How to Copy and Paste Flipped Poses in Blender

Copying and pasting a mirrored pose in Blender is an essential technique for character animation, allowing you to instantly transfer poses from one side of a rig to the other. By leveraging Blender's built-in pose tools and symmetrical bone naming conventions, you can duplicate leg, arm, or full-body positions with a single shortcut. This guide outlines the exact steps to copy and paste a flipped pose accurately in Pose Mode.

Bone Naming Requirements

Before mirroring a pose, ensure your armature uses proper symmetrical naming conventions. Blender relies on specific suffixes to identify opposite sides of a rig.

  • Use standard indicators like .L and .R, _L and _R, or .left and .right (for example, hand.L and hand.R).
  • Without matching symmetrical names, Blender cannot determine which bones correspond to each other, and the flip operation will fail.

Step-by-Step Guide to Pasting a Flipped Pose

  1. Enter Pose Mode: Select your character armature and press Ctrl + Tab (or select Pose Mode from the interaction mode menu in the top-left corner of the Viewport).
  2. Select the Bones: Click to select the specific bones you want to mirror. To flip the entire pose, press A to select all bones in the armature.
  3. Copy the Pose: Press Ctrl + C on your keyboard, or navigate to the top menu and select Pose > Copy Pose.
  4. Choose a Frame (Optional): Move the playhead on your timeline to the frame where you want to apply the mirrored pose.
  5. Paste the Flipped Pose: Press Shift + Ctrl + V on your keyboard, or go to the top menu and select Pose > Paste Pose Flipped.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

  • Bones do not move: Verify that the bone names on the left and right sides match exactly, except for the side indicator (e.g., upper_arm.L and upper_arm.R).
  • The pose distorts unexpectedly: Ensure your armature's scale and rotation are applied in Object Mode. To fix this, switch to Object Mode, select the armature, press Ctrl + A, and choose All Transforms.
  • Only part of the pose flipped: Make sure you selected all relevant bones before copying with Ctrl + C. Unselected bones will not be copied or mirrored.