A method for providing a personalized three-dimensional body model for generating an animation, based on a moving body, wherein the method comprises: - Providing a parametric three-dimensional body model, which allows shape and pose variations, wherein the parametric three-dimensional body model is trained by means of a set of scans of people in a plurality of shapes and poses in order to represent shape and pose -dependent deformations; - Receiving a sequence of 3D motion capture, mocap, marker data in relation to a set of markers located on the moving body, wherein the sequence comprises a plurality of captured frames; - Automatically providing a personalized three-dimensional body model on the basis of the parametric three-dimensional body model and the captured sequence of 3D mocap marker data, wherein the automatically providing comprises: o A first optimization process, in which for a subset of the frames of the sequence of 3D mocap marker data, marker locations relative to the three-dimensional body model, body shape and body pose are simultaneously estimated, wherein marker locations and body shape are assumed to be time-independent, and o A second optimization process for estimating body pose using the marker locations and body shape estimated in the first optimization process, wherein the marker locations are kept fixed, and wherein the body shape is allowed to vary across the mocap sequence while being constrained to be close to the body shape estimated in the first optimization process; and - Generating an animation using the personalized three-dimensional body model. - Providing a parametric three-dimensional body model, which allows shape and pose variations, wherein the parametric three-dimensional body model is trained by means of a set of scans of people in a plurality of shapes and poses in order to represent shape and pose -dependent deformations; - Receiving a sequence of 3D motion capture, mocap, marker data in relation to a set of markers located on the moving body, wherein the sequence comprises a plurality of captured frames; - Automatically providing a personalized three-dimensional body model on the basis of the parametric three-dimensional body model and the captured sequence of 3D mocap marker data, wherein the automatically providing comprises: o A first optimization process, in which for a subset of the frames of the sequence of 3D mocap marker data, marker locations relative to the three-dimensional body model, body shape and body pose are simultaneously estimated, wherein marker locations and body shape are assumed to be time-independent, and o A second optimization process for estimating body pose using the marker locations and body shape estimated in the first optimization process, wherein the marker locations are kept fixed, and wherein the body shape is allowed to vary across the mocap sequence while being constrained to be close to the body shape estimated in the first optimization process; and o A first optimization process, in which for a subset of the frames of the sequence of 3D mocap marker data, marker locations relative to the three-dimensional body model, body shape and body pose are simultaneously estimated, wherein marker locations and body shape are assumed to be time-independent, and o A second optimization process for estimating body pose using the marker locations and body shape estimated in the first optimization process, wherein the marker locations are kept fixed, and wherein the body shape is allowed to vary across the mocap sequence while being constrained to be close to the body shape estimated in the first optimization process; and - Generating an animation using the personalized three-dimensional body model.