Field Notes / Build

Bringing Bandit to life (a running log)

A running log of making the beagle feel alive — the wins, the dead ends, and the stuff that looked fake until it didn't.

Written 30 Jun 2026 · running log · by Tim Naylor

Bandit is the beagle in the workshop. If you've read how I built this site by talking to an AI, you know he started as a dog who just breathed, because every attempt to make him move looked fake.

This is the running log of fixing that, and it's honest, which means it includes the parts that didn't work. That's the whole point of building in public.

A fake-looking thing that moves is worse than a real-looking thing that's still. That rule has driven every decision here.

He's watching you now

I bought a properly rigged beagle. Thirty-six dollars. The first thing I learned had nothing to do with code: the marketplace license covers websites too, as long as the dog is part of the site and not something people can download on its own. Good to know before you spend money. The model has a real skeleton, so I could wire his head to follow the cursor — that's the beat I wanted from the start: a dog that's actually aware you're there.

Then I tried to make him walk

Naturally I got greedy and tried to make him walk around. Here's exactly how that went — this is the kind of thing every "just tell the AI what you want" video leaves out:

▸ Asked · 30 Jun 2026the build
> make Bandit walk around the room instead of standing in one spotCopy
Came backHe glided across the floor like he was on ice. Legs not even moving.
Where it brokeThe walk animation got deleted while I was shrinking the file. Put it back, and he still skated, because his travel speed didn't match his step speed. Measured the animation's real stride, matched his speed to it. Feet planted, glide gone.

Then a new problem: every time he changed direction, he spun in place like he was on a turntable. Legs moving, but pivoting on the spot. Wrong.

PIVOTS ON THE SPOT — WRONG

Fig.01 · the turntable: legs step, body rotates around a fixed point

So I stopped guessing and looked it up

Here's the honest version. I was fixing each thing by trial and error, and that's not how you get something good. So I researched how this is actually done by people who do it for a living. The answer: making a four-legged animal turn convincingly is genuinely hard, and the proper way needs dedicated "turning" clips this $36 dog doesn't come with. Without those, any code-driven turn looks a little off. That's not a bug I can out-clever. It's a missing ingredient.

So here's where Bandit stands today:

  • He stays in his spot instead of roaming — a planted dog that looks real beats a roaming one that looks fake.
  • He breathes and shifts through calm idle poses, so he's never a frozen statue.
  • He watches the cursor and turns to face you on hover.
  • Once in a while he flops down to scratch, then gets back up.

What's next

Free-roaming Bandit isn't dead, it's just done right or not at all. The next chapter is researching the proper animation set and what it costs. The dog gets done properly or he stays planted and charming. Either one beats a turntable. I'll log it here when it happens.