To import a skeletal animation, you need to follow these steps:
- Export a skinned model and its skeleton (called rig in Unity) to FBX format.
If you are using Blender, you don't have to manually export the file to FBX format. Simply drag and drop the file to your Assets folder. Unity will use Blender FBX exporter in the background. Additionally, you will be able to open the file by double-clicking on it in Unity. After you edit and save it, Unity will reimport it again. It is a very convenient way of editing animations as you don't have to go through the export-import process each time you make a change.
- Drag and drop the exported file into any subfolder in the Assets folder in your project or go to Assets | Import new asset and choose your FBX file.
- Select the imported file and navigate to the Inspector tab. Click on the Rig button:
- Here you can specify the type of the rig to use. For bipedal characters, use the Humanoid option, for all the rest choose Generic. We use a sheep model in this example, so we need to choose the Generic rig. Differences between those options are described in the How it works section.
- Leave all the other inputs as defaults.
- Click on the Animations button. If an Unapplied import settings window appears, click on Apply.
- Make sure the Import Animation checkbox is checked.
- Click on the Apply button in the lower right corner of the Inspector (just above the Animation Preview). You may need to scroll the Inspector down.
- You should be able to see all imported animation clips as child assets of your imported FBX file.
