1. A method for determining behavior of an animatronics unit comprising: receiving animation data comprising artistically determined motions for at least a portion of an animated character; determining a plurality of control signals to be applied to the portion of the animatronics unit in response to the animation data; estimating the behavior of at least the portion of the animatronics unit in response to the plurality of control signals by driving a software simulation of at least the portion of the animatronics unit with the plurality of control signals; and outputting a representation of the behavior of at least the portion of the animatronics unit to a user.