Take a character from concept to a rigged 3D model

Last updated: October 12, 2026

Take one approved character concept through a turnaround, a 3D mesh and a rig with an animation on it, and download a model your engine can play. This is the path for a hero, an NPC or an enemy that has to move in a 3D game, with a note at the end for 2D games rigged in Spine.

What you'll make

One textured character mesh in a rest pose, rigged with a skeleton and playing one preset animation (an idle, a walk, an attack or a spell cast), delivered as a GLB, or as FBX where the model offers it. Along the way you get a turnaround view to check the design from more than the front.

Run the rig again with another preset for each further clip the character needs: one run per animation.

Before you start

  • An approved concept of the character as a single full-body image: front view, plain background, even light, the whole figure in frame. Empty hands, fitted clothes and limbs apart give the rig the least to get wrong; a held prop is skinned to the skeleton and bends with it.
  • A session to work in. Each stage runs on the same board, so the source and every result stay side by side.
  • Every run costs Creative Units, and 3D runs cost more than images. The cost shows on each button before you click; see Creative Units for how it is charged.

Lock the character

Before you spend a 3D run, check the design holds from another angle. Change camera angle redraws the same character from a new viewpoint; Change an image's camera angle covers the tool in detail.

  1. Bring the approved concept onto the board.

  2. Click View on it to open it full-size, then choose Change camera angle from the tools beside it.

  3. Pick a camera preset such as 3/4 right, or set Rotate and Vertical yourself, then click Change angle.

  4. The new view joins the concept in the strip down the left of the viewer. Compare the two: costume, proportions and the silhouette from the side. Run another angle for the back if the design hides anything there.

If the turnaround shows the design does not work in the round, fix the concept with Edit an image with a prompt before going further. A change is cheap here and expensive after the mesh exists.

Build the mesh

Build from the front view, not the turnaround: a straight-on, evenly lit image gives the cleanest geometry. Prompt Meshy for image-to-3D explains what makes a good source.

  1. In the strip, select the front view again, then click Turn into 3D model. The side panel opens Create mesh with the image already attached.

  2. Click the model name and choose a model that offers a rest pose, such as Meshy V7.1. Open Advanced and set Pose to A-pose, so the arms are clear of the body for the rig. Turn on PBR materials if the model offers it, so the surface reacts to your engine's lights.

  3. Click Create 3D model. The mesh lands on the board when the run finishes; click View and turn it in the viewer to check it from every side.

Rig and animate it

Animate mesh fits a skeleton to the character and plays a preset motion on it in one run. Prompt Meshy for rigging and animation covers which meshes rig cleanly. To add a skeleton with no motion, use Rig mesh instead. Meshy models can also rig while they build: turn on Rigging in Create mesh.

  1. Open the mesh and choose Animate mesh. Click the model name and choose Meshy Rigging.

  2. Pick the motion. In the Animate mesh form in the side panel, put the mesh in Source mesh, click Add animation and choose a preset such as Cast Spell. Without a preset, the run adds the skeleton only.

  3. Click Animate. The cost shows on the button before you click.

  4. When the run finishes, the rigged character plays the preset in the viewer and joins the mesh's strip. Watch the joints: elbows, knees, shoulders and anything that hangs from the body.

Hand it off

Click Download under Export in the viewer for the file as Layer stores it (a GLB for these models), or Download as... to pick a format. In Download as..., FBX keeps the rig and the animation; OBJ with textures and OBJ keep only the geometry and its maps, with no rig. FBX is offered when the model's provider can convert to it, and the conversion costs Creative Units, shown on the Download button. When the rigging run delivered an FBX of its own, Download FBX appears under Export and saves that file directly.

Unity

Unity imports FBX directly: drop the file into your project and set the rig to Humanoid in the import settings if you want to retarget Unity animations onto it. For GLB, add Unity's glTFast package first.

Unreal Engine

Import the FBX as a skeletal mesh; the preset comes in as an animation sequence on the same skeleton. Unreal also imports GLB.

Godot

Godot imports GLB natively. Drop the file into the project; the animation appears in the scene's AnimationPlayer.

Scale it up

  • Hold the look across the cast. Train a reference set on the approved concepts so every new character comes out in the same style before it reaches 3D. See Reference sets and Create a reference set.
  • One rig, many clips. Run Animate mesh on the same mesh once per preset (idle, walk, run, attack, hit, death) to build a character's move set.
  • Batch it. Save the image-to-mesh-to-rig chain as a workflow so each new concept goes through the same models and settings. See Build and publish a workflow.
  • Review before hand-off. Turn each result in the viewer before it leaves Layer, and keep the approved files in a project so the team picks up the right version. See Organize work into projects.

For a 2D game rigged in Spine

A 2D skeletal rig needs the character as separate parts, not a mesh. Generate the character in a neutral, limbs-apart pose, then either run Split an image into layers to separate it, or start from the Create Spine Components template, which lays the character out as a parts sheet with each limb drawn whole. Cutting the parts out and building the skeleton happen in Spine itself; Layer opens the Spine export you bring back so the team can review the animation (see Supported file types).

If something goes wrong

  • The rig stretches a cape, a skirt or a held staff. There is no cloth simulation, and anything the character holds is bound to the skeleton. Rebuild from a concept with fitted clothes and empty hands, generate the prop as its own mesh, and attach it to the hand bone in your engine.
  • Animate mesh refuses the mesh or the rig fails. The rigger needs a textured, forward-facing humanoid standing on the ground. Rebuild the mesh with textures on and Pose set to A-pose.
  • The mesh loses detail the concept had. Shadows and busy backgrounds read as geometry. Regenerate the source on a plain background with even light, then build again.
  • FBX is not offered in Download as. The model's provider does not convert this file. Download the GLB and convert it in Blender, or import the GLB directly where your engine supports it.

For a run that fails or stays stuck, see Fix a failed or stuck generation.

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