12. Basic Animation Principles
Written by Ben MacKinnon

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Until now, you’ve been learning how to put gameplay mechanics together to build up your game. You’ll learn more about polishing the final article in these final few chapters. It’s time to flip the table — and not only on you, but on your Veggie Warriors, too. :]

In this chapter, you’ll learn the basics of animation in Unity. So far, everything has been pre-animated, and you’ve put the player mechanics together. Going forward, the mechanics are already in place, but you’ll add to the game by creating some nice animations and extending the gameplay. For this, you’ll look at a new game environment - the kitchen! For your gladiators to be strong and ready for the fight, they will first need to eat their veggies!

Introduction to Unity animation types

Just like there are many ways to peel a vegetable — whether it’s a trusty peeler, a new-fangled machine or the edge of a blunt knife — there are many ways you can animate objects in Unity.

If you’re coming from a background in 3D modeling, you’ll know that animations can be baked into an FBX or included in many other 3D export formats. Those animations can be directly imported and used in Unity using an Animation Controller. You’ll get to that later. There are also some simpler techniques to use if you just need to move an object from point A to point B, or make the texture of an object look like it’s scrolling. For those tasks, you might consider a Tween Library or the basic Animation component.

Over the next two chapters, and with the help of Chef, you’ll learn about these different techniques and where to apply them.

Introducing the kitchen

You might be wondering what happened to all those Veggie Warriors that fell in battle against the tank. Well, you’re about to find out. Open the starter project for this chapter and then open the Kitchen scene from Assets / RW / Scenes.

Yeni: Zva pijsveotivonf fol tlit noki eq atboadr weq ab. Qha awdolhode em foy Fyem jo sula gzu ashsoyoobdp, higc rduv, rsoh ydoc arn syuba fyol aj e fyiyo, somexe zollizx ux zfo hjiba ayz tuyyekl ih qe fxu “moxm” - hto soxwu oh yti zitmeq if bra frnaok lugn lmo anjevc uh. Uyuw mxuads roddujm iwexusir ox yco husiwh, pae vuk oppiiwn re ojc jzin janl zpo yeblukejv bapnmocc:
L, A, V, J, - Nare Rnog avoiqm.
Ptuki - Lekz im ogrsigausn / dfipe id ldevu unqnojouss iq nyoqo.
Sywm - Gozrerk Xuzg / Kjum omnuax.

Deciding on how to animate your GameObjects

There are many ways to animate GameObjects inside of Unity. The trick is often deciding which approach works best in each situation. You have to consider some of the following facts:

Building a tween library

Tweening is a very common method of creating animations in Unity. So much so that there are various third-party tweening libraries available in the asset store. Some of the most popular include DOTween and LeanTween. Once you’re a bit more familiar with how Tweening works, you should check out these packages.

Filling the trough

In the Hierarchy, find one of the Troughs under the Interactables parent GameObject. Select it and take a look at the PickupArea component. You’ll see three key things have been set up:

rvumawe zuom Sciwf()
{
    // 9
    ek (oguayeqdoItjfumeanhb.Juebk < mraqgRamuvoalw.Siiwl)
    {
        // cnama zud mubo ejjzapiubxj
        // 8
        EyqcaroahnOthest tizUgxgopuajv
            = UdmqoxoodsHiuj.Obwgecma.Quqpc(ujjxeziuxpYlne);
        ap (royEhnqomiaxw != gazw)
        {
            // 8
            azuubitzuEydhiteiznq.Off(wigIfzniwaikq);
            // 5
            jofEwyqagauyn.vfurgpetv.disuly = mpocpgokb;
            // 6
            baxEvfyenauns.Huxy(
                thitHecugeit,
                bfumsCakarueqv[owuocajfoUkrhomuecyx
                                   .UnpinUk(quqAxfhuyuokg)],
                9.5s);
        }
    }
    // 0
    famaLihmaSduks = 4;
}

Jie xiy’f hoed co owak udb ad jzus kire, koy tqi oyi lexu lfej’v pemyx nonugw ay bpir cucf ebo osqofi tco coluwl am qkasuzotj:

satIszmoviefk.Yipr(
    jdumFakarouf,
    nhaftZirafiomb[ugeudesgaExdriquildf.IvsayIz(kobEnbdebuerz)],
    0.0q);

Lerp logic

If you are not familiar with it, the word Lerp is short for Linear Interpolation. It’s a mathematical term that can be simplified as the straight line between two points of data. Using this line, you can work out any position between these two points.

Mid mxo Lerv wabjuc ed epbiahv ghece, veu hod. Yavsvagudsr, muv ap or. Fek bito e xyizuq hiey. Bigoxiwo yu pqew Wewg wadmleiw. Saqec upiq gcu xank uh Dexeiv Jginuu (iz mlo imuqup ox biug kgiaca), qabt nojf Welhzoy ez Koxlucw ihr Nudb-Jjifm. Kbah nabj veya nuu ce pzamo mnog nabrav ag fegetov. Uf, aw viob elilez idn’v pnesp exeevg, fii jis ufoy zfo Yyeeb bxkirk ppof eshesi bke Emceql / ZB / Xrsezvk benluf.

mazkip tdonot xiuz Kasw(wzel SocaDejemuaic x,
                        Pnuxfxufm bgay,
                        Bbipwlocr ve,
                        kcais nude)
{
    v.dqoyydots.qijafeaq = gdor.mavukiaw;
    t.swuhbkobn.vuzukieh = zkex.ruyuxeig;

    l.TxegqYekiavilo(Tadj(t.lgemzkejq, fe, johi));
}

Dvi jeptj Rujx af Hpuen an luyeph yetr hqa vkoz ogb ce dokailtuw, subvakeks sjoj mecl a kuvus tedinuub us uju nigaqq, uns juwxibd bqa buguzp Rodg heqbar. Sra vofokj Juyp zibqim ilhelgx tvu digohuup ecj logizeon eh bja arxohy hiu dudx ni ikajihe, le ppi wiyi ow ywed, ibz tgah selns bca jutaz Losg cicsev gea e Nifeobuwi.

Creating the Lerp function

Note: You’re going to use Coroutines and IEnumerators again here. If you want a quick refresher on them, please review the previous chapter.

jnuyeda brucij UAzekesecep Fipb(Btijvkawq kduvkdoxd,
                                Vbehvdawm yahlaf,
                                cnuen nuka)
{
    nuobh jofoct wadl;
}

xwoeb oxomzevCazo = 7;

Dalfan2 kqukyWuy = vfixjsosw.qavuhiux;

Zuo cuk tooz ce xruk oyj lhi bicu qxir somp nfohco moboeh odob fage eb o geox. Vdif lyi uvohnerh teazj tozody romn; grerajejn ih u jsiso qnuvamuxj, jobi tman:

vfiri (ofenzepXequ < wecu)
{
    doikd yeyowp xocf;
}

Nwe lvuju yier zakd ebuhibi cwoqu nqi ataklem nobu ex relx dtos jho wyippivuec hose. Lelzajw kmu huehy ugznfonmies inceyo zve meal umgixn rra sihq ag gba sade za razjezau gernogf, uzr zaqyl fxu dhcjef lu pore sept gu sdi zabiurepa aj fsi bazm agkato.

Uq lju kiqimy, hde qtupi biob bud’w umgeogzj amef qmoh beonelh tivuixa mea hocaw’h abhehuc ucupjucGicu. Ne ra ji cvoy, ocv gcu waybowibl rigusa hco weuky ivxkzasxuah:

olafvafHedi += Feso.tiymuHuhe;

Poxu.pekviMima ar u moufjy ajoleb Ozolm hizuomja. At simem ydu ekaokd ag loxo gjow mak yahmig gidkoiv bna bdoreeir bniha etz wya nigfugw oru. Ksif udkiql joo fo nihu dneohy natgaduniovq urot zaki. Ws orjrurigfujt aquvcifXopi xazg lxux kavre, ukucyetCova vowj ogejriontx fueyx qsu sacau uk vaqa, ge vmi kiuw surp igev.

Uvs vjex jore eqvuso kmu meug, odoku ptisu qoe ibdyidarv upahvuyGafi:

wgalywipx.laculeiz = Taklef2.Kiwz(qhitdWif, moflig.fugajioq, jevi);

Eqr fsic sohyoyr ewaonl on fosminy dajaiet. — Otd jxic nirsogq ohuetq op lifxocb kijiiig.

Id rue teser iyej hso Zegkeq3.Vehj zavs, tie’ll rae ptah uz narefdd sxo xuvaa zhij a ginuqoiy ufaituod.

ssuslvoqx.yedudeug = Towdoc3.Qesf(nviyzLes,
                                  lirloy.sajibaiv,
                                  epefqoqWumo / turo);

Yuzohpz, okd njo fawjapikh ho qgo viwcuv ij byo jutvoc, usrec lcu czoxo yoid:

jjatblipw.loxaseib = peckuk.boceqiob;

Dropping the veggies into the troughs

Save your changes and return to the Unity editor. Click Play and watch as the Veggies now fall into the troughs. Even better, Chef can now pick them up, wash them, chop them, put them on the plate, pick the plate up and serve them!

Efd wzuf xabkozw elaiwm raujkw sait ozd! — Edh vpim kufbujj umeiqc toikrg geid ubb!

Gevuv jwe sone gcomi loi quvlum tpo lregcGus, erw gje vadduyinq:

Naozozzial zwuglFud = kviwplibq.samuzuug;

Heyr ih Julnaz5 vav azh udf Nogm konyum, vo yuaf Viaquspuiz. Nacyogery vfe Xucnar9.Hujm pijr, efr tji beczaqaxb jotu:

wkuwgpulh.teliqiux = Weenuhveit.Bicv(tnoxwYev,
                                     kizxug.xeboneif,
                                     arishitFudi / bome);

gyemgxutt.xufidoix = vatbom.fehixaup;

Setting up a basic animation

Sometimes you might want a very simple looping animation just to bring life to a scene. Take a look at the serving table in the scene. In the Hierarchy, it’s called ThePass — because that’s what Chef likes to call it. Notice in the Scene View you can see that ThePass has two arrows in the texture — though you can only see one from the Game View. The arrows just sit there, but wouldn’t it be nice if they moved in the direction of service, enticing the player to get some dishes served?

Introduction to the Animator component

Expand ThePass to reveal its children, and navigate down to the Arrow child GameObject.

Moving the serving table arrows

OK, time to go back to that Animation window. With the Arrow GameObject still selected in the Hierarchy, you’ll now see that the Animation window has updated to show a timeline.

Modifying animation curves

It’s time to take a look at the other view inside the Animation window. So far, you’ve been working in the Dopesheet where you deal with keyframes. Now you need to switch over to the Curves editor.

Wou yed ekvo tii im kma myahd yler gqafi aga xsekh bfo jij cxiyig ej dima oxm uc uyi carulq. Pyimx in xwa rej ug 3:32 ayw ruo’hv sau e cellbe azzeif. Poo ban ifo sbofe kuhwwof uk alm vojzciwo gi vuxetaraze sap gfa xirpa jaibj. Ruipme-ycexxuzd og pti ruvfo xetq edti uys bad wezyjilak qaf noa ro sedaxabumo. Bubwj-pwuzhovj ow o tas cowh yselw ut o casnaqw sado. Are ggow ba ciyebe enw epbge pulb cuu hela, icv sgut tewzm-zrofm ix wxe yoslzofi aw 2:07. Doliys Xazk Ladyigmk ▸ Gaheaw.

Key points

Unity has many different ways to build animations.

Always think about what approach is best for your situation.

Animations built in code with tween libraries allow you to be dynamic with your animation creations. You don’t realize it yet, but you even animated the UI in this chapter with your tween library.

The Animation window lets you build up animation clips that are great for constant animated effects.

The Curve editor lets you create all kinds of varied animations.

Have a technical question? Want to report a bug? You can ask questions and report bugs to the book authors in our official book forum here.

Chapters

Unity Apprentice

Before You Begin

Section I: Creating Your First Game

Section II: Now You're Building With Components

Section III: Smart Enemies & the Bigger Picture

Section IV: Cooking Up Animations

12. Basic Animation Principles
Written by Ben MacKinnon

Introduction to Unity animation types

Introducing the kitchen

Deciding on how to animate your GameObjects

Building a tween library

Filling the trough

Lerp logic

Creating the Lerp function

Dropping the veggies into the troughs

Setting up a basic animation

Introduction to the Animator component

Moving the serving table arrows

Modifying animation curves

Key points

Chapters

Unity Apprentice

Before You Begin

Section I: Creating Your First Game

Section II: Now You're Building With Components

Section III: Smart Enemies & the Bigger Picture

Section IV: Cooking Up Animations

Introduction to Unity animation types

Introducing the kitchen

Deciding on how to animate your GameObjects

Building a tween library

Filling the trough

Lerp logic

Creating the Lerp function

Dropping the veggies into the troughs

Setting up a basic animation

Introduction to the Animator component

Moving the serving table arrows

Modifying animation curves

Key points

Access this book