Nodaro DocsAnimal/Creature Asset
Build a reusable animal or mythical creature in the Creature Studio, with poses, variations, motion clips and a voice, and keep it the same in every shot.
The Animal/Creature Asset node holds a reusable animal or creature: a pet, a wild animal, or a mythical or hybrid being. It keeps an approved main image, a written description, angle, pose and variation images, motion clips and a voice. You build it in the full-screen Creature Studio, or choose one you already have. Wire it into Generate Image or Generate Video, and the same creature appears in every shot.
When to use it
- A recurring animal or creature appears in several scenes of a story.
- You need consistent angle and pose references of a creature for animation.
- You want a library of animals and creatures to reuse across workflows.
- You want short motion clips of a creature, such as a walk cycle or a roar.
Quick start
Add the node
Press Tab on the canvas and choose Assets › Creatures › Animal/Creature Asset. To reuse a creature you already have, click Choose existing on the node instead, and skip to the last step.
Set the species
In the settings panel, type the Species / Type, for example arctic fox with a thick winter coat or griffin. Then click Open Creature Studio.
Generate and approve the main image
On the Appearance page, add a description, choose the style, and generate the main image. Approve the one you want to keep.
Add variants
Generate angles, poses, variations and motion clips on the pages in the sidebar. With Style Lock on, each one starts from the approved main image.
Use the creature
Close the studio. Connect the node's Animal/Creature output to the Assets input of Generate Image or Generate Video.
Creature settings
You set these in the node's settings panel and on the Appearance page of the Creature Studio.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Name | The creature's name. It is also the name you mention in prompts. |
| Species / Type | The kind of animal or creature, in free text, such as red fox, griffin or dragon. Suggestions come from the 126-entry Animal catalog, but any text is accepted. |
| Description | A detailed description of the creature's appearance and features. |
| Category | A free-text group, such as cats, dogs, wild, birds, sea or mythical. |
| Style | realistic (default), anime, 3d-pixar or illustration. |
| Reference Image | An optional picture that guides the creature's look, for example an existing design. |
| Style Lock | On by default. See Style Lock. |
Inputs and outputs
| Input | Accepts | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Prompt | Text nodes and pickers | Extra context when the node generates its main image. |
| Creature type | The Animal picker, and the Vehicle, Furniture, Weapon, Material and Held Prop pickers | The picker's choice is added to the prompt when the creature generates. |
| Output | Carries | Connect it to |
|---|---|---|
| Animal/Creature | The creature's identity: the main image and the canonical description | The Assets input of Generate Image, Generate Video and other nodes that accept creatures |
| Image | The main image as a plain picture, with no description | Any image input, such as References or Start Frame |
Style Lock
Style Lock is on by default. With it on, every variant is made from the approved main image and its canonical description, so the species and the form stay the same. With it off, each variant can reinterpret the creature more freely. Style Lock trades a little creative variety for much stronger consistency.
When you approve the main image, Nodaro writes a detailed canonical description of the creature. With Style Lock on, it anchors every later generation.
The Creature Studio
The Creature Studio is a full-screen editor with a sidebar of pages:
| Group | Pages |
|---|---|
| Resources | References |
| Identity | Appearance |
| Composition | Angles, Poses |
| Variants | Variations |
| Motion | Motion |
| Character | Voice |
| Sheet | Board |
Each image page shows the images made so far, a row of preset chips, and a field for your own prompt, so you can go beyond the presets.
| Page | Presets |
|---|---|
| Angles | front, side, top, back, three-quarter, detail, in-context, low-angle, high-angle |
| Poses | standing, sitting, lying-down, walking, running, jumping, alert, playful, aggressive |
| Variations | juvenile, adult, elder, albino, melanistic, battle-scarred, majestic, fluffy, sleek |
Motion
The Motion page animates the creature into short clips. The presets are idle-breathing, walk-cycle, run-cycle, head-turn, tail-wag, pounce, stretch, roar and fly-loop.
The clips run on Kling 2.5 Turbo Pro (default), Kling 2.6, Kling 3.0, Hailuo 02 I2V Pro, Hailuo 2.3 Standard, Wan 2.6 I2V, Seedance 1.5 Pro and Bytedance Lite I2V. The frame is square 1:1 by default, and you can choose another ratio on the page.
Voice
The Voice page gives the creature a voice for talking animals: browse the voice library or design a voice from a description, and use the Talk panel to hear the creature say a line.
References and Board
The References page holds reference photos that guide the creature's look. The Board page combines several of the creature's images into one board image.
Use the creature in a prompt
Wire the creature into the Assets input of an image or video node. A wired creature that you do not mention adds its phrase, such as the creature from reference image A, at the end of the prompt.
To place the creature inside your sentence, mention it by name: @nessie:1. Add a role to take one aspect: creature (default), anatomy, markings, pose, color or style, for example @nessie:1:markings. Add ~lock to make the model match the creature exactly. Creature mentions have no autocomplete, so type them in full. Read Reference roles for the full grammar.
Choose an existing creature
Click Choose existing on the node, or Choose from library or gallery in the settings panel. The picker has two tabs:
- My Library: the creatures you saved.
- Public Gallery: creatures shared with everyone. Choosing one copies it into your library first, and the node uses your copy. The Public Gallery is available on Nodaro Cloud and the Business edition.
Once the node has a creature, the buttons read Replace. The node takes the whole creature, with its main image and every variant and clip. If you pick a gallery creature you copied before, the picker asks whether to use your copy or Make a new copy. To remove a creature from My Library, point at its card and click the trash icon: the creature is archived and can be restored, and nodes that already use it keep working.
Credits
The node itself costs nothing to keep on the canvas. Generations in the Creature Studio are charged like the standalone nodes:
- Images, such as the main image, angles, poses and variations, cost the price of the chosen image model. See Generate Image.
- Motion clips cost the price of the chosen image-to-video model. See Generate Video.
Tips
- Approve a strong main image first. With Style Lock on, it anchors every other image and clip.
- Be precise in Species / Type. "Arctic fox with a thick winter coat" prompts better than the category alone.
- Generate angles before poses and variations. Angles give the most useful references for later compositions.
- Add a reference image for a specific look. Use one when the creature must match an existing design.
- Need a person instead? For people, use the Character Asset node, which adds expressions, a portrait workflow and a LoRA.
Frequently asked questions
Related
Animals and creatures
Reference roles
Generate Image
Animal
Character Asset
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