CGTrader Insights: Should I Rig And Animate My Models?

One can find a number of both CG and game ready models on CGTrader. We analyzed how different categories of models sell and what representation of 3d assets best attracts buyer’s attention. Our findings were transformed into an infographic on low polygon models

We are going to take a quick a look at our data from July 2016 to see if there are differences in sales performance of models that are rigged, animated, both or neither. The results are separated for CG and low poly models.

Low poly. Taking relative liquidity, we see that rigged, non-animated low poly models sold the best, performing 5 times better than simple low poly models. Adding animation to rigged models did not actually give much of a benefit - rigged game ready 3D models performed 1.8 times better than rigged & animated models. This is not too surprising. Buyers need models that fit their projects, models that can be moved in a specific way that the creator of a game, VR or AR application has in mind. This makes rigged models essential for content developer. However, it is almost impossible to guess the exact animation the customer will need. This theory is supported by the fact that animated, non-rigged models do not perform that well; moving simple objects around seems to be an easy task for our buyers.

Similar trends are prevalent among CG models as well. In CG category, rigged 3D models had the most liquidity and sold twice as well as rigged & animated ones. Rigged but not animated models were preferred over animated ones.

Rigged low poly models sold 1.8 times better than rigged CG models, but this is consistent with the general trend of low poly models selling better than CG or 3D print-ready assets. If you are modelling CG or game ready assets and you want to go the extra mile, rigging is where you should start as this is were the efforts are most likely to pay off.

*Liquidity corresponds to sales divided by the number of models. High liquidity indicates higher possibility to sell.