Animating within Unity

Fazijinn

Hey guys I'm currently creating a basic rig in maya which consists of a simple bone/joint system and a couple of nurb circles to select the rig. I was wondering before I continue...is there a way to move your model within Unity if you have a basic rig set up. Or do I need to go about this in a different angle? Because I would like to move the model around unity rather than having pre-baked animations exported into unity.  The idea behind it is, just to move some body parts around.

echofourpapa

You can create animation within Unity, you do not need to pre-bake animations. 

Fazijinn

echofourpapa said:

You can create animation within Unity, you do not need to pre-bake animations. 

ah wonderful thank you for the response. I've got the rig in successfully in Unity, just need to figure out how to make a controller for it like in maya you have the Nurb circles. Is there a way of creating something similar like that but in unity?

Zoid

Not out-of-the-box; there could be some rig system on the asset store (doubtful) - is your intention a need to author character animation IN unity?

Fazijinn

Yeah I keep forgetting to check there since I'm super new to unity. It's hard getting used to the interface! Well not to create a character animation in Unity per se. More like trying to make a posable character for a friend of mine who struggles with drawing and doesn't know 3D; so mainly for them to just mess about with, its something super basic. I know there are programs out there that do the same thing but I took it on as a challenge and I know its do-able  so I don't really wish to buy those programs when I can make it myself. 

Fazijinn

Ok I've just created it but just a heads up to people who want to do some rigging in Maya and take it into Unity. I couldn't find the answer myself so I just experimented, you can't create IK handles and import them into Unity I thought there may of been a slight chance but it doesn't seem to work. I know there's something out in the Unity asset store called "Final IK" that does everything you want and it seems really good but the price is 90$ which is fair enough but I guess we can stick with just using the bones and go the longer the way around.  

Note:
(there maybe a way around it but because I know so little about Unity I'm not entirely sure if you guys know any methods please let me know many thanks!!)

Eric Chadwick

Have you looked at these pages yet?
http://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/FBXImporter-Rig.html
http://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/InverseKinematics.html

Fazijinn

Eric Chadwick said:

Have you looked at these pages yet?
http://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/FBXImporter-Rig.html
http://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/InverseKinematics.html

Thank you Eric Chadwick for this post! I must study more unity x___x  May as well start reading the manual...

derphouse

Yeah I'd get digging into Mecanim. That might help you with understanding how animation works in Unity; using animation layers, avatar masks, blending etc.

For control objects, I'd suggest giving each control bone a gizmo. You'll find that in the top of the inspector.

minev

It is very much possible to control an object's property using curves out of the box in Unity. 

Right click in Project view, create New > Animation. Drag it in Hierarchy onto object you want to animate (Controller autom. created and added as component on that object). With object selected, open Animation window, add new attribute to be animated (specific bone's transform for skinned meshes, FOV for Cameras etc) and start adding control points on the Timeline in Animation window and assigning values to them. Clicking Curves on the bottom will show exact curves of interpolation between control points with option to change those curves. 

Fazijinn

minev said:

It is very much possible to control an object's property using curves out of the box in Unity. 

Right click in Project view, create New > Animation. Drag it in Hierarchy onto object you want to animate (Controller autom. created and added as component on that object). With object selected, open Animation window, add new attribute to be animated (specific bone's transform for skinned meshes, FOV for Cameras etc) and start adding control points on the Timeline in Animation window and assigning values to them. Clicking Curves on the bottom will show exact curves of interpolation between control points with option to change those curves. 

omg you are a life saver ill just try these techniques now! Thank you so much! I've read the manual from the unity page but I couldn't get it to work maybe i need to spend some more time with unity.  I was wondering if you have ever exported IK and FK handle on one rig to unity. Like you can switch and interchange between the two? Just like in maya. Many thanks for your response!

minev

Fazijinn said:

omg you are a life saver ill just try these techniques now! Thank you so much! I've read the manual from the unity page but I couldn't get it to work maybe i need to spend some more time with unity.  I was wondering if you have ever exported IK and FK handle on one rig to unity. Like you can switch and interchange between the two? Just like in maya. Many thanks for your response!

Nope, don't have experience with IK and FK rigs inside Unity unfortunately. I do remember though quite a few Asset Store items for that type of animation, maybe worth checking. 
Also, did you tried does Mecanim has options you need?

Fazijinn

minev said:

Fazijinn said:

omg you are a life saver ill just try these techniques now! Thank you so much! I've read the manual from the unity page but I couldn't get it to work maybe i need to spend some more time with unity.  I was wondering if you have ever exported IK and FK handle on one rig to unity. Like you can switch and interchange between the two? Just like in maya. Many thanks for your response!

Nope, don't have experience with IK and FK rigs inside Unity unfortunately. I do remember though quite a few Asset Store items for that type of animation, maybe worth checking. 
Also, did you tried does Mecanim has options you need?

mecanim was great! It allowed me to use my fk/ik rig but i needed those animations in real time. like interactive real time if that makes sense. Like you slide a slider to make it do those animations. But in the end just used a Full Fk rig, sure there are some deformities here and there. But we are trying to make corrective blend shapes to work on it. Since there is no set driven key in Unity, I'm sure its possible to craft it.  Thank you for your help Minev!