Animations

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Animations on VRChat avatars are built with Unity animation clips, Animator Controllers, and avatar parameters.

Avatar animation setups commonly combine:

• Animator Controllers to choose states and transitions.
• Animation clips to keyframe property changes over time.
• Built-in and custom parameters from Expressions to drive states, blend trees, and continuous controls.

In Avatar 3.0 workflows, the controllers used for avatar behavior are assigned through the Avatar Descriptor playable-layer slots.

Animation clips

An Animation Clip is a .anim asset containing keyframed values over time.

Avatar clips animate:

• Transform position, rotation, and scale.
• GameObject active states and component enabled flags.
• Component values (for example blendshape weights, constraints, particle settings).
• Material and shader properties.
• Material swaps.

Material swaps are object-reference curves, so they behave as step changes rather than smooth blends.

In Unity's Animation window:

• Record mode automatically writes keys when an animatable value changes.
• Preview mode previews changes without automatically creating keys.

Animated object paths are relative to the Animator root. If a path no longer resolves, the curve remains in the clip but will not affect anything at runtime.

Creators often separate clips into:

• Static clips: hold constant values (for example, on/off states).
• Dynamic clips: change values over time (for example, dissolves or hue shifts).

Give even static clips a small duration (for example, two identical keyframes) so state timing is explicit.

Clip settings

Setting	Effect	Typical use
Loop Time	Repeats the clip when it reaches the end.	Idle loops, repeating effects, and cyclical motions.
Loop Pose	Adds seam correction for loop continuity.	Smoother start/end blending on looping motion.
Cycle Offset	Starts playback at a normalized offset in the clip.	Desynchronizing repeated effects or phase-shifted motion.

Blend Trees

Blend Trees combine multiple motions using Animator parameters. Direct blend trees can play multiple motions at once.

Forms include:

• 1D blend trees for scalar controls.
• 2D blend trees for two-axis controls.
• Direct blend trees for per-motion weight control.

Blend-tree inputs are Float parameters in Unity's Animator. In VRChat, Bool and Int expression values can still drive these workflows through parameter conversion.

Motion time

States can enable Motion Time, using a parameter to scrub through a clip's normalized timeline.

On avatars, this is often paired with radial or axis puppet inputs for continuous controls. Limiting input ranges and transition paths helps avoid snapping or unreachable states.

Where avatar animations should run

Playable layers are evaluated in order (Base, Additive, Gesture, Action, then FX), so higher layers can override lower layers when both animate the same property.

Playable-layer scope	Typical animation content
Base / Additive / Gesture / Action	Transform animation (position, rotation, scale), usually for locomotion, gestures, and full-body actions.
FX	Non-transform avatar features such as GameObject toggles, blendshapes, material and shader values, particle settings, and other component properties.

Non-transform animation should be kept in FX for expected mirror and remote behavior. Playable-layer slots should use Animation Controllers, and reusing the same controller in multiple playable layers is discouraged.

Advanced techniques

Some avatar animation patterns use advanced Unity setups, such as:

• Direct blend tree combinations for compact logic. Animator Optimizer are using this to reduce CPU usage.
• Animated Animator Parameters (AAPs).
• Scale-reactive systems driven by avatar scaling parameters.

Official resources

• Playable Layers on Creator Docs
• Animator Parameters on Creator Docs
• Expression Menu and Controls on Creator Docs
• State Behaviors on Creator Docs
• Animation Clip on Unity Manual
• Blend Trees on Unity Manual

References

• VRC School: Animation Clips
• VRC School: Types of Animation Clips
• VRC School: Blend Trees
• VRC School: Playable Layers
• VRC School: Radial Puppets
• VRC School: Expression Parameter Mismatching
• VRC School: Advanced Blend Tree Techniques
• VRC School: Combining Layers Using Direct Blend Trees
• VRC School: Animated Animator Parameters
• VRC School: Designing Scale-Friendly Systems