blender-animation

Core Philosophy

Character and asset animation in Blender for real-time game engines is not about producing a single cinematic render. Game animation is modular, state-driven motion engineering. Animations must blend seamlessly in real time across locomotion states, maintain precise skeletal hierarchy conventions, adhere to bone transform constraints, and export clean, non-destructive FBX/glTF clips with root motion preservation and zero scale distortion.

4-Step Technical Blender Animation Pipeline

Step 1: Rigging Architecture & Armature Hierarchy

1. Skeletal Hierarchy Standards:
   • Establish an immutable root bone located at world origin (0, 0, 0) named root.
   • Hierarchy: root -> pelvis -> spine_01 -> spine_02 -> chest -> neck -> head.
   • Limb Suffix Conventions: Strictly use .L and .R (e.g. hand.L, foot.R) to enable Blender's native X-Axis Mirroring and Pose Flipping tools.
2. IK / FK Switching Systems:
   • Arms and Legs: Build dual Inverse Kinematics (IK) and Forward Kinematics (FK) chains with a custom property slider for smooth blending.
   • Pole Targets: Set up pole target bones for knees and elbows with explicit Pole Angle calibration to prevent joint twisting.