Unity Character Animation with Mecanim

About This Book

Create and export models and animation sequences to Unity from 3ds max and Maya
Prepare character models and animation for games using Mecanim’s rigging tools
Retarget, adjust, and mix and match motion capture and other animation data
Write and edit scripts compatible with Mecanim Animation Controllers

Who This Book Is For

If you are a Unity developer looking to get to grips with character animation-specific tools, a 3D software user who is new to Unity, or a beginner game developer who is interested in character animation and interaction, this book is ideal for you.

What You Will Learn

Acquire efficient techniques to refine and optimize motion capture data
Retarget animation sequences between different character rigs
Discover how to rig a humanoid character and export it for use in Unity
Create dynamic animation sequences from scratch, using keyframe techniques, in two industry standard 3D software packages
Understand how to set up a complex facial rig for speech
Construct a ragdoll game object and instantiate it in a game
Devise Mecanim animation integration for player and AI-driven animation for enemy characters
Develop command-line applications and explore the key data structures and libraries

In Detail

Game animation for independent developers has taken a giant leap forward with Unity's Mecanim toolset, which streamlines import/export, retargeting, and many other aspects of the character animation workflow.

Unity Character Animation with Mecanim is a great primer for getting to know the nuts and bolts of Mecanim and other character animation-related tools in Unity. This book explores the new set of animation tools introduced to Unity with Mecanim, to replace the older animation component-based system in Unity, which relied heavily on scripting to determine animation sequencing.

This book will provide you with a detailed exploration of the interaction between game development and character animation, and will broaden your understanding of the rich animation toolset within Unity.