New forthcoming Unity character animation looks great !
Unity Technologies at GDC 2012 ( Game Developer’s Conference ) presented a video showing its new Animation System for Unity Development Engine , you can see it by CLICKING THIS LINK or embedded on this page.
The video is very impressive and shows how the new Unity character animation system features a complete solution for character animation and input control. The introduction of a state machine chart system will show in real time the character animation flow. With Blend Trees introduction it will be possible to blend different animations in a new unique animation with minumum effort. Also the new Unity character animation system introduces better interactions within body parts and world environment, in a similar manner as Assassin’s Creed’s character animation technology ( Contextual IK Rigging). Muscle editor and various other improvements complete the picture, the new unity character animation system tagline is Animation Made Easy, wich can cope with Unity Game Programming Made Easy.
By watching the video and the character’s animation and movement it reminds me of EA Fifa 12 animations, and that’s good because that football game is the state of the art regarding animations, input controls and character interaction. I am wondering if the current Unity animation system will be given a major rework or the new system will be plugged over the old.
The addition of the new Unity character animation to the Unity development Engine will be a really great resource, if easyness of use promises will be kept. Smooth and realistic character animations and complex interaction with the world environment are next-gen games requirments, having a simple tool that condenses all the work in an easy interface is really something that can push Unity higher. Quick new unity character animation feature list :
- Animation Retargeting
- Hierarchic State Machine flowchart
- Blend Trees
- Automatic Control Rigging
- Contextual IK Rigging
