Exporting FBX From Blender to Unity

Here’s a quick guide on how to export FBX from Blender to Unity. You can also refer to these videos that I referenced.

Assuming that you have already rig and animated your character, follow the steps below to export your character as FBX.

Step 1. Set up the NLA Strips

In Blender, under animation window, select Nolinear Animation

NLA Strips

Drag a new window, and select Dope Sheet. Change to Action Editor. Select the animation you want and click on Push Down. This will create the NLA Strip. Note: _TPose should be the last NLA Strip so that when importing in Unity, it will be the model’s default pose.

Action Editor

Step 2. Exporting as FBX in Blender

In Blender, select the mesh that you want to export and click on File –> Export –> FBX. When the export menu will pop up, configure the following parameters:

Blender Export - Include Section

  • under Include section
    • check Selected Objects
    • select Mesh and Armature for Object Type

Blender Export - Transform Section

  • under Transform section
    • apply scaling = FBX Unit Scale
    • forward = -Y Forward (when modelling, character should be facing - y direction)
    • up = Z up (when modelling, the up should be +z)

Blender Export - Armature Section

  • under Armature
    • check Only deform Bones
    • uncheck Add Leaf Bones

Blender Export - Animation Section

  • under Bake animation section
    • uncheck all actions (Exporting NLA Strips only)

Step 3. Importing FBX to Unity

In Unity, drag and drop the fbx file into a folder

  • in the inspector for the fbx file,
    • under model, check bake axis conversion (so that the character faces the correct direction)
    • under animation, click on clips and check Loop Time
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