Animations often look stiff when characters snap from one motion to another. A simple way to fix this is by blending actions—like fading from an idle pose into a walk cycle. In this tutorial, we’ll use Blender to combine an idle animation with a walk animation, making the transition feel natural.
If you’re setting up characters, you may also want to look at Blender addons for character creation to simplify the process before applying Mixamo animations.
If you’ve been struggling with sliding feet or jerky starts, this guide will help you smooth things out step by step.
The Video Tutorial
Step 1: Download and Import the Animation
Head over to Mixamo and search for an animation you’d like to use. Download it as an FBX file. You don’t need to download the skin—just the animation itself.
For smoother workflow, you can check how to import FBX files into Blender to avoid common pitfalls during this step.
Next, import the file into Blender. Start with the idle animation as your base.
Step 2: Name Your Idle Animation
Open the Dope Sheet and switch to the Action Editor.
- Select the idle animation.
- Give it a clear name, like Idle Animation.
This makes it easy to manage multiple actions later.
Step 3: Clean Up the Armatures
When importing from Mixamo, Blender sometimes gives you duplicate armatures.
- Select your character’s armature.
- Apply the Idle Action to it.
- Delete the second, unnecessary armature.
Now you’ll have a clean setup with one armature.
Step 4: Add Actions in the Nonlinear Animation (NLA) Editor
Go to the Nonlinear Animation Editor.
- Select your Idle Animation.
- Click the button to make it an Action Strip.
Now your character has an animation track you can work with. Repeat the same process for your Walk Animation.
Step 5: Organize Your Actions
In the NLA Editor, the order of actions matters.
- The action on top has priority.
- Move the Idle Action down using Page Down.
This ensures that the walk will play when needed, instead of being overridden by idle.
Step 6: Blend the Animations
To create a smooth transition:
- Select the walk action strip.
- Add a Blend In value.
This number represents how many frames Blender uses to transition from idle to walk.
Now, your character will stand still for a moment before smoothly starting to walk.
Step 7: Refine the Movement
Don’t worry if things look off at first. You’ll need to experiment with:
- Placement of each action strip.
- Blend values (the length of the fade).
- Scale of the walk cycle (so the feet don’t slide).
With some adjustments, your idle-to-walk animation will look much more natural.
Try It Yourself
For more flexibility, you might explore how to copy animation data from one object to another in Blender if you want to reuse animation setups across different models.
If you want to improve performance while animating, you could also learn how to bake animations and simulations to keyframes in Blender.
For further exploration, you may also like best Blender addons for animation to expand your animation toolkit.
That’s it—you’ve blended an idle and a walk animation in Blender. Take some time to test different blend values and strip positions until you find the timing that feels right.
Do you have questions about animation blending, or do you want me to cover transitions like running or jumping next? Drop your thoughts in the comments—I’d love to hear what you’re working on.
Next Steps
- Subscribe to this blog for more Blender tutorials.
- Share this post with other animators who might find it useful.
- Explore related tutorials on character animation and motion blending.
