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GuidesAnimate a character from a video

Animate a character from a video

In this guide, you make a 3D character and animate it with AI Animation. A video shows the motion. An agent rigs the model, then animates the rig to match the video. You start from the template Rig and animate.

Open the template

  1. Click Workflows in the header.
  2. In Templates, click Rig and animate. tabletop copies it into your org and opens it.
    The Templates row of the Workflows page with Rig and animate
    guides/animate-from-video-template

note

On the Free plan, an org can have 2 workflows: your first workflow and this template.

The template has these nodes:

NodesWhat they do
Plain Text and Generate ImageMake a front view of the character.
Generate ModelMakes a 3D model from the front view.
AI Rig ModelAn agent rigs the model to the UE5 Manny skeleton.
Plain Text and Generate VideoMake a video of the motion. The front view is the start frame, so the video shows your character.
AI AnimationAn agent animates the rig to match the video.
RendererMakes a picture of the animated model.
Export ModelWrites an FBX file of the animated model.
The Rig and animate template: the character, the motion video, AI Rig Model, AI Animation and Export Model
guides/animate-from-video-nodes

Describe the character and the motion

  1. Click the top Plain Text node.
  2. Change the text to describe your character. Keep the parts about the T-pose and the front view.
  3. Click the lower Plain Text node.
  4. Describe the motion, such as “The character walks forward in a loop, seen from the side, full body in frame”.

Name the clips

  1. Click AI Animation. The inspector opens.
  2. In Params, open Provider and pick Agent: Claude or Agent: OpenAI.
  3. In Instructions, write the clips to make and their names. For example: “Make one clip named walk, with root motion.”
    The Params of AI Animation with the Provider and the Instructions
    guides/animate-from-video-instructions

Each clip that you name becomes one animation of the model.

Run it

  1. Press ⌘A on Mac or Ctrl+A on Windows or Linux to select all nodes.
  2. Click Run.
  3. AI Rig Model and AI Animation stop for your approval. When a node shows Needs approval, look at its result.
  4. Click Approve to go on, or Re-run to try again.
  5. Wait until Renderer shows a picture of the animated model.

tip

An agent node can take some minutes. You can work in other workflows while it runs.

Use your own video

You can animate the rig from a video that you have, in place of the generated video.

  1. Add a File node and put your video in it.
  2. Link the video output of the File node to the Videos input of AI Animation.
  3. Remove the link from Generate Video.

Use a video that shows the full body and the motion from the side.

Get the file

  • Export Model writes an FBX file. Click Export Model and set Format to change the file type.
  • Each result goes to your library. Click the … button of the tile, then Download.
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