Not Enough Animations | Third Person, Finally Animated

Load Not Enough Animations, hop into third person, and the difference is instant. Your character bites into the food they're holding, lifts the map so you can actually read it, and rows the boat with their own arms instead of staring at paddles that move by themselves. It's a purely visual patch for the animations vanilla never carries over from first-person view. Around 85 million downloads later, it's one of those client-side mods that's hard to play without. And since it changes nothing but what you see, it works on vanilla and third-party servers alike.

Eating, drinking, and map animations in third person

Eating and drinking are the headline additions. Your character now performs the full up-and-down motion of the food, the same one you see in first person, instead of standing still while the hunger bar fills. Maps get the same treatment. Your character holds the map up, and you can read its contents once your client has the map data, which happens after you've held the map or spotted it in an item frame. Other players will see your map as well, even if you're holding one in each hand. It's a small touch that makes third-person moments and multiplayer sessions feel noticeably better.

Shields, boats, and horses that follow your look

Combat and riding get the biggest fixes. With a shield equipped, you block where you look, not where your body is rotated, so the mod turns your body along with your head while blocking. The shield also sits closer to the end of the hand, like you're actually gripping it. Draw a bow or crossbow with something in your offhand and that item hides during the animation, which keeps your view clear during the draw. Boats get a complete rowing animation, so no more sitting there watching the paddles move on their own. On horseback, your character at least looks like they're holding the reins.

Climbing, crawling, and smooth arm movement

Movement gets its own pass. There's a proper ladder and climbing animation, plus a crawling animation that replaces the swimming motion while you're out of water. Arm movement is smoothed out overall, with transitions between poses instead of hard snaps. The mod also animates looking at a compass or clock, and the config file lets you extend that to more items.

Fittingly, the project began as an expansion for a first-person body view mod, though it works completely on its own. Every feature listed here has its own toggle in the in-game config screen, which you open through the ModList or ModMenu. If you want the full combo, our Real Camera post covers the first-person body view side.

How to install Not Enough Animations

This is a client-side mod, so nothing gets installed on the server. Here's the short version:

1. Set up a mod loader first if you haven't. The mod ships for Fabric, Forge, and NeoForge, so use whichever your setup runs. Our guide on how to install Minecraft mods walks through the whole process, and the Fabric loader guide goes deeper on that loader.
2. Download the Not Enough Animations file from the official project page. Match the file to your loader.
3. Drop the file into your mods folder. Create the folder if it doesn't exist yet.
4. Start the game through your loader and check that the mod shows up in the mod list.
5. Open the config screen from the ModList or ModMenu and set the toggles how you like them.

Not Enough Animations FAQ

Is Not Enough Animations client-side only?

Yes. The mod is required on the client and unsupported on the server. Since every change is visual, it stays fully compatible with vanilla and third-party servers, and you can leave it out of the server folder entirely.

Can I turn off individual animations?

Yes. Each feature has its own toggle in the in-game config screen, reachable through the ModList or ModMenu.

Does Not Enough Animations work with other animation mods?

It was built as an expansion for the first-person body view mod and works completely on its own. The compass and clock animation was designed as extra eye candy for that pairing, and you can extend it to more items in the config file.

Is Not Enough Animations still maintained?

Yes. Development is active, and the most recent update landed in June 2026.

Half the fun of third person is actually watching your character, so a camera mod makes a natural companion here. Our Auto Third Person and Leawind's Third Person posts cover that side of the setup.