Massive Library of Free 3D Character Animations

https://player.vimeo.com/video/775513861?h=7e98785aee&autoplay=1&loop=1

Disclaimer:

I did not create the animations/assets used in this. The data used in this project was obtained from mocap.cs.cmu.edu.  The database was created with funding from NSF EIA-0196217. I converted it to .fbx and .glTF from .bvh files I got from cgspeed.com with the use of Blender. I also re-targeted it to an example CC0 model with the use of a Blender add-on, Auto-Rig Pro. The model was made by Quaternius. The animations are free to use/modify/redistribute, so long as you don't just sell them as animations.

I have no affiliation with any of these mentioned parties and just because I'm allowed to use these assets and distribute them, doesn't mean any of them necessarily endorse this use. Having read the terms of use though, I feel like this is something they were intended for.

I also am not the first and probably won't be the last person to convert this library. You might have seen variations around in different formats. One I had was for Unreal, but .uasset files aren't really helpful when the animations need worked on. I found one that was .fbx separated into a bunch of Unity project as well, but the .fbx type can't be imported into blender. So again the files weren't of much use to me because they do need work for a smooth experience and Unity/Unreal/Godot(Really game engines in general) just aren't the tools for editing animations. Or at least for anything beyond a couple of tweaks. These are .fbx and should be able to be thrown into each Unreal/Unity/Godot and Blender as they are, but most probably need polished some.

I also turned off any possible payment methods for this animation set. It's free and only free. If you want to give back, one way I can think of is helping improve them for everyone or maybe contributing more animations. If I have the time and capacity, I'll continue trying to make improvements to them.

*Somewhere between my Blender export settings and Blender not cleaning up all the data between each conversion(I put a lot of effort into trying), the .glTF files were for sure including leftover data with each conversion and slightly growing in size with each converted animation. I'm sure I could overcome this, but Unreal/Unity/Godot all support .fbx and if you can always use Blender to change its format. The included conversion script actually still has the .glTF conversion process included in it, it just needs un-commented out if you'd like to use it.

License:

Blender Scripts and "BlenderGoodies" folder:

Blender is GPL-v3.0 which requires I release the Blender scripts and other Blender related stuff also as GPL-v3.0. A copy of the license is included in the relevant folder, and files are marked accordingly.

Animations:

Free to use/modify/redistribute so long as you don't sell the animations themselves. This does include conversions and modifications. If you redistribute them, you must also make sure it's apparent to anyone that receives them that they follow the same rules and pass them along. If you redistribute them, you probably should credit mocap.cs.cmu.edu.  Though they do say:

How can I use this data?

The motion capture data may be copied, modified, or redistributed without permission

Source: http://mocap.cs.cmu.edu/faqs.php

And the other relevant section:

You may include this data in commercially-sold products,
but you may not resell this data directly, even in converted form.

Source: http://mocap.cs.cmu.edu/

Included:

• Over 2,000 animations.
• Blender file with meta/control rig for easy animation editing.
• Index of animation contents(also from cgspeed.com).
• The script I wrote to mass convert and re-target animations. The re-targeting part requires Auto-Rig Pro.

*Note:

The "Anims_Only" packs are just the animations and have no example model. If imported into Blender, they'll show up as bones. Unless you change some settings, they will not appear in renders. In game engines, they may show up in certain modes, but usually rigs/armatures are only displayed in select modes in engines. Most people are probably going to re-target the animations anyway, and this provides a smaller file-size. I currently plan to keep a "main" pack with an example model for the animations for people that might find it useful. You might notice the Anims_Only packs have a few more bones than the main pack with the model. I don't believe these bones actually get used in the animations.

Caveats:

• Animations can be a little rough and jittery in places. The source, mocap.cs.cmu.edu, recommends trying the higher numbered animations in a set first because they were recorded later and have better quality.
• Motion is not in-place
• No finger animations

Integrating:

For most use cases, these animations will require at least a little bit of tweaking/work. Hopefully one day they'll just be plug and play for most uses. While you can use them for general animation, or whatever you want, I did convert/modify them for use as characters in video games. They do have root motion though, which isn't usually ideal for video games. There's some tips below on how to deal with that.

Included in the download is a blender file with a meta/control rig for the skeleton the animations are on. This should make it easy(er) to alter the animations as needed.

I did the animation re-targeting with that Blender add-on I keep mentioning, Auto-Rig pro, but I know both Unreal and Godot 4 support re-targeting in engine.

One thing I actually did make, is the included Blender script to convert everything. I love Blender dearly, but I did not enjoy making this script and don't like Blender's scripting a whole lot. Use case would be if you wanted to try to convert the animations yourself.

Quick tips if you want to use them for game characters:

• A quick way to basically get rid of the root motion of the character, is to just delete the location values of the root/hip bone. You'll probably want to leave the rotation values alone. This is not a perfect solution, and will be especially noticeable as such for animations like crouching or any other time the player's hips would normally be animated vertically.
• If you intend to use the character rig included, you can install the attached Blender plugin for a few more tools/settings. For more options/tools, Auto-Rig Pro is a pretty cool Blender add-on. It normally runs for a single $40(ish) purchase. The plugin is actually a small component from Auto-Rig Pro that you're allowed to distribute with armatures made from it.

Awesome Resources:

Free:

• Game Rig Tools is Pay-What-You-Want(yes that can be free, but it's a useful enough tool that they could get away with charging for it). This add-on can fix a lot of issues you might run into when exporting blender animations/rigs into a game engine. I actually haven't used it in awhile, but this helped me a lot when I was working in UE4.
  • https://toshicg.gumroad.com/l/game_rig_tools
  • https://cgdive.itch.io/game-rig-tools
    
• MakeHuman for Blender Generate free 3D characters. (If you're unfamiliar with GitHub, here's the download section)

• Blender's built-in add-on Rigify.

Paid:

• Auto-Rig Pro is pretty neat, but does cost a one time payment.

Future:

If I find the time, I'll try to make improvements where I can to the animations. I'll see about making re-targeting files for Unreal/Unity/Godot. Other things I might be able to do are things like stabilizing the animations and fixing origins. If anyone would like to help improve what I've done, you're more than welcome to message me. You're also welcome to polish them and then make a competing variation(so long as they're also free). If you notice something that could be improved across all the animations, feel free to speak up and I'll see if I can write a script or something to fix it. There are so many animations, I don't think I'm going to worry about fixing too many individual ones. Maybe I'll try to make a pack of the most useful ones and try to polish them up.

Acknowledgements:

*Below each source is their policy on usage rights. Please note that anything with quote formatting is from the source and not myself.

• Original source of animations:

  http://mocap.cs.cmu.edu:
  

  "How can I use this data? The motion capture data may be copied, modified, or redistributed without permission."

• Source I got the animations from:

  https://sites.google.com/a/cgspeed.com/cgspeed/manifesto

  "CMU places no restrictions on the use of the original dataset, and I(Bruce) place no additional restrictions on the use of this particular conversion. Here's the relevant paragraph from mocap.cs.cmu.edu:

  Use this data! This data is free for use in research and commercial projects worldwide. If you publish results obtained using this data, we would appreciate it if you would send the citation to your published paper to jkh+mocap@cs.cmu.edu, and also would add this text to your acknowledgments section: "The data used in this project was obtained from mocap.cs.cmu.edu. The database was created with funding from NSF EIA-0196217.""

• CC0 Character models by Quaternius:

  https://quaternius.com/packs/ultimatemodularcharacters.html

https://quaternius.com/packs/ultimatemodularwomen.html