How to Create an Animated Film Using 3D + AI (Real Workflow Breakdown)
Most people think AI just means 'text-to-video'. For 3D artists, the real power comes from combining AI tools into a manual pipeline. Here's my exact process using Tripo, Mixamo, Cascadeur, and Blender.
Tools covered: Tripo AI (3D generation), Mixamo (auto-rigging), Cascadeur (physics-based animation), and Blender (final assembly).
Before opening Blender, I generate concept art to establish the mood. I also use Gemini or ChatGPT to help refine the prompt for the 3D generator, ensuring I get a "T-pose" character with a clean background.
Step 1: I used a text-to-image generator to lock in the visual style. This serves as the blueprint for modeling.
Pro tip: Always include "T-pose" or "A-pose" in your prompt if you plan to rig the character. This makes the auto-rigging process much smoother.
2Generating the 3D Asset
For the character model, I used Tripo AI. The key here is not to expect a final movie-ready asset immediately, but to get a solid base mesh that I can refine.
Generating the base mesh. I used the 'T-pose' keyword to ensure it is rig-ready.
The result: A clean 3D character model ready for export.
Rigging is tedious. To speed this up, I exported the model as an FBX and uploaded it to Mixamo. Instead of manually weight-painting every bone, Mixamo's AI auto-rigger does 90% of the work.
Placing the standard markers (chin, wrists, knees) allows Mixamo to calculate the skeleton automatically.
The auto-rigging process takes about 2 minutes.
Time saved: Manual rigging typically takes 2-4 hours for a character. Mixamo does it in under 5 minutes.
4Advanced Animation with Cascadeur
For basic movement, Mixamo animations work fine. But for a film, you need custom acting. I brought the rigged character into Cascadeur, which uses AI-assisted physics to ensure the movement has weight and momentum.
Importing the rig into Cascadeur. The AI analyzes the center of mass automatically.
I used Cascadeur's "Auto-Physics" tool. Notice the green trajectory line in the screenshot below — this visualizes the center of mass. The AI corrects my manual keyframes so the character doesn't look like it's floating.
Using Auto-Physics to smooth out the motion curves and add realistic gravity.
Why Cascadeur? Unlike traditional keyframe animation, Cascadeur understands physics. It automatically balances your character, adds secondary motion, and prevents "floaty" movement that kills animation realism.
5Final Assembly in Blender
Finally, I exported the baked animation back to Blender for the final shot. This is where I set up the lighting and materials to match the original concept art.
The final assembly in Blender. The AI pipeline saved roughly 15 hours of modeling and rigging time.
Concept, generation, auto-rigging, physics animation, final assembly
This workflow isn't about replacing artists — it's about accelerating iteration. I can now try 10 different character designs in the time it used to take to model one.
The key insight: AI tools work best when you chain them together for specific tasks, not when you expect one tool to do everything. Each tool in this pipeline excels at exactly one thing.
Want to compare these tools yourself? Check out our 3D AI Arena.
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