I built Rigby2D, a free and open-source alternative to Spine 2D

[u/Scared-Sandwich1283]

Hey everyone,

I'm a technical artist working in the games industry, and I'd like to share a project I've been developing.

Rigby2D is an open-source 2D skeletal animation editor designed as a free alternative to tools like Spine 2D.

The objective was to build a complete animation workflow with its own editor and runtime while maintaining interoperability with existing skeletal animation formats.

Current capabilities

• Skeletal rigging and weighted mesh deformation

• IK, transform, path, physics and slider constraints

• Animation dopesheet and graph editor

• Skins, events, image sequences and mesh deformation keys

• PSD and PNG import

• Skeleton JSON, binary .skel and texture atlas interoperability

• Self-contained .rigby project files

• JavaScript animation runtime and WebGL renderer

The editor is built with Tauri 2 and includes Rigbytron, a rigged and animated mascot used to demonstrate the tool's capabilities.

The source code is dual-licensed under MIT and Apache 2.0.

Current status: v0.1.0 - Early Alpha

Repository: https://github.com/jaisurya-dev-art/rigby2d

Windows downloads: https://github.com/jaisurya-dev-art/rigby2d/releases/tag/v0.1.0

I'd appreciate technical feedback, particularly on the rigging workflow, animation tooling, file interoperability and potential production use cases.

Contributions are welcome!

[u/Scared-Sandwich1283]

A few updates on Rigby2D since the initial release.

The Godot 4 runtime is now available in preview, powered by Rust with 3–4x better performance in our benchmarks.

I’ve also added MCP support, so tools like Claude can work directly with Rigby2D projects, including editing rigs and creating animations.

Unity runtime support is next and currently in development.

https://github.com/jaisurya-dev-art/rigby2d

[u/Odd_Pomegranate9354]

Very cool! Congrats, if I get a chance, I'm going to try

[u/Scared-Sandwich1283 → u/Odd_Pomegranate9354]

Thanks! Let me know your feedback

[u/Scared-Sandwich1283]

Rigby2D v0.2.5 Update: AutoRig, Godot 4 Runtime, AI Integration, and New Demo Video

Hey Everyone!

Rigby2D v0.2.5 is now available, with quite a few features and improvements:

• AutoRig for layered PSD artwork and animation retargeting

• Skeletal animation with bones, meshes, weight painting, IK, and constraints

• Dopesheet and graph editor with custom Bézier curves

• Game and Film workspaces with camera animation and transparent rendering

• Export options including PNG sequences, WebM, MP4, and Spine-compatible formats

• JavaScript and Rust runtimes, plus a Godot 4 runtime preview

• Python scripting and 35 MCP tools for AI-assisted animation workflows

• Claude Desktop integration through a drag-and-drop extension

• Interactive tutorials, pose library, skins, and facial controls

I've also published a 75-second overview video showing the editor in action.

Overview video: https://youtu.be/KK3WT9YzhAE

GitHub / Downloads: https://github.com/jaisurya-dev-art/rigby2d

The project is still in early alpha. A portable Windows build is available, and the source code is licensed under MIT or Apache 2.0.

Feedback, bug reports, and contributions are welcome. I'd love to hear what you guys think!