# 3D Characters Rigged to Their Own Body Plan

> Describe a character and get it back rigged. Layer builds the model, reads its body plan, and binds a skeleton that carries the gear, so you can animate.

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## Messages to send, and what they made

### “Make a 3D goblin warrior for my game, then rig it so it's ready to animate.”

- [The model](/assets/664c8d75.mp4)
- [The rig, skeleton shown](/assets/9b84b064.mp4)

A 24-bone skeleton for a two-legged body runs through the whole goblin, and it carries the shield and armor with it, so nothing is left floating when the character moves.

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A character model cannot walk or swing a weapon until someone fits a skeleton inside it and binds the mesh to the bones. That is careful work, and it comes back for every character on the roster.

Write one sentence: the character, and that you want it rigged. Layer builds the model in a pose that rigs cleanly, looks at the body before it picks a skeleton, and binds the mesh to the bones. The joints are placed and bound before you open the file.

## The Body Decides the Skeleton

A skeleton is built for a body plan. Two legs and four legs need different bones, and the wrong one bends the mesh in places it has no joints. Layer checks the body on the model before it rigs, so the goblin gets a skeleton for a two-legged body with a shield arm, fitted to its own proportions.

## What Comes Back With the Rig

**Gear bound to the bones**
The shield and armor move with the skeleton instead of floating beside it.

**Your own models**
Attach a mesh you already have and ask for the skeleton.

**A stand-in you can test with**
Drop a rigged character into your build early and check the camera, the collision and the animation set against it before final art exists.

## Into Your Animation Tool

Download the rigged GLB for Unity, Unreal, Godot or Blender, with the skeleton intact. See [rigging and animation](/features/rigging-and-animation) for the models behind it.

To build the character from your own design, see [3D models from four views](/use-cases/four-view-3d-models).

## Frequently Asked Questions

### What does rigging give me?

A skeleton inside the model, bound to its surface, so you can pose and animate it in your engine or animation tool. Without a rig, a character is a statue.

### Do I need a model first?

No. Ask for the character and the rig together, as above, or attach a model you already have and ask for the rig.

### Does it rig creatures that are not humanoid?

The rig follows the body. Layer looks at the model before rigging and checks its body plan, because a skeleton built for two legs cannot drive four. The goblin on this page is a two-legged humanoid, which is the case Layer handles most reliably; for unusual bodies, check the joint placement before you animate.

### What pose should the character be in?

A neutral pose with the arms clear of the body. An action pose bakes into the mesh and rigs badly, and long capes, ribbons and thin straps tend to fuse or come back as webbing. When you ask for a new character, Layer builds it in a clean pose for rigging.

### What format are the files?

A rigged GLB, with the skeleton intact, which Unreal, Godot and Blender open directly, and Unity reads through its glTFast package.

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Create a free Layer account and describe the character you want to animate.

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[View original](https://layer.ai/use-cases/rig-3d-models) | [All Use Cases](https://layer.ai/use-cases)