3D Character Animator Needed for Web-Based Chess Game

I'm developing a web-based chess game featuring animated 3D chess characters. I'm looking for a 3D character animator to create a **single reusable walking animation for one existing character** as an initial proof of concept. The walk should have a **sexy, confident, exaggerated runway-style strut**. The overall feel should be playful, cheeky, humorous, and intentionally exaggerated rather than realistic. This first job is for **one character only**. If the proof of concept works well, I expect to have additional work involving the other chess characters. ## What I Need For the initial character, I need you to: * Rig the character if necessary. * Create one looping walk animation. * Create a sexy/sultry/confident walk with an exaggerated strut. * Keep the animation playful and slightly comedic. * Make the walk cycle approximately 2–3 seconds long. * Make the animation loop smoothly. * Animate the character **walking in place**. * Export the finished character and animation as a web-ready GLB/glTF asset. ### IMPORTANT: Walk in Place The character should NOT actually travel forward as part of the animation. In other words, walk animation should move the character's legs, hips, arms, body, etc., but should not change the character's actual X/Z position in the 3D world. The walk animation should remain centered around the character's origin. My JavaScript chessboard will handle moving the character from one chess square to another. In other words: **Animation controls the body movement.** **JavaScript controls the character's position on the chessboard.** This distinction is important. ## Future Characters The complete game will eventually contain the standard chess piece types: * Pawn * Rook * Knight * Bishop * Queen * King There will also be black/white versions and potentially additional character skins. Because of this, I want the animation system to be **reusable whenever practical**. If the characters are humanoid or sufficiently similar, I would prefer a compatible humanoid skeleton/rig that allows animations to be retargeted between characters. I do NOT want to create an entirely new animation from scratch for every character if the same animation can reasonably be reused. ## Technical Requirements The finished character will be used in a browser-based JavaScript/WebGL application. Preferred format: **GLB / glTF** The exported asset should contain: * Character mesh * Skeleton / armature * Skinning * Materials * Textures * Walk animation * Embedded animation clip Please give the animation clip a clear name such as: `SexyWalk` The animation must be accessible as an animation clip after loading the GLB. The character should remain approximately centered at its origin throughout the walk cycle. Please avoid root motion or baked forward movement. ## Web / Game Optimization This is a real-time web game, not a pre-rendered animation. The asset therefore needs to be reasonably optimized for browser delivery and real-time rendering. Please keep: * Polygon count reasonable * Texture sizes reasonable * Bone count reasonable * Animation data reasonably optimized * Materials compatible with glTF * File size appropriate for web delivery Please avoid Blender-specific effects or features that will not export correctly to GLB/glTF. Visual quality is important, but this does not need to be a cinematic-quality asset. ## Required Deliverables The final delivery must include: 1. Final `.glb` file 2. Original editable `.blend` source file 3. Character mesh 4. Complete skeleton/rig 5. Skinning/weights 6. All required textures 7. Materials 8. Looping walk animation 9. Walk animation embedded in the GLB 10. Clearly named animation clip 11. Any external texture files if they are not embedded 12. Full commercial rights to use, modify, distribute, and incorporate the delivered work into the game Please do not provide only a rendered video. I need the actual animated 3D asset. ## Acceptance Test I will consider the project successfully completed when I can: 1. Load the GLB into a JavaScript/WebGL scene. 2. Display the character correctly. 3. Find the walk animation in the GLB animation list. 4. Start the animation programmatically. 5. Stop the animation programmatically. 6. Loop the animation continuously. 7. Move the character independently through JavaScript while the animation is playing. 8. Stop the character on a chess square without the animation changing its world position. 9. Restart the animation when the character moves again. 10. Observe a smooth loop without an obvious jump between the final and first frames. ## Required Skills * 3D Animation * Character Animation * 3D Rigging * Blender * Walk Cycle Animation * GLB / glTF Export * Game-Ready Asset Creation * Real-Time 3D Asset Optimization ## Preferred Skills Experience with any of the following is a plus: * WebGL * Three.js * React Three Fiber * Babylon.js * Animation retargeting * Humanoid rigs * Game character animation * Browser-based 3D games * Optimizing Blender assets for GLB/glTF JavaScript programming is **not required**. I'm primarily looking for someone who understands character animation and can produce a properly structured GLB/glTF asset that my JavaScript application can control. ## Budget **Fixed Price: $150** This is intentionally a small proof-of-concept project. I am willing to consider proposals somewhat above the listed budget for someone with particularly relevant experience. Please don't submit a significantly larger proposal based on animating all of the chess characters. This initial contract is specifically for **one character and one walk cycle**. ## Potential Follow-Up Work If the prototype works well, I would like to continue working with the same animator. Future work may include: * Retargeting the walk to additional chess characters * Pawn * Rook * Knight * Bishop * Queen * King * Black/white character variations * Additional character skins * Idle animations * Capture animations * Check/checkmate reactions * Victory animations * Taunts and other personality animations The goal of this first project is to establish a reliable character + rig + animation + GLB workflow that can then be reused throughout the game. ## When Applying Please include: * Examples of 3D character animation you've created * Examples of walk cycles, if available * Examples of game-ready characters, if available * Your experience with Blender * Your experience with character rigging * Your experience exporting animated characters to GLB/glTF * Any experience with Three.js, WebGL, React Three Fiber, Babylon.js, or browser-based 3D applications * Whether you have experience retargeting animations between characters Please also answer the following: **1. Can you create a walk-in-place animation with no root movement?** **2. Can you deliver both the Blender source file and an animated GLB?** **3. Have you tested your animated GLB exports outside of Blender?** **4. Can the rig/animation potentially be reused or retargeted to other humanoid characters?** **5. For $200, what exactly would you deliver?** Please begin your proposal with the word **CHECKMATE** so I know you've read the complete job description. I'm looking for someone who can help establish a simple, reusable animation pipeline rather than creating a one-off rendered animation.