The Mixamo alternative for animals
Mixamo won't rig a dog, a horse or a bird: it only knows the human body. afk.ai has a skeleton for each kind of animal, with animations made for it. Upload your model, an AI finds the legs, tail and head, and you download a rigged, animated GLB. Free, in your browser.
Why Mixamo can't rig animals
Mixamo's Auto-Rigger bends one skeleton, a person's, to fit your model. You mark the chin, wrists, elbows, knees and groin, and it does the rest. An animal doesn't have those landmarks in the places a person does.
A dog walks on four legs whose back joints bend the opposite way to a knee. A horse has shoulder blades that slide along its ribs. A bird has wings with feather bones, a fish has fins and a tail that does all the swimming, and a snake is one long spine. Even if you force an animal through a humanoid rig, Mixamo's animations are human motion: your dog would walk like a person in a dog costume.
afk.ai fits a skeleton built for that animal instead, and plays animations made for that skeleton: a trot for the horse, a flap for the bird, a side-wind for the snake.
A skeleton for every kind of animal
| Animals | Skeleton | Joints | Animations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dogs, cats, wolves and foxes | Four-legged | 49 | 13: Bark, Bite, Death, Fall, Fetch, Howl, Idle, Idle Alert, Jump, Run, Sit, Sneak, Walk |
| Horses, deer and cows | Hoofed | 56 | 13: Death, Eating, Head Butt, Idle, Kick, Lay to idle, Rear, Run, Sleep, Trot, Turn Left, Turn Right, Walk |
| Birds | Bird | 55 | 4: Flap, Glide, Idle, Walk |
| Fish, sharks and whales | Fish | 33 | 6: Bite, Dead Floating, Hit, Idle, Swim Horizontal, Swim Vertical |
| Snakes and worms | Snake | 28 | 7: Bite, Coiled, Dance, Death, Hit, Idle, Side winding |
| Spiders, insects and crabs | Spider or insect | 56 | 9: Attack, Bite, Death, Death 2, Eating, Hit, Idle, Jump, Walk |
| Dinosaurs | Dinosaur or kaiju | 58 | 9: Attack, Death, Hit, Idle, Roar, Swim, Tail Attack, Walk, Walk RM |
Not strictly an animal, but it rigs dragons too, and people, with 174 human animations.
Mixamo vs afk.ai for animals
| Mixamo | afk.ai | |
|---|---|---|
| Dogs, cats and other four-legged animals | No | Yes, with paws, a jaw, ears and a tail |
| Horses, deer and cows | No | Yes, with shoulder blades and hooves |
| Birds | No | Yes, with feathered wings and a beak |
| Fish and sharks | No | Yes, with fins and a segmented tail |
| Snakes | No | Yes, with a 20-segment body |
| Spiders and insects | No | Yes, with eight legs and fangs |
| Animal animations | None: the library is humanoid | 61 across seven animal skeletons |
| Placing the skeleton | Markers on the chin, wrists, elbows, knees and groin | An AI finds the legs, tail and head |
| Files | FBX or OBJ in; FBX or Collada out | GLB, glTF or FBX in; GLB out |
| Price | Free with an Adobe account | Free with a Google sign-in |
How to rig an animal in afk.ai
- Export your animal as GLB, glTF or FBX. Standing on all fours with the legs apart works best; for a bird or a fish, wings and fins spread out.
- Open afk.ai/rig, sign in with Google and drop it in.
- While the AI works, tell it what the animal is: four-legged for paws, hoofed for horses and deer, bird, fish, snake, spider or insect, or dinosaur.
- Preview every animation on your model, then download the rigged GLB with all of them in it.
Using rigged animals in your game
Animals keep their own skeleton, so there's no humanoid retargeting to set up. In Unity, import the GLB with glTFast (or convert it to FBX in Blender) and use a Generic rig. Unreal 5.1 and later import the GLB directly as a Skeletal Mesh with one Animation Sequence per animation, and Godot gives you an AnimationPlayer with every clip.
Step-by-step import guides for each engine are on the pages for each animal: four-legged animals, birds, fish, snakes, spiders and dinosaurs.
Questions
›Can Mixamo rig a dog, cat or horse?
No. Mixamo's Auto-Rigger only fits a two-legged humanoid skeleton, and its animation library is humanoid too. Four-legged animals, birds, fish and snakes need a different tool.
›Is there a free Mixamo for animals?
afk.ai is free: upload your animal, an AI rigs it in your browser, and you download a GLB with its skeleton, skin weights and animations. You sign in with Google; the site is supported by ads.
›Which animal animations are included?
Each skeleton has its own set. The four-legged one walks, runs, sneaks, sits, howls and fetches; the hoofed one adds trot, rear, kick and eating; birds flap and glide; fish swim and bite; snakes side-wind and coil. 61 animal animations in all.
›Can I rig a horse or dog for Unity?
Yes. Download the GLB and import it with Unity's glTFast package, or convert it to FBX in Blender. Set the rig to Generic, not Humanoid: animal skeletons don't fit Unity's humanoid avatar.
›Does it work for insects with six legs?
afk.ai uses its spider skeleton for spiders, insects and crabs. It has eight legs, so it fits spiders most closely.
›Can I use the animal animations in a commercial game?
Yes. The animations are CC0 (public domain) and your model stays yours.