What is Viggle: everything you need to know about the AI animation tool and meme generator

Viggle
(Image credit: Viggle)

Viggle is an animation tool that uses AI to bring static images to life. Using clever motion transfer tech, it animates characters based on reference clips.

You don’t need any editing or animation experience: just upload an image of yourself or your character, as well as a reference video, and Viggle will match the movements. It can also mask characters into existing videos.

With major potential for content creators and meme-makers, here’s everything you need to know about Viggle.

This article was correct as of March 2025. AI tools are updated regularly and it is possible that some features have changed since this article was written. Some features may also only be available in certain countries.

What is Viggle?

Viggle is an AI-powered animation tool developed by Viggle AI, a Canadian start-up. It uses motion transfer technology to animate still images based on user movements in uploaded videos. It can also be used to mask different characters over figures in existing videos, a feature which has been widely used to create viral meme content.

Viggle began as a Discord community, which now has more than 4 million users. Viggle launched a standalone app and web platform in 2024. The tool is built on JST-1, a 3D model designed to analzye and render realistic character movements based on real-world physics.

Its accessibility and ease of use, as well as the effectiveness and relative realism of its motion transfer abilities, have made Viggle hugely popular – not just for creating social content, but also for producing effective animations quickly and without the expense or complexity of dedicated software.

What can you use Viggle for?

There are two main ways to use Viggle. First, there’s Mix. This allows you to upload an image of a character, along with a motion reference video. Hit “Viggle This!” and the tool will generate a video of your character performing the action in the clip.

You can either have your character perform this as a cutout on a chosen background, or mask it over the top of the original video – essentially allowing you to place yourself or your characters into existing scenes. With Multi, Viggle also allows you to replace several characters in a single scene.

Alternatively, you can make a character in a still image come alive. Viggle calls this Move. Upload your motion reference video, ideally recorded against a plain background, then select the figure in the image that you’d like to animate. The result is a motion video with the visual elements of the original image.

You can check out the effectiveness of this technology using Viggle’s free meme generator. Essentially a free preview of its abilities, the generator allows you to paste a person or character into viral video clips, such as the Tom Cruise running meme. It works best with a full-body photo.

What can’t you use Viggle for?

Unlike text-to-video generators such as Dream Machine or OpenAI’s Sora, you can’t use Viggle to generate entirely new video content. It always requires an existing still image and a reference video. Viggle also lacks the depth of a full animation app. You can’t manually fine-tune character motion, for example.

Even with a paid plan, there are limits on file size and video length. Subscribers are capped at 10 minutes or 100MB for video uploads, while output resolution is limited to 1080p. For free users, these limits are 1 minute / 50MB and 720p.

Use of Viggle is also subject to Viggle AI’s terms of service. These prohibit you from using the tool to generate harmful or defamatory content. They also state that users must not breach intellectual property rights. This is a gray area when it comes to memes, which often make use of copyrighted images and footage.

Viggle AI

(Image credit: Viggle AI)

How much does Viggle cost?

Viggle is available to explore for free. You can experiment with the free meme generator. You can also generate up to five videos in relaxed mode per day, running up to two video generations at once.

For higher limits and a faster experience overall, you can pay for a Viggle Pro subscription. This costs $9.99 (around £8 / AU$16) per month. It allows you to create watermark-free clips in fast mode with credits, of which you get 80 per month. It lifts the resolution to 1080p and allows you to upload longer, larger video files. Assets are stored forever, too.

Where can you use Viggle?

Viggle started life as a Discord community. You can still access it that way. Viggle also has a prompt for Discord shortcut on its website.

There’s also a dedicated web-based interface, as well as smartphone apps for both iOS and Android. You can also download the APK for Android devices directly from Viggle’s website.

Is Viggle any good?

We haven’t written a full review of Viggle, but our hands-on experience has revealed it to be a very easy tool to use. Whether you access it on the web or your smartphone, it has an intuitive interface. Uploads are a drag-and-drop affair with essentially no settings to worry about.

The four modes are available in a toolbar. If you’re not clear on which mode does what, Viggle gives clear summary explanations by clicking the question mark icon. These also include example images and videos which show you the best practises for getting clear results.

Content we generated, as well as viral videos we’ve seen, prove that Viggle’s motion transfer technology can be highly effective. It can clearly identify figures in both images and footage, accurately mapping their motion and overlaying characters. It only tends to struggle with videos shot in darker lighting, where the outlines of subjects aren’t as clear.

How realistic results appear depends on the quality of your source material. Upload a motion reference video with subtle movements, or a character overlay with lighting that matches the motion clip, and you can achieve some very impressive results in a very short amount of time.

Use Viggle if...

You want to make effortless animations

Viggle couldn’t be easier to use. Simply upload a reference video and character image, hit the button and its AI model will take care of the motion transfer. With very little effort, it can produce seamless and realistic moving images.

You want to mask yourself into viral content

Viggle is highly effective at replacing subjects in existing videos. Upload a clear source image of yourself, a character or someone else and it can mask it in to the scene with fluid motion, making a million video memes possible.

Don't use Viggle if...

You want to generate new videos

Viggle always requires you to upload a character image and reference video to create content. It’s not an AI text-to-video generator, so it can’t produce completely new footage based on descriptive text prompts.

You want to create feature videos

Viggle’s paid plan has a relatively generous 10-minute limit for motion reference video uploads. This cap will still be restrictive for feature filmmakers or serious animators, as will the 1080p cap on output resolution.

Also consider

  • Dream Machine is a generative text-to-video tool that turns natural language prompts into realistic clips with natural physics. It doesn’t animate subjects like Viggle. Instead, it creates entirely new videos up to 10 seconds in length, with the ability to specify details such as camera angles and lighting.
  • Jupitrr is an AI tool for editing social videos. It takes existing clips of talking heads, analyzes spoken audio and adds content to match. That could be anything from subtitles and emojis to images and B-roll. The idea is to make narrative clips more dynamic, without any editing knowledge.

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Christian Rowlands
TechRadar contributor

Formerly News Editor at Stuff, Chris now writes about tech from his tropical office. Sidetracked by sustainable stuff, he’s also keen on cameras, classic cars and any gear that gets better with age.

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