3.1 Introduction to the Animator component

3.2 Introduction to animation blending

3.3 Creating and configuring Animator States

3.4 Creating and configuring Blend Trees

3.5 Creating and configuring Transitions

3.6 Creating a State Machine

3.7 Creating and configuring Animator Layers

In this learning project, you'll get to know the Animator as you explore animation blending, State Machines and Animation Layers. 

By the end of the project, you'll have completed a comprehensive overview of Unity's 3D Animation Systems

The Animator

1.1 Welcome to the course

1.2 Core concepts: animation data

1.3 Core concepts: animation blending

2.1 The Animation window: features and settings

2.2 Editing Animation Clips

2.3 Model-specific animation import settings

2.4 Cutting imported Animation Clips

2.5 Setting the Root Motion of imported Animation Clips

2.6 Finishing an Animation Clip: additional settings

2.7 Creating and configuring Animation Events

2.8 Configuring Generic Rigs

2.9 Configuring Humanoid Rigs

4.1 Introduction to general animation scripting

4.2 Introduction to Humanoid-specific animation scripting

Introduction to 3D Animation Systems Assets

Review the core concepts underlying Unity's 3D animation systems, and explore practical examples provided in the course Unity project.

Course overview and core concepts

In this learning project, you'll explore how to work with Assets as you create animations using the Unity Animation systems.

Working with Assets

In this final learning project, you'll review the basics of general and Humanoid-specific animation scripting.

Introduction to animation scripting

In this course, you'll explore the fundamentals of Unity’s 3D animation systems. You will:

Review the core concepts for the animation systems in Unity

Connect those core concepts to the functionality of the Unity Editor

Apply your learning through creating and modifying simple animations

Review key principles of scripting for animation


By the end of this course, you'll be able to:

Confidently use Unity's 3D animation systems to create basic in-game (or in-app) animations for your own projects

Begin to create custom animation scripts, if you have relevant C# scripting experience for Unity.


This course is for intermediate and confident beginner users of Unity. It will help you develop your understanding of the animation systems in Unity, but will be of limited use to learners who want to create cinematic animations for media experiences or game cutscenes. 

To get the most out of the course, you’ll need basic coding experience in Unity. This will help inform your understanding of the complexity of different animations scripting scenarios.

Introduction to 3D Animation Systems

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Overview

Before you begin

Introduction to State Machines

Creating a State Machine

Review State Machine Transitions

Review the State Machine nodes

Summary

In this tutorial, you’ll explore State Machines and learn how to create them. State Machines are one of the core structures of an Animator Controller.  

VR Curricular Framework Resources

You do not need to use the Unity project for Introduction to 3D Animation Systems to complete this tutorial.  

Each Animator Controller has one or more Animator Layers (or Layers), and each Animator Layer contains a State Machine. However, any State Machine may also have additional State Machines nested within it. 

This nesting capability means that they are excellent organisational tools for keeping related States together.

Unlike most animation features, State Machines are purely an organisational tool. State Machines allow you to group States and Transitions together in a way that makes sense to whoever is creating the Animator Controller, which in this case is you.

Unless you have a lot of states to organize, it may be more efficient not to create a State Machine. This will depend on your particular project and circumstances. The animation examples included throughout this course do not have State Machines due to their relative simplicity.

If you want to try creating a State Machine, use the following process:


1.  Right-click on the background of an Animator Controller and select Create Sub-State Machine. 

The reason this is a Sub-State Machine is because each layer contains a State Machine by default. Any State Machine you create will already be nested within the Layer’s default State Machine.


2.  Double-click on the newly created Sub-State Machine to open it. 


3.  Double-click the (Up) node to return to the parent State Machine. 


You can add States to a State Machine in two main ways:

Double-click on the State Machine to open it and create the State as normal.

If you’ve already created the State, you can click and drag the State over the State Machine’s node to add it to the State Machine.

The Animator window has the default nodes for a state machine: Any State, Entry and Exit. It also has a node labeled (Up) Base Layer.

One of the more complicated things you need to understand about State Machines is their Transitions. You can Transition to a State Machine, and also to whatever is nested inside of it. This leads to a huge variety of different Transitions, but you can narrow them down. 

Let’s review how this works at a high level. Imagine a State Machine as a box around the states it contains. 

Transitioning from inside the State Machine

When you want to transition from something within the box to something outside the box, you have two different options to choose from:

1.  You can transition directly from inside the box to outside the box. 

2.  Alternatively, you can transition from inside the box to the box itself, and then transition from the box to outside the box. 

Transitioning from outside the State Machine

Likewise, when you want to transition from something outside the box, you have two different options to choose from:

1.  You can transition directly from outside the box to inside the box. 



2.  Alternatively, you can transition from outside the box to the box itself, and then transition from the box to inside the box. 

A diagram representing a State within a State Machine.

A diagram representing a State within a State Machine. An arrow leads from the edge of the State directly to outside the State Machine.

A diagram representing a State within a State Machine. An arrow leads from the edge of the State to the edge of the State Machine. Another arrow continues from the edge of the State Machine to outside the State Machine.

A diagram representing a State within a State Machine. An arrow leads from outside the State Machine directly to the edge of the State.

A diagram representing a State within a State Machine. An arrow leads from outside of the State Machine to the edge of the State Machine. Another arrow leads from the edge of the State Machine to the edge of the State.

When you’re constructing a State Machine, you can use the Up node or Entry and Exit nodes to:

Transition to/from [standalone] States or State Machines

Transition to/from States or State Machines nested inside other State Machines

The Up node represents a direct Transition between the internal and external nodes. 

The Entry and Exit nodes are used for Transitions to/from the State Machine itself. These must then be combined with one or more Transitions to/from the State Machine.

Animation blending is the result of transitioning from the current State to the next State. As you’ve explored in this tutorial, State Machines can make that process considerably more complicated (though they can also enable you to do complex things).

Logic, which determines when the Transition happens

Blending, which determines how the current and next States are blended

When you transition to or from a State Machine (rather than a State), the logic and blending are split into several Transitions. Some parts of the Transition are purely responsible for logic, and some are responsible for both logic and blending.

Transitions from a State are the ones that contain the blending information.

In this tutorial, you have reviewed how and when to use State Machines in Unity. You’ve learned that:

State Machines are a purely organisational tool.

They can be useful when you’re working with complex animations with many States.

They can also make things more complicated if you’re working on a relatively simple animation.

In the next tutorial, you’ll explore the role of Animation Layers. You’ll learn how to create them, review their settings and consider how to use them to control the animations you want to blend together. 

3.6 Creating a State Machine

1. Overview

2. Before you begin

3. Introduction to State Machines

4. Creating a State Machine

5. Review State Machine Transitions

6. Review the State Machine nodes

7. Summary

Complete this tutorial