Blender Motion Capture: Complete Import and Retargeting Guide

Blender Motion Capture: The Complete Import and Retargeting Workflow

Blender is the most widely used free 3D software in the world, and blender motion capture integration is a core part of its production pipeline. Whether you are importing a professional FBX pack, working with BVH data, or retargeting to a Rigify rig, Blender's animation system handles mocap data well — but with specific settings and workflow steps that differ from Maya, MotionBuilder, or game engines. This guide covers the complete Blender motion capture import, retargeting, and export workflow.

Importing Motion Capture FBX in Blender

Blender 4.x imports FBX via File → Import → FBX. Key settings to configure in the import dialog:

• Ignore Leaf Bones — enable this for mocap imports. Leaf bones are zero-length endpoint bones added by some exporters that create noise in Blender's armature.
• Automatic Bone Orientation — enable for better bone alignment on import. Without this, bone roll angles may not match your existing rig.
• Scale — FBX exported from Maya uses centimeters. If your imported character is 1.8cm tall instead of 1.8m, apply a scale of 100.

After import, select the armature and check the Y-axis rotation. FBX from Maya is Y-up; Blender is Z-up. The FBX importer handles the conversion, but the armature may arrive rotated 90° on the X axis. If so, apply the rotation: select the armature, press Ctrl+A → Apply → All Transforms.

Import via BVH for Raw Capture Data

BVH is the standard raw format for motion capture data and imports cleanly into Blender's bone hierarchy via File → Import → BVH. BVH import settings: set Forward to -Z Forward and Up to Y Up for standard BVH orientation. Scale to 0.01 or 1.0 depending on the source capture scale.

If your motion capture pack includes both BVH and FBX formats, use FBX for production work. BVH is useful only if you need to re-solve or remap the capture to a different character rig. See the animation retargeting guide for full format comparison.

Working with Imported Mocap Data in Blender

Imported motion capture animation lives in Blender's Action system. Each animation clip is a separate Action. View and manage Actions in:

• Action Editor — select an action from the dropdown to view and edit it
• Dope Sheet — overview of all keyframes in the current action
• NLA Editor — non-linear animation editor for combining and sequencing multiple actions

To prevent an action from being deleted when unused, click the shield icon (Fake User) next to the action name in the Action Editor. Blender clears unused data blocks on file save otherwise.

Blender's NLA Editor treats each animation sequence as an independent action that can be stacked, blended, and sequenced on a timeline. For motion capture workflows, this means you can maintain your full animation library as separate NLA tracks and audition clips against your character rig without overwriting previous animation data. Push each imported animation down to NLA to keep your scene manageable as the library grows.

Retargeting Motion Capture to a Different Rig

If the imported skeleton does not match your character's rig, retarget using constraints:

1. Align rest poses — put both rigs in a matching T-pose or A-pose. Pose mismatch is the primary source of retargeting artifacts.
2. Add Copy Rotation constraints — on each bone in your target rig, add a Copy Rotation constraint targeting the corresponding bone in the source (mocap) rig.
3. Add Copy Location on the root — on the root bone of your target rig, add a Copy Location constraint targeting the source root to transfer world movement.
4. Bake the result — select all bones in the target rig, go to Pose → Animation → Bake Action. Set frame range, enable Visual Keying, Clean Curves. This creates a new Action on your target rig independent of the constraint system.
5. Remove constraints — after baking, remove all Copy Rotation and Copy Location constraints from the target rig.

For Rigify rigs specifically, target the deformation bones (DEF- prefix) rather than the control bones (CTRL- prefix) for clean results. If your character uses Auto-Rig Pro, use its built-in remap function — it handles proportion differences between the capture performer and character rig automatically and applies to every animation in your library once the bone mapping is defined.

Exporting Retargeted Animation from Blender

Once your motion capture is on your target rig, export via File → Export → FBX with these key settings:

• Set Transform: Forward to -Z Forward, Up to Y Up for standard orientation
• Enable Bake Animation
• Disable Add Leaf Bones
• Apply Scalings: FBX All for engine import compatibility
• For Unreal Engine: set FBX export version to FBX 2013
• For Unity: apply all transforms first; the default FBX export settings work correctly

Batch export individual actions using File → Export FBX with the "Selected Objects" and "NLA Strips" options to export your full animation library in one operation.

Getting MoCap Online Packs into Blender

MoCap Online's motion capture animation packs are exported with correct axis orientation and scale for Blender 4.x, reducing import setup to near zero. Download a free sample pack to verify compatibility with your rig before purchasing a full collection. All packs are available in FBX with Blender-specific settings pre-applied alongside Unreal Engine and Unity native formats.