3D Character Animation

What 3D character animation needs

A character mesh is the visible surface. A skeleton supplies joints that move the body. Skinning assigns parts of the surface to those joints, and an animation clip records their movement over time. A character can have a skeleton without a motion clip, or moving objects without a skinned skeleton. Check which of these your file actually contains before calling it an animated, rigged character.

• Mesh: the shape, materials, and texture you see.
• Rig: the joint hierarchy and skin weights that let the mesh bend.
• Motion: a named clip with a duration that you can play and inspect.

Choose an existing model, text, or image

Already have a character? Open Rig & Animate and upload a humanoid GLB up to the size shown in that workspace, or select a compatible model from History. Choose Rig only to add a skeleton, or Rig + Animation to request a motion clip as well. To create a new character, the text and image entry points open Meshy 7.1 with the animated-character preset. Check the available controls and credit total for your chosen model before starting.

Open Rig & Animate for an existing GLB, or prepare a new mesh with the 3D character generator. Review the Meshy 7.1 model guide and credit details.

• Existing GLB: keep your current character mesh as the processing input.
• Text: describe one humanoid, its outfit, proportions, and neutral full-body pose.
• Image: use one clear character reference with its head, hands, and feet visible.

Prepare a full-body character for rigging

Use a neutral A-pose or T-pose with visible space between the arms and torso and between the legs. Keep the character upright and avoid a cropped head or feet. A dramatic action pose may look attractive in a still image but can hide the joint regions that automatic rigging needs. Long hair, coats, capes, and held props can merge into the body and bend with the wrong joint.

The saved source GLB has one mesh, no skeleton, and no motion clips. It shows the input to rigging; an animated result must be checked separately.

• Separate the hands from the hips; avoid crossed arms or legs.
• Set the approximate character height in meters when the selected model offers that control.
• Inspect an image-generated mesh from the back and sides before processing it.
• Treat quadrupeds, unusual limb counts, facial expressions, and detailed finger movement as separate rigging requirements.

Select a motion and inspect the full clip

In Rig & Animate, select Rig + Animation and choose one of the presets currently listed. In the new-character preset, keep Rigging and Animation enabled and review the selected motion and height. After the job completes, select a named animation clip in the viewer, play it at normal speed, then slow it to 0.5×. Camera auto rotation only changes your view; it does not show whether the character itself has an animation.

• Watch shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, and ankles as they bend.
• Look for hands passing through clothing, detached accessories, or collapsing joints.
• Check the start and end of a loop for a visible jump.
• Observe whether the character travels through the scene or stays in place; this affects root-motion setup in a game engine.

Download an animated file and check it again

Download the files returned by the completed job. GLB can carry geometry, materials, skinning, and animation together, but a GLB extension alone does not prove that clips or bones are present. Reopen the downloaded file and confirm its clip names, duration, skeleton, and deformation. Use FBX when that completed job actually provides it and your destination needs it. OBJ and STL are static geometry formats and do not preserve a skeletal animation clip.

Use the 3D model viewer to inspect your download and confirm that its animation clips are still present.

• Keep the original animated download before making conversions.
• Confirm that the destination importer supports the file and its animations.
• Check scale, orientation, materials, and clip timing after import.
• Do not expect a static format conversion to add a skeleton or motion.

Prepare animation for Blender or Unity

Inspect the exported character in the app where you will use it. Retargeting means mapping motion from one skeleton to another; it may require matching the rest pose, joint hierarchy, and character scale. In Blender, review the armature, skin weights, and action. In Unity, choose the appropriate rig import type, check the animation clips, and decide how root motion should drive the character. A downloadable animation is a starting asset; foot contact, collisions, looping, and performance still need testing in your scene.

Continue with Blender asset preparation or the Unity import guide.

Fix common character animation problems

Use the failure you can see to decide the next step. If an elbow or knee pinches, inspect topology and skin weights around that joint. If a coat or prop stretches, separate it from the body or adjust its attachment in a 3D editor. If feet slide, check clip speed, scale, and root-motion settings. If there are no clips, confirm that animation was requested and reopen the original animated download before changing the rig.

• Collapsed joint: revise the source pose or edit the mesh and weights.
• Body intersections: simplify overlapping clothing or fix the attachment.
• No animation menu: check the downloaded file, not just its extension.
• Wrong size or direction: correct scale and orientation before retargeting.