My Avatar mask not working

Hi,
I’m relatively new to Unity, but I have experience in coding with Java. I’ve been working on a 3rd-person game where the main character can move, jump, and fire projectiles. So far, I’ve managed to implement the basic mechanics, and even the character animations seem to be working fine except for one part: the shooting animation.

Here’s the issue I’m facing: I’m trying to make the shooting animation work using an avatar mask. However, it seems that the mask is being ignored, and I read it might be due to the fact that my avatar type is not “humanoid”. I’ve read a bit about this but haven’t been able to find a solution that works for my specific case.

How can I make the shooting animation work seamlessly with the avatar mask? If the avatar type is indeed the problem, how can I set it to “humanoid” properly?

Any insights, advice, or even step-by-step instructions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this and for any assistance you can provide !