1. An animation system, comprising: a server system configured to communicate with a database containing motion data including repeated sequences of motion, where the differences between the repeated sequences of motion are described using at least one high level characteristic; wherein the motion data describe changes of a 3D character's animation variables over time; wherein the server system is connected to a communication network; wherein the server system is configured to train a statistical model using the motion data wherein the statistical model forms associations between the high level characteristics and the motion data stored in the database; wherein the server system is configured to generate a user interface that is accessible via the communication network; wherein the server system is configured to receive a high level description of a desired sequence of motion over the communication network via the user interface wherein the high level description includes high level characteristics of a desired sequence of synthetic motion data to generate; wherein the server system is configured to use the statistical model to generate the synthetic motion data based on the high level description of the desired sequence of motion and the associations between the motion data and the high level characteristics wherein the generated synthetic motion is realistic synthetic data based upon the motion data associated with the high level characteristics of the desired sequence; and wherein the server system is configured to transmit a stream via the communication network including information that can be used to display a 3D character animated using the synthetic motion data.