a Maya dynamics plugin by Santi Erlich for real-time secondary animation: live overlap, cloth behaviour and collision capsules on any rig, alongside the other animation plugins on Animworks.

Product Overview

At a Glance

AUTODESK MAYA

Built for Maya and ready to drop straight into your animation workflow.

PRODUCTION READY

Designed for real-world animation workflows, from blocking to final polish.

Erlich Dynamic Tools is a real-time Maya dynamics plugin built for animators and riggers who need believable secondary animation in Maya, tails, hair, cloth, antennae, or any bone chain, without leaving their animation workflow or wiring up a heavyweight dynamics rig. It is available exclusively on Animworks.

A Maya overlap tool that solves in real time

Most overlap and dynamics solutions run one engine for preview and a different one for the final bake, so the result you approve while scrubbing the timeline is rarely the result you deliver. Erlich Dynamic Tools runs a single physics solver for both real-time playback and baking. What you see in the viewport is exactly what gets baked to keyframes, with no last-minute surprises. That makes it a genuinely dependable Maya overlap tool for production, not just a preview toy.

Non-destructive secondary animation in Maya

Arming dynamics on a control never touches or deletes your original animation. You can arm it, disarm it, edit the underlying curve, and your reference animation stays live. No gimbal flips, no corrupted curves, no lost work. This non-destructive approach is what lets you iterate on secondary animation in Maya quickly, trying different amounts of follow-through, gravity and stiffness on a shot without ever rebuilding the dynamic chain from scratch.

Key features

• Real-time dynamic chains for tails, hair and appendages, using Verlet integration and Position Based Dynamics for stable, art-directable motion.
• Standalone jiggle mode for a single point, ideal for quick secondary detail without arming a full chain.
• Collision against spheres, capsules and a ground plane, so your dynamics respect the character’s volume instead of clipping through it.
• Capsule dynamic bodies wrapped around an object, the same way you would solve dynamic bodies in a proper simulation, rather than fighting controllers.
• Per-control arm and disarm at any time, leaving zero leftover nodes in the scene.
• Bake to real keyframes the moment you are happy, ready to deliver or hand-animate further.
• Dockable panel inside Maya that drops straight into your existing animation workflow.

Who this Maya dynamics plugin is for

Erlich Dynamic Tools is for character animators and studios who need to iterate fast on overlapping action and secondary motion, gameplay, cinematics or film, without building a dedicated dynamics rig for every character. If you have ever wished Maya solved overlap live by default, this is the tool that fills that gap. It suits anyone cleaning up mocap, adding life to a walk cycle, or finishing a hero shot who wants the dynamics they see while scrubbing to be exactly the dynamics they ship.

Common uses for this Maya dynamics plugin

Animators reach for Erlich Dynamic Tools whenever a shot needs overlapping action that would take too long to key by hand. Typical uses include adding overlap to a ponytail or braid on a run cycle, floating cloth and coat tails on a jump, jiggle on soft body parts, antennae and ears on creatures, dangling straps and props, and cleaning up motion capture where the secondary motion reads as stiff. Because the solver is real time and non-destructive, you can dial the dynamics in on one character, copy the setup to the next, and keep your keyframed performance underneath untouched. It turns hours of manual overlap into a few minutes of art direction, then bakes clean curves you can still tweak by hand.

Compatibility and licence

Erlich Dynamic Tools runs on Autodesk Maya 2025, 2026 and 2027 on Windows, installed via a simple setup. It is a perpetual licence, one time per machine, with no subscription and no expiry. Every purchase includes the plugin, a full manual and a quick start guide so you can follow along from the first minute. Learn more about Autodesk Maya.

Built by animator and tools developer Santi Erlich, and available exclusively on Animworks. Browse more Maya animation tools and rigs, or grab a free Maya rig to test it on.

Erlich Dynamic Tools is the dynamics plugin for Maya animators who want physics-driven polish without simulation round-trips: buy once, and it is yours.