Different Idle animations

Kabalpck

Hi.

I've read the post about randomized Idle poses but wasn't able to reproduce it.

To not talk much, here is the screenshot:

https://postimg.org/image/fv9fwinad/

I've applied ActionList component directly to NPC.Perhaps I'm doing something wrong?

ChrisIceBox

Welcome to the community, @Kapalpck.

As your screenshot doesn't show it, I'm assuming the "Nuzzle" animations exist within your Animator component.  The ActionList itself isn't going to be run automatically - you still need to have it trigger through AC logic.

Rather than attaching an ActionList component to anything, use the Scene Manager to create a Cutscene and place the Actions in there instead.  Don't be put off by the name - if you set it's When running field to Run In Background, it won't act like a cutscene in the standard sense, and won't affect gameplay.

You will then need to make sure that the Cutscene itself is run.  Presumably you want this to run when your scene begins, in which case you can trigger it in your scene's "On Start" Cutscene (defineable within the Scene Manager) using the ActionList: Run Action.  Alternatively, you can just run it directly by assigning the Cutscene as your "On Start" Cutscene.

Finally, make sure that you insert an Engine: Wait Action after changing the idle animation - at the moment, it's looping back on itself instantly, which means there's no time for the effects to be felt.

KosMalakhov

Hello,Chris.

I'm working on the same game and have few more questions.

1. I did like you wrote above and it works but with one issue. I set Engine:Wait to the time that equals length of the animation. Sometimes it works perfect, but sometimes character freezes until new animation will run (like Engine:Wait time is set too long)

2. My character in scene has few Idle animations,that ok. I strat them from the cutscene which is set OnStart in Scene Manager. But there is a moment in a game, where a player gives this character a bucket and animations must change. Here is my implementation
http://joxi.ru/52an4JlHqd54A0

The variable Bucket_given is set to True.I'm sending Kill message to stop Dog_idles Cutscene (the one that runs OnStart) and then do the same sequence with Idle animations. It actually works but I loose a control after this action. I mean my cursor disappears,so I cant do anything in game.

I'm also added Variable chek in OnStart cutscene to run the correct idle animations

http://joxi.ru/zANe8QWs05GX29

KosMalakhov

Here was another question, but I've found a solution

KosMalakhov

Question 2 resolved. 

ChrisIceBox

The "Sprites Unity" animation engine option focuses on speed and convenience for the designer over lots of options.  You might find that in the case of this character, "Sprites Unity Complex" is the better choice.  That option allows you to define Mecanim parameters that AC will control, but how your Animator component makes use of them is up to you.  See Section 3.9 of the Manual for more on this mode.

Basically what you could do is create automatic transitions from one idle state to the other directly in your Animator component, so that you don't need to worry about Actions controlling which animation is playing.  You could also continue to use the Character: Animate Action to change an e.g. "idle animation" int parameter, which affects which transition gets played.

KosMalakhov

@ChrisIceBox, thanks

Well, actually everything looks pretty fine for me except these animation lags. I've tried to make a transition in Animator component. Yes, animations run smoothly , but they alway run in the same order and it doesn't look good (considering that this character is almost everytime on screen). If I want to randomize - I should go back to Variable:Check random number and it brings freeze problem.

To make things clear I've recorded short video

https://1drv.ms/v/s!AnZXODcaB0k1iXwhIUZOZfQZ_HPK
You can see that Freak animation runs ok until approx.24 second, where it freezes and then run again

All my animations are made with frames sequences,  put in individual animation files and put into Animator component.

KosMalakhov

I'm trying to understand the reason of this lag/freeze. Sometimes it runs smooth and sometimes not. Maybe it's(Engine:Wait) is dependent from something? 

ChrisIceBox

It could well be to do with the fickleness of Unity's animation system - the video shows the problem which you already described well, but nothing of your implementation.  If you want accurate transitions between idle animations, explicit transitions between them is the way to ensure that.  A custom script could easily automate the randomness of a given parameter on your Controller.

KosMalakhov

@ChrisIceBox, I got it. SO I have to dig into Unity Complex animation engine, to control all the parameters. So I will.

Thank you again.