Unity3d's Mecanim animation system

Source: Internet
Author: User

Mecanim Animation SystemMecanim Animation SystemDate:2013-05-16 07:48

Unity has a rich and sophisticated animation system called Mecanim. Mecanim provides:

Unity has a rich and sophisticated animation system called Mecanim. The Mecanim offers:

  • Easy workflow and setup of animations on humanoid characters.
    A simple workflow designed for human-like roles
  • Animation retargeting-the ability to apply animations from one character model onto another.
    Animation redirection-Ability to apply an animation to multiple different models
  • Simplified workflow for aligning animation clips.
    Streamlined workflow for aligning movie clips
  • Convenient preview of animation clips, transitions, and interactions between them. This allows animators to work more independently of programmers, prototype and preview their animations before gameplay co De is hooked in.
    Easy to preview, transform and interact with movie clips. This allows animators to work more independently of the programmer, making it easier to build prototypes and previews before the game logic code is hooked up.
  • Management of complex interactions between animations with a visual programming tool.
    Use a visual programming tool to manage the complex interactions between animations.
  • Animating different body parts with different logic.
    Use different logic for animation control of different parts of the body.

Typical setup in the Visual programming Tool and the Animation Preview window
Typical settings for visual programming tools and animation windows.

Mecanim Workflow (Mecanim workflow)

Workflow in Mecanim can is split into three major stages.

The Mecanim workflow can be divided into the following 3 main phases:

  1. Asset Preparation and import. This is do by artists or animators, with 3rd party tools, such as Max or Maya. This step is independent of Mecanim features.
    Resource preparation and import. This is done by the artist or animator, using third-party tools such as Max or Maya. This step is independent of the characteristics of the Mecanim.
  2. Character setup for Mecanim, which can-do in 2 ways:
    to set a role for Mecanim, there are 2 ways to do this:
      • humanoid character Setup . Mecanim have a special workflow for humanoid models, with extended GUI support and retargeting. The setup involves creating and setting up An avatar and tweaking muscle definitions. 
        class Human role configuration . Mecanim has a special workflow for the class man role, using the extended GUI and redirection. The configuration contains creating and setting a avatar and adjusting the muscle definition.
      • Generic character Setup . This was for anything like creatures, animated props, four-legged animals, etc. Retargeting is isn't possible here, but can still take advantage of the rich feature set of Mecanim, including Everythin G described below. 
        General role configuration . It's designed for anything like people, animated pillars, quadruped animals. Redirection is not supported here, but you can still get the benefits of the Mecanim described later in this article.
  3. bringing charactersto life. This involves setting up animation clips, as well as interactions between them, and involves setup of the state machines and B Lend Trees, exposing Animation Parameters, and controlling animations from code.
    let the character move up . This includes setting up animation clips and interacting with them, including state machines and mixed trees, listing animation parameters, and controlling animations from your code.

Mecanim comes with a lot of new concepts and terminology. If at any point, you need to the find out who something means, go to our Animation Glossary.

Mecanim brings many concepts and terminology. If at some point you need to find out what they mean, come to our animated terms page.

  • A Glossary of Animation and Mecanim terms animation and Mecanim glossary
  • asset preparation and Import  Resource preparation and import
    • preparing your own Character  Prepare resources for your own role
    • importing animations  import animation
    • splitting animations  split animation
  • working with humanoid Animations  Use the class human animation
    • creating the Avatar  Create Avatar
    • configuring the Avatar  configuration avatar
    • muscle setup  Dianabol set
    • avatar Body mask  body mask
    • retargeting of humanoid Animations 
    • inverse kinematics (Pro only)   Reverse Dynamics (Professional Edition only)
  • Generic animations in Mecanim Mecanim Universal Animations
  • Bringing characters to lifelet the character move.
    • Looping animation clips looping animation clips
    • Animator Component and Animator controllers animation components and animation controller components
    • Animation State machines animation status Machine
      • Animation states Animation status
      • Animation Transitions animation transitions
      • Animation Parameters Animation Parameters
    • Blend Trees Blend tree
      • 1D Blending 1D hybrid
      • Blending 2D Hybrid
      • Additional blend Tree options accessories mixed trees option
    • Mecanim Advanced TopicsMecanim Advanced Topics
      • Working with Animation Curves and Mecanim (pro only) use animated curves in Mecanim (Professional Edition only)
      • Sub-state Machines Sub-state machine
      • Animation Layers Animation layering
      • Animation State Machines Preview (solo and mute) animation status Machine previews (solo and partial play)
      • Target Matching match
      • Root Motion-how It works root action-how it works
        • Tutorial:scripting root motion for "in-place" Humanoid animations Tutorial: Scripting root Actions for "appropriate" class-human animations
  • Mecanim Performance and optimization Mecanim performance and optimization
  • Mecanim FAQ Mecanim FAQ
Legacy Animation System Legacy Animation systems

While Mecanim are recommended for use with most situations, especially for working humanoid animations, the Legacy animation System is still used in a variety of contexts. One of them is working legacy animations and code (content created before Unity 4.0). Another is controlling animation clips with parameters other than time (for example for controlling the aiming angle). For information on the Legacy animation system.

Although Mecanim is recommended in most cases, especially when it comes to working with human-like animations, older animation systems will still be used in many cases. One of them is used in previous code and animations (content created before Unity4.0). Another example is the use of parameters rather than time-controlled animations (such as controlling the angle of sight). For more information on legacy animation systems, see here.

Unity intends to phase out of the Legacy animation system over time for all cases by merging the workflows into Mecanim.

Unity plans to phase out legacy animation systems and incorporate workflows into Mecanim.

Page last update: 2013-02-14

Tags: mecanim Animation animation system Unity3d Classification: manual|translation: Fancybit

Unity3d's Mecanim animation system

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