Custom animations and 3D models breathe life into Roblox experiences, allowing creators to design unique characters and interactions. However, importing these assets requires careful setup, especially for animations. Here’s how to do it effectively:

Step 1: Prepare Your Character and Animations in Mixamo

To ensure animations work seamlessly in Roblox, start by rigging your 3D character model in Mixamo, Adobe’s free animation tool.

Upload Your Character: Export your character model (in T-pose or A-pose) as an FBX file and upload it to Mixamo. Your model needs to be properly rigged in order for this to work.

Choose Animations: Browse Mixamo’s library and apply animations like walks, jumps, or emotes to your character. Download these animations as FBX files. You can download them with or without the skin, but I prefer without the skin to avoid any issues with Roblox’s animation import detection system.

 

Step 2: Import Models and Animations into Roblox Studio

Upload the Character Model: In Roblox Studio, go to the Avatar tab and upload your character’s FBX file. Confirm the rig matches Roblox’s Humanoid structure.

Open the Animation Editor (Avatar → Animation Editor), then click Import Animation. Select the FBX animation file downloaded from Mixamo. It will then ask you if the rig used for hooking up the animation should be the FBX included with the animation or the selected Mesh. This shouldn’t matter since you’re using the same model to setup the animation, but test both to see which one works better for you.

 

Step 3: Create an Animation Object

After importing, Roblox generates an Animation ID (Asset ID) for your animation. To use it in-game:

Upload the animation to Roblox via the Animation Editor. Note the ID in the URL (e.g., rbxassetid://123456789). Then give your model an animation object that can hold the reference to the animation and can be called later via a script.

 

Additional Notes

Now, this system works very well for solo development, but I am currently experiencing an issue with Groups where Group members can create animations for the Group and designate the Group as the owner, which means the owner of the Group can see the animations, but the other members cannot. I have reached out to Roblox about this issue, because the member accounts are set up to to allow editing and control over assets and items in the project, but for some reason we cannot access the animations. This isn’t an issue for deployment, the animations run fine on live, but for testing and collaboration it is definitely a hurdle, so hopefully they get back to me soon and I can update this post with more information regarding it.