animation tuto is down there, maybe it will help http://www.unitytutorials.com/Project/project.html others tutorials - http://www.unitytutorials.com/video another website - http://www.unity-tutorials.com/ FPS - tutorial http://unity3d.com/support/resources/tutorials/fpstutorial others videos basic tutorial -…
the tutorial 'blob' shadow is just round a B&W gradient circle on an image that get projected on the ground, you could change it to whatever shape you wanted, and swap it out for other images when you feel like it
Oh sure. The free version can still have shadows. For instance, it fully supports pre-baked shadow maps. And one of the tutorials they provide you with shows you how to implement "blob" shadows on animated characters. I'm not sure exactly how to implement "looming" shadows, but it can probably be done.