A browser-based 3D staging and previz studio
CozyClay lets you block a scene, pose characters, author camera moves and cuts, and preview generated motion — in one local workspace that handles like the Unity Editor. It runs in your browser. No Blender, no Unity, no install.
Free and open source. Built with Three.js and React Three Fiber.
What you can do
Previz is the part of animation where you decide what happens before anyone commits to final assets. CozyClay keeps that whole loop in one page.
Stage a scene
Create primitives and set pieces, then move, rotate, and scale them with a W/E/R gizmo. Grid snapping is a preference, not a law — hold Ctrl during a drag to invert it. A bird's-eye plan view drives 2D root waypoints for character paths.
Edit like Unity
Right-drag flies the camera, WASD walks, Q/E cranes, middle-drag pans, Alt+drag orbits the selection, F frames it. The rule set follows Unity's manual on purpose, so muscle memory carries over.
Undo anything
Every scene mutation goes through a single history store: one interaction — a drag, a scrub, an inspector edit — is exactly one undo entry. Esc cancels an in-flight drag and restores the pre-drag transform.
Generate motion
Pose characters, sequence multi-phase motion as Prompt Blocks on a resizable timeline, send them to NVIDIA ARDY, then play the result back with sparse IK correction where the generated motion needs fixing.
Quick start
The fastest path is the hosted studio. To run it yourself, one command is enough.
npx cozyclayOr clone and run the source:
git clone https://github.com/HaD0Yun/CozyClay.git
cd CozyClay
npm install
npm run dev
Requires Node.js 22 or newer and a Chromium-based browser.
npm run dev starts the studio together with its local ARDY bridge;
npm run dev:ui starts the browser UI alone, without motion generation.
Controls
Unity Editor conventions, with the divergences documented in the repo.
| Input | Action |
|---|---|
| Right-drag | Look around (fly) |
| RMB + WASD | Walk while flying |
| RMB + Q/E | Crane down / up |
| Middle-drag | Pan |
| Alt + drag | Orbit the selection |
| Scroll | Dolly |
| Click | Select; empty space clears |
| W / E / R | Move / rotate / scale tool |
| Ctrl (during drag) | Invert grid snapping |
| Ctrl/Cmd+Z, Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+Z | Undo / redo |
| Esc | Cancel the in-flight drag |
| End | Drop the selection to the surface |
| Ctrl/Cmd+D | Duplicate the selection |
| F | Frame the selection |
FAQ
What is CozyClay?
CozyClay is an open-source 3D staging and previsualization studio that runs in a browser. You block a scene with primitives and set pieces, pose characters, draw root paths, author camera moves and cuts on a timeline, and preview generated motion.
Do I need Blender or Unity?
No. CozyClay runs entirely in a Chromium-based browser using Three.js and React Three Fiber. The camera and gizmo controls deliberately follow Unity Editor conventions, so the handling is familiar, but no desktop DCC install is required.
How does motion generation work?
You sequence multi-phase motion as Prompt Blocks on the timeline and send them to NVIDIA ARDY through a local bridge, then play the result back with sparse IK correction. ARDY is a separate third-party project owned and maintained by NVIDIA; it is not bundled here, and CozyClay is not affiliated with or endorsed by NVIDIA. The hosted studio ships a pre-generated clip so you can scrub the timeline, drive the cameras and draw a dolly rail without a GPU machine.
Is it free and open source?
Yes. The source lives on
GitHub and the studio can be run
locally with npx cozyclay.
Can I run it offline?
Yes. CozyClay is installable as a PWA from the header, and after the first load the installed studio opens offline. You can also clone the repository and run it fully locally.