# Animation

<span class="label label-doc-audience">Designer</span>
<span class="label label-doc-audience">Programmer</span>

3D models are animated by adding three kinds of asset: 

* a skeleton
* a skinned model
* an animation clip

>[!Note]
>For information about 2D animation, see [Sprites](../sprites/index.md).

## Skeletons

**Skeletons** are digital structures that describe deformation patterns of 3D models. Skeletons are made of bones that form a hierarchy. When parent bones change their position, they also affect the positions of child bones. For example, a hand bone might have five child bones (the fingers and thumb); when the hand moves up and down, the fingers and thumb move with it.

Skeletons don't have to resemble the skeletons of real humans or animals. You can make skeletons to animate any 3D model.

>[!NOTE]
>There's currently no way to visualize skeletons in Game Studio.

## Skinned models

**Skinning** is the process of assigning weights to vertices and bones they depend on. Each vertex usually depends on one to four bones.

**Skinned models** are models that have been skinned to match a skeleton. The **skin** describes how vertices of the mesh transform when bones move. 

>[!NOTE]
>In Game Studio, you can only create simple 3D models such as spheres and cubes. For information about how to do this, see [Create assets](../game-studio/create-assets.md). To create more complex models, use dedicated software like 3DS Max, Maya, or Blender, then [import the model into Game Studio](import-animations.md).

## Animation clips

**Animation clips** describe the pose of a **skeleton** at a particular moment. The skeleton moves according to the animation. The mesh vertices transform (skin) to match the current pose.

## Animation samples

For an example of how animations work in Stride, load the **Sample: animation** sample project.

![Animations](media/animations-index1.png)

The templates **First-person shooter**, **Third-person platformer** and **Top-down RPG** also include some advanced animation techniques.

## In this section

* [Import animations](import-animations.md)
* [Animation properties](animation-properties.md)
* [Set up animations](set-up-animations.md)
* [Preview animations](preview-animations.md)
* [Animation scripts](animation-scripts.md)
* [Additive animation](additive-animation.md)
* [Procedural animation](procedural-animation.md)
* [Custom blend trees](custom-blend-trees.md)
* [Model node links](model-node-links.md)
* [custom attributes](custom-attributes.md)