Cascadeur

What it is

Cascadeur is standalone 3D character-animation software from Nekki that uses AI and physics to speed up keyframe animation for humanoids and quadrupeds. It exports animations to game engines and DCC tools.

Key features

• AutoPosing: neural-network-assisted posing from a few controls (incl. quadrupeds in recent versions).
• AutoPhysics: makes motion physically plausible; 2025.3 improved character interactions and ragdoll angle limits.
• Inbetweening tool and animation unbaking to edit mocap.
• Rigging tools and retargeting (Pro).
• Exports: FBX, DAE, USD (Indie/Pro); free plan exports only .casc.

Full feature tour (from cascadeur.com)

• Inbetweening: AI interpolation instantly generates motion between your keyframes, so you block out key poses and let the tool fill the gaps.
• AutoPosing: move a handful of control points and the neural network places the rest of the body in a natural pose.
• AutoPhysics: a "character double" shows the physically accurate version of your animation, letting you quickly tune secondary motion, inertia and balance.
• Ragdoll: procedural animation that makes characters react to impacts, falls and collisions.
• AI Motion Generation: generate runs, jumps, combat moves, acrobatics and idles as starting points.
• Quadrupeds: quick rigging, AutoPosing and one-click retargeting for cats, dogs, horses and other four-legged animals.
• Rigging: drag and drop joints onto your character and the rig is generated automatically for humanoids and quadrupeds.
• Retargeting: copy and paste animation between characters regardless of skeleton structure and proportions.
• Unreal Engine Live Link: stream animation directly into Unreal Engine; edits update in real time.
• Formats: works with FBX, DAE, GLB/GLTF and USD files.

How to use it

1. Download from cascadeur.com and sign in.
2. Import or rig a character.
3. Pose key frames with AutoPosing; apply AutoPhysics.
4. Export FBX to Unity/Unreal/Godot (paid plans).

Use cases

• Mocap cleanup: fix foot sliding, knee pops and geometry penetration in motion-capture data, correct poses with AutoPosing, add weight with AutoPhysics and make changes on animation layers.
• Game prototyping: generate placeholder combat and locomotion sets quickly, then polish the ones that ship.
• Previz: block out action scenes and stunts for film or cinematics before committing to a shoot.
• Editing AI-sourced and markerless mocap: clean up motion captured from video so it looks grounded.
• Learning animation: students can see physically correct arcs next to their own keys and learn why a pose works.

Pricing

Yearly Indie/Pro convert into a perpetual license after 12 months.

Which plan should you choose?

• Free: you're learning animation or evaluating the tool. Everything stays inside Cascadeur because export is limited to the native .casc format, so you can't use the results in a game or render.
• Indie ($8/month billed yearly): solo developers and small studios with under $100k in annual revenue or funding. Unlocks FBX/DAE export, which is what makes Cascadeur usable in Unity, Unreal or Godot.
• Pro ($33/month billed yearly): studios above the revenue cap or anyone who needs every feature and unrestricted commercial rights.
• Educational ($49/year): students and teachers with proof of status.

Paying yearly is usually the better deal: besides the lower monthly rate, the yearly Indie and Pro plans turn into a perpetual license for the version you have after 12 months, so you can keep working even if you stop paying (you just stop getting updates).

Workflow tips

1. Block out only the key poses first; let Inbetweening fill in the rest before polishing.
2. Turn on the AutoPhysics double early so you can see where balance and timing break.
3. Use animation layers for tweaks instead of editing baked keys, especially on mocap.
4. Generate a base run or jump with AI Motion Generation and customise it rather than starting from zero.

Pros & cons

Pros

• Dramatically faster posing for realistic motion.
• Generous free plan for learning; perpetual license on yearly plans.

Cons

• Free plan can't export to FBX — not usable for real projects.
• Indie restricts commercial use to < $100k revenue/funding.
• Focused on characters only; not a full 3D suite.

Best for

Indie game developers and animators who keyframe characters and want physically believable motion fast.

Alternatives

Verdict

Cascadeur is the most efficient way for small teams to produce realistic character animation, with a fair perpetual-license model. Budget at least Indie if you need to export.