What this book covers

This book will take the reader through the different processes involved in the character animation aspect of game development. It will explain the basic animation tools within Unity, as well as the dynamic Mecanim toolset and how it can be used in the game animation context.

Chapter 1, The Zombie Attacks!, introduces the Mecanim interface and explains how rigged characters can be imported to Unity and quickly set up with animation.

Chapter 2, Rigging Characters for Unity in 3ds Max and Maya, explains the relationship between the Unity engine and commonly used 3D software and how characters can be prepared within external software to function smoothly once imported to Unity.

Chapter 3, Interacting with the Environment, compares a few different strategies for making a character interact convincingly with the environment.

Chapter 4, Working with Motion Capture Data, walks you through the process of adapting motion capture files to animate your character with Mecanim's toolset.

Chapter 5, Retargeting Animation, considers the reuse of animation clips and how animation can be adapted within Unity to suit different character types.

Chapter 6, Talking Heads, demonstrates Mecanim's facial animation capabilities and the scripting necessary to get these working in a game.

Chapter 7, Controlling Player Animation with Blend Trees, explores more of the advanced features of the Animator panel, defining smooth blending between different animation clips with a limited implementation of scripting.

Chapter 8, Implementing Ragdoll Physics, compares the use of real-world physics with the character controller component and how these can both be implemented in a character setup.

Chapter 9, Controlling Enemy Animation with AI and Triggers, demonstrates how scripted behavior and Unity's navMesh navigation system can be used to control enemy character animations within a game.