Dragon cinematic animation frame by Hexar Studios

Game animation services and outsourcing

Character locomotion, combat sets, creature performance and cinematic sequences that read clearly in gameplay and hold up under a cinematic camera.

  • NDA before any files are shared
  • Engine-tested before delivery
  • Two revision rounds per milestone

A game animation studio built around real gameplay

Animation is where a character becomes a person and a creature becomes a threat. It is also where outsourced work most often fails: motion made without gameplay context looks fine in a reel and feels wrong in the engine. Good game animation serves the mechanic first and the camera second.

Hexar Studios supports teams from first motion tests to final in-engine polish, across realistic AAA, stylized console, mobile and cinematic pipelines. A full traversal set, a boss fight or a cutscene block, we scale to your schedule without losing the intent behind the motion.

Dragon cinematic animation frame by Hexar Studios
Giant Creature – game art by Hexar Studios

Keyframe animation reel 2026

Gameplay cycles, combat and creature performance, hand-keyed by our animation team. Press play to load the reel.

Cinematic animation sample

A short dragon cinematic from our animation team. Press play to load the video.

Characters and creatures we animate

Many of our animation projects start with characters and creatures our own artists built.

What our game animators deliver

We adapt to your rig, your engine and your gameplay feel.

Narsimha – creatures art by Hexar Studios

Character locomotion sets

Idle, walk, run, sprint, jump, crouch and turn-in-place, tuned to your movement values and ready for your locomotion tree.

Toad – creatures art by Hexar Studios

Combat and weapon animation

Melee combos, ranged sets, reloads, blocks, dodges and hit reactions timed to real gameplay values.

Zombie Head – creatures art by Hexar Studios

Creature and monster performance

Custom locomotion for quadrupeds, winged and non-humanoid creatures that carries weight, threat and personality.

Marshal Mort – creatures art by Hexar Studios

Cinematic and cutscene animation

Story beats, in-engine cinematics and pre-rendered sequences, with body, face and camera coordinated across the scene.

Rat Captain – creatures art by Hexar Studios

Facial animation and lip sync

FACS-based facial performance, ARKit-compatible blendshapes and dialogue lip sync for heroes and NPCs.

Toad – creatures art by Hexar Studios

Mobile and casual animation

Lightweight loops and short reactive sets optimized for mobile frame budgets and small screens.

Mongol – character art by Hexar Studios

Need animation for characters, creatures or cinematics?

Send the brief today. You get a written scope, timeline and fixed quote within one business day, under NDA.

Our game animation pipeline

The feel is approved in short motion tests before hours go into full production.

Brief and reference lock

Character personality, gameplay function, engine, movement values and any animation bible are agreed, with reference boards approved before keyframing.

Rig review and motion tests

We review your rig, flag constraints and animate short blockout tests of the most important motion. You approve the feel first.

Blockout pass

Full clips in blockout, focused on timing, poses and gameplay intent. This is the cheapest place to change direction.

Spline and polish

Weight, arcs, overlap and secondary motion, reviewed at spline and again at final polish.

Facial and secondary systems

Facial work, cloth and secondary rigs animated as separate layers your engine team can toggle independently.

Engine test and delivery

Final QA in Unreal or Unity. Clips named to your convention, timing checked against gameplay values and delivered.

Deliverables and technical specs

Every asset ships with a clear technical spec. Nothing left ambiguous after handoff.

File formats

FBX with baked keyframes, plus Maya or Blender source files.

Frame rates

24, 30 or 60 fps, matched to your engine target.

Rig support

Your rig, ours on request, or MetaHuman and Mixamo-compatible.

Motion capture

Cleanup and retargeting from your mocap data.

Root motion

Baked or extracted, per your locomotion setup.

Metadata

Trigger frames, event markers and timing notes included.

Review playblasts

Delivered at every review milestone.

Engine testing

Verified in Unreal Engine or Unity before delivery.

Revisions

Two rounds per milestone, transparent scope beyond that.

Maya

Blender

MetaHuman

Mixamo

ARKit blendshapes

Unreal Engine 5

Unity

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Game animation questions, answered

Still weighing it up? A 20-minute call with a lead artist usually answers the rest, and we can review your references together.

Do you animate on our rig or build your own?

Either. We prefer your rig so clips import with no retargeting. We flag rig limitations during motion tests. If you have no rig yet, we can build one to spec or use MetaHuman and Mixamo standard rigs.

Do you do mocap cleanup and retargeting, or only keyframe?

Both. We clean raw mocap, retarget it to your rig, layer keyframe polish on top and deliver engine-ready clips. Pure keyframe for stylized or exaggerated performance is fully supported.

What frame rate do you deliver?

Whatever your engine runs at: commonly 30 fps for mobile and 60 fps for console and PC, or 24 fps for pre-rendered cinematics. The frame rate is confirmed in writing at brief stage.

How do you handle facial animation and lip sync?

FACS-based blendshape systems by default, with ARKit-compatible naming for AR and mobile capture. Lip sync is keyed by hand or driven by phoneme extraction, depending on dialogue volume.

How long does an animation set take?

A basic locomotion set of eight to ten clips takes two to three weeks. A full combat set with combos and reactions takes four to six weeks. A 30-second cinematic with face and camera work takes three to five weeks.

Can you work directly with our tech animation team?

Yes, and we recommend it. We share blockout files early, coordinate through production and support iteration when your locomotion tree reveals timing needs the brief could not predict.

What producers say about working with us

Characters arrived optimized for our pipeline, and every milestone landed on time.

Placeholder testimonialArt Director, PC and console studio

Realistic 3D character by Hexar Studios

The assets dropped into Unreal Engine with almost no fixes on our side.

Placeholder testimonialLead 3D Artist, indie studio

Creature model by Hexar Studios

Consistent quality across a large batch, and they understood our technical limits.

Placeholder testimonialOutsourcing Producer, live-service game

Wyvern creature by Hexar Studios

Ready to bring your characters to motion?

Share your brief and get a written scope, timeline and quote within one business day.