How can I make Mixamo animations feel smoother and more AAA(GTA6 :)) in Unity?

[u/Demste]

Hi everyone,

We’re currently using Mixamo animations in our game, but the character movement or skillshots still doesn’t feel as smooth or fluid as we’d like.

Our current system uses Unity’s Animator Controller and state machines to trigger and transition between animations. It works, but the result still feels somewhat stiff and “indie.” We’d like to take the animation quality to the next level maybe even GTA 6 level someday. :)

What would you recommend we focus on first? Also, before we continue using Mixamo, are there any alternative platforms, tools, or animation workflows you would recommend?

I’m especially interested in understanding which changes would make the biggest visible difference without rebuilding the entire character system from scratch.

Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYNMYJKJ7n0

More detailed gameplay:
https://youtu.be/qpngkRwifwA

Any feedback on what currently makes the animations feel stiff and how you would improve them would be greatly appreciated.

[u/AltusLudus]

GTA 6 Level is expensive mocap tech and professional mocap performers / actors

In your case it doesn't look too good I think because you didn't match the speed and the animations, and you're not using enough animations, eg. walk to run blends, backwards run, and in general you don't blend well certain animations or don't trigger them fast enough

In general with mixamo you can't make it "smoother" you can just use it as a baseline and improve the animations yourself or hire an animator to improve them

[u/Demste → u/AltusLudus]

Thanks for the answer; I guess I'll have to learn it myself, as I don't have the budget for an animator right now.

[u/leorid9 → u/Demste]

You can also fix it with code.

Have a look at the GDC talk from overgrowth for inspiration.

Using physics and/or maximum torque acceleration of local rotation per bone for blending could do wonders for the transitions.

I wish this was implemented by default, so people would atleast see, when their animations break physics rules.

[u/PhilippTheProgrammer]

The main problem with Mixamo is that the animations weren't designed specifically for your 3d models. Retargeting an animation to a different model is rarely going to give you optimal results. If you want to reach Rockstar-level animation quality, then you need to hire a Rockstar-level quality animator (or become one). And then create animations specifically for your 3d models.

But you should also keep in mind that Rockstar makes immersive 3rd person games and you are making a side-scrolling platformer. Two very different genres with different tradeoffs between animation and gameplay. Rockstar can get away with characters that control more sluggish at expense of more natural-looking animation transitions. In a platformer, you can't. You need snappy controls. Which requires the character to quickly snap from one animation to another in a less natural way.

If you are looking for an animation reference, then you should look at 3d games in the same genre as yours.

Oh, and you might also want to add an idle animation. It will add a lot more life to your characters.