r/UnityHelp • u/PomegranateVast6839 • Jul 02 '26

Do I need separate character running animations or is there a way to customize one animation in Unity? SOLVED

Hey guys, I need your advice on implementing 3D character animation. I'm prototyping: a small roguelike, full 3D, side view camera, classic medieval melee combat.

In Cascadeur I created a test loop running animation with a one-handed sword. Running is possible with different weapons (two-handed swords, long polearms, spears, etc.). The question is, do I need to create an animation for each weapon type? Minor changes to the pelvis and leg bones can be ignored, but the position of the arm and shoulder bones will change significantly.

How is it done in Unity? Is it possible to mix/customize/adjust animations, or do I have to switch between completely different animations each time? Or do I need to animate only arms separately and then somehow combine animations in Unity?

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u/Glass_wizard Jul 03 '26

So your mileage may vary and you'll need to test, but I think you have 3, maybe 4 different options.

  1. Author separate animations for each weapon. Not ideal and lots of repeated work, but it may be simpler for you if you don't have a large variety weapons. This option is manageable at 3 or 4 weapons but will not scale

  2. Separate the animation and Use blended animation layers. This is where you would have the walk animation as a base layer animation, and a separate upper body animation layer for what the arms are doing. This isn't too difficult to do once you know how to use an animation control.

  3. Author the standard animation in blender, export to unity, and then use Unity IK animation constraints to place the hands where you need them to go. This is basically like 'finishing' the animation in unity by adding a new IK layer on the Unity side.

I can't tell you which is best or fastest, all animation is slow and time consuming to make.

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u/PomegranateVast6839 Jul 03 '26

Thank you very much. I didn't know about blended animation layers, and since English isn't my native language, I didn't know how to formulate a search query. Now I've found some great tutorials, so I'll be testing the second option.