Falling Bodies, the Softimage|3D plug-in for creating your own fall stunts.

From the Animats web site:

Animats introduced ragdoll physics technology in 1997. The Animats Falling Bodies> product was for years the most advanced ragdoll dynamics system on the market. Our technology for high-quality ragdolls is patented. This broad patent covers most spring/damper character simulation systems. If it falls, it has joints, it looks right, and it works right, it’s usually covered by our patent. This technology has been licensed to a major distributor of game development middleware.

https://vimeo.com/69759819
This is the original “ragdoll falling down stairs” animation, shown at the Softimage user group meeting in 1997. This is the first ragdoll demo ever. U.S. Patent #6,067,096.

–quote from the youtube version of this video (which wouldn’t play properly in Chrome, hence the vimeo version above)