clayground
Plan a tiny loop
Start with a two- or three-pose idea: a bounce, a blink or a wave. Short loops finish, and finished animations teach you more than ambitious ones you abandon.
Capture your first pose
Sculpt your character in its rest pose, then add a frame on the animation timeline. This captures the current shape. Change the model for the next pose (stretch it, squash it, tilt the head) and add another frame.
Use holds for timing
Holds keep a pose on screen for longer. Long holds on strong poses and short frames for fast movement give motion its rhythm. Squash a character before a jump and stretch it in the air for a classic bouncy feel.
Check with onion skins
Onion skins show the previous pose faintly, so you can see how far each change goes. Keep changes small and consistent between frames for smooth motion.
Play and export
Play the loop, adjust any frame that jumps, then export. The current animation exporter produces a stop-motion GLB for the active layer, which you can open in Blender or a viewer that supports GLB animation.