22 Aug 2025

Building an NPC actually move and come to life in your Roblox game does seem like a scary thing. But really? It is just a matter of breaking it down into a couple of managable pieces. Once you find out the secret to it, you can have all kinds of characters come to life.

Step 1: The Foundation - Creating a Character Rig

You can't bring anything to life until you have a character model with a solid rig. Consider a rig to be the skeleton of your character; it is what you will be working with through animation.

Use the Rig Builder Plugin: The easiest way is to go to the Avatar tab within Roblox Studio and utilize the Rig Builder plugin. Choose a default character model, like an R15 Block Rig. It comes preconfigured with all the joints.

Key Elements: There must be a Humanoid and an Animator in every character's model. The Humanoid deals with things like movement and health, and the Animator is what will be actually played for. Don't worry, the Rig Builder adds these in for you as a default, but it is handy to know what they are called.

Now, holding your rig in your hand, add it to the workspace and give it a name like "MyNPC."

Step 2:  Using the Animation Editor

Here you perform the magic. You will be using Roblox's built-in Animation Editor to create the animation of movement.

Open the Editor: Go to the Avatar tab and select Animation Editor.

Select Your Rig: Press on your NPC rig in the workspace. The editor loads, and you will see a timeline in the bottom of your screen.

Create Keyframes: A keyframe is a stored pose at any specific moment. Simply drag your character's arms to pose it. When you let go, a keyframe is automatically created in the timeline.

Make it Move: Move the timeline slider forward a few seconds and put in a new pose. The editor will then "interpolate" or smoothly move between your keyframes, bringing your scene to life.

Set Animation Priority: This is a critical setting. When you're doing something like walking or jumping, you need to set the priority. You tap on the three dots at the top-left of the Animation Editor and choose Set Animation Priority. For a default walking animation, you'd choose Movement so it overrides the default idle animation.

When you're done with your animation, click the three dots again and then choose Save to Roblox. Give it a name something descriptive like "NPCWalk." Roblox will give you a unique Animation ID when it's published—make sure you copy it.