5-Star Films Tools

5-Star Anim Lab

A standalone Windows app for GTA V modders, FiveM creators and machinima animators. Import, pose, keyframe, edit and export game-ready character animations in the native .ycd format.

Download on Gumroad What it does
  • Windows
  • $5
  • 4.8 from 5 ratings
  • Exports game-ready .ycd
5-Star Anim Lab icon

  • Built for GTA

    Import .ycd and .xml with drag and drop.

  • Edit and animate

    Pose, keyframe, IK and curves, without Blender.

  • Preview in real time

    Watch animations play on the bundled characters.

  • Export game-ready

    Output .ycd files ready to use in GTA V.

Anim Lab in edit mode: rig control shapes drawn over the character, the Right Hand IK control selected, the dope sheet along the bottom and the Editor panel with its body map and finger controls.

Inside the app

A faster way to animate

Everything you need to go from a .ycd file to a finished animation, in one tool built for the GTA animation workflow.

  • Preview and pose

    Load animations, pose characters and work with FK or IK controls in real time.

  • Edit keyframes

    Auto-key, copy, paste, box-select and smooth curves in the graph editor.

  • Timeline and audio

    Edit motion on a clean timeline and sync it to an imported audio track.

  • Stage a scene

    Use the bundled characters or sync dummies, with up to seven rigs in a scene.

Features

A GTA animation workflow, end to end

Everything from dropping in a .ycd to exporting one the game will load, in a tool built for that job rather than adapted to it.

  • 01 Import fast

    Built-in .ycd and .xml support plus drag-and-drop, so GTA animations come in without a conversion step.

  • 02 Preview in real time

    Bundled GTA-skeleton MP Male and MP Female characters let you watch the animation as it really plays.

  • 03 Start from a preset

    Included idle, walk, run and sprint animations give you something to work from straight away.

  • 04 Pose like Blender, without Blender

    Click-select bones, G to move, R to rotate, axis locks, I to keyframe.

  • 05 FK and IK

    Animate either way, with pole targets, hand and foot pinning, plus root and pelvis control.

  • 06 Edit keyframes smoothly

    Auto-key, copy, cut, paste, box-select, undo and redo.

  • 07 Switch IK and FK cleanly

    Bake the motion across the switch so the animation is preserved.

  • 08 Timeline, curves and audio

    A timeline editor, a graph and curve editor, and an audio timeline for syncing to sound.

  • 09 Light it cinematically

    15 lighting presets including Studio, Daylight, Golden Hour, Night and Neon.

  • 10 Customize the rig

    Finger pose presets and rig customization tools for the details that sell a shot.

  • 11 Retarget mocap

    Drop in a Mixamo or ActorCore FBX and retarget it onto the GTA skeleton, rest pose and bone mapping detected for you.

  • 12 Stage a whole scene

    Up to seven rigs at once, any of them swappable to a Sync Dummy, each placed and rotated independently.

  • 13 Export straight to GTA V

    Game-ready .ycd output, no round trip through another program.

  • 14 Stay organized

    Autosave, recent projects, and double-click to open a project file.

Screenshots

More from real sessions

Staging a scene with sync dummies, retargeting mocap, shaping curves, syncing audio, lighting the shot and exporting the dictionary.

Four characters staged side by side in daylight - Justin, Rachel and two Sync Dummies - each with a green selection orb above it, and the Rigs panel listing every rig with its own model and placement fields.
Rigs and sync dummies. Add up to seven characters, swap any of them to a Sync Dummy, and place each with X, Z, lift and rotation.
Rachel holding a pose from a retargeted ActorCore mocap clip, beside the Retargeter panel with Mixamo and ActorCore source buttons, a result line reading 59 bones and 148 frames, and the bone mapping list below it.
Retargeter. Drop in a Mixamo or ActorCore FBX and it detects the rig, the rest pose and the bone mapping.
A side-on, backlit view of Justin with the selected left thigh control highlighted, and the graph editor docked below showing rotation F-curves with keyframes along each curve.
Graph editor. Every channel as a curve. Drag points, reshape the bezier handles, and use Spread to pull overlapping curves apart.
Justin mid-stride under warm sunset light, with the audio timeline docked below the viewport showing an imported waveform, an Import Audio button, a volume slider and in and out trim controls.
Audio timeline. Import a track, drag it to the frame it should hit, trim it, and animate against the waveform.
One sprint pose rendered four times under different lighting presets: Dramatic, Golden Hour, Neon and Underwater.
Lighting. Four of the 15 presets on the same pose. Switching is one dropdown and the viewport re-lights immediately.
A moonlit view from behind Justin mid-stride, with the Export panel open: a clip name field, Add Clip to Dictionary, a dictionary name field and an Export Dictionary (.ycd) button.
Export. Name a clip, add it to the dictionary, repeat, then export the whole thing as one game-ready .ycd.

Reviews

What people say

4.8 From 5 ratings on Gumroad: 80% five-star, 20% four-star.
"One of the best tools ever made. Simplifies viewing/editing and creating custom animations for GTA tremendously!"
Anonymous Gumroad review
"It's the most complete, simple and intuitive tool i have ever seen, the 5 Star Anim Lab makes animating for Movies in GTA V 1000x easier and fun to work on, just on my first 10 minutes of using, i was able to import a FULL animation to GTA. This tool beats Blender, Sollumz and various other programs, because you dont need to convert a Prop or Ped to XML to import into the Anim Lab, you just drag and drop it!"
Anonymous Gumroad review
"best mod ever"
Anonymous Gumroad review
"Awesome tool!"
Anonymous Gumroad review

On Gumroad

Animate like there is no tomorrow

5-Star Anim Lab is $5 on Gumroad. The download, the presets and any updates all come from there.

Download on Gumroad
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