Official 2D Animation v2 - Preview Packages

Two crashes in a row (the second after rebooting Win7) when trying to import examples to 2D Animation 3.0.5 directly from the Package manager.
I'll ask you better here... - is there something new in the examples?
-Just a link from the package manager to the changelog led to version 3.0.4,
and again trying to import these examples...
Well, I'm scared for the hard drive on my laptop...
-What was it with Unity that it needed 3.5 Gigabytes of RAM to import less than 100Mb package?

P.S. A window in the middle, where there is nothing other than a white background, was the status line of the current operation, something like: “importing SpriteSwap...” etc.
And both crashes this line stopped on PSB files.

The error message windows say: "there is not enough memory in the system. Close Unity Editor..."
Yes, of course this is due to lack of space in the fixed size virtual memory Swap-file, but...

Why did she need these 3.5 gigabytes?
-Never earlier Unity didn’t require me like that

 

Tomorrow I will try again, on an empty project, and if this happens again, I will send a report. I will also check for 2019.2 if version 3.0.5 is available for it.

 

I did it again...
but now in new beta 2019.3.0b4,in empty just created project.
everething repeats.
Bugreport sent, (Case 1185787)

My HardDrive after all that "tests"


start at 10:50 end ~11:15
etc...

P.S. The animation package itself and the PSBImporter when importing other psb-files - work fine.

 

Hi @Leo-Yaik, I've just updated Unity from 2019.1.8 to 2019.2.6 AND 2D Animation from 2.1.0-preview.5 to 2.2.0-preview.5 and the loss of FPS is terrible it tooks 80ms in CPU compared to the previous 9ms ... It seems that you are aware of this, what can I do, what is the plan ? Thanks a lot for this amazing feature hope you'll get back on your feet from a performance point of view. Keep up the good work !

 

I currently use a workaround for the performance issue regarding 2.2 in 19.2:
I disabe/enable animator or scripts that control the bones on OnBecameInvisible and OnBecameVisible.
Also I found out that it doesn't matter how many bones a sprite skin entity has. Computation time didn't decrease with the amount of bones I used.
But I'am looking forward for 2019.3!

 

Are there plans to expose more methods for scripting purposes? I've updated from a previous preview package and noticed that now even the SpriteSkin class is marked as internal. I've been using a script to speed up any repetitive work and it would be nice if I could stop using reflection as that usually is asking for trouble with lack of documentation/knowledge how exactly the methods work.

Haven't looked into it yet but anything used in the Sprite Editor would be amazing to have for script functionality as well, like the ability to generate a mesh for a given sprite, the ability to assign bones to a mesh and auto calculate weights, etc. Most of the in-game character equipment I have are good to go out of the box with just auto mesh and auto weights.

Right now, I use "get_rootBone", "set_rootBone", "get_boneTransforms" and "set_boneTransforms" in combination with the sprite renderer to automatically assign and bind new equipment to the same body with the correct sorting order. Each equipment has the standard skeleton with the same bones (done in editor tool), so the only thing I need to do is to get the bones and rootbone from the standard body, and use those to replace the bones of the equipment. As the corresponding bone names are the same, there's no issue with it.
I see that there's also sprite swapping now but it's apparently only usable from within the Sprite Editor Tool, it appears to be a lot of tedious manual work with no option to automate it in a script, can't really judge it yet though as I haven't used it but don't want to reinvent the wheel as my current workflow doesn't require much work anyway.

As for other things I would like to see:
- to change the color of a bone within the sprite editor tool, sometimes you end up with 2 nearby bones with nearly the same color, resulting in a lot of confusion when doing weights.
- to edit mesh vertices with animation keys. It would be a single row key with the option to go back to the default mesh, this is a necessity to create proper 3D effects. It's already available in the Sprite Editor Tool, and having the same available when making animations would be perfect. Spine 2D has that option and it brings your animation to the next level when used properly (and sparingly).

 

Hi guys, I'm wondering about the number of draw calls. I see that each sprite creates one sprite renderer.

Does that mean one draw call per sprite? That could turn out to be very expensive. In theory, one character could go in one draw call.

It'd be interesting to know what you guys have planned as we'd like to start using the system now.

 

Hi, I'm testing/poking around with the 2d animation and i have some doubts about some of the features, is okay to ask doubts here or there is a post dedicated to that?

 

It's total crap, going back to anima2d will give it a chance when you will release it officially AFTER SOME FIRST USER IMPRESSIONS.

 

No its not. Its a very good package but it just needs to be a little more stable.

 

Thank You!

I found what exactly was the problem, and already found a solution (for myself)
All this happened only due to the fact that the updated examples included "too large" PSB-files - dialog gray.psb and dialog.psb with a resolution of 4961x3508!
The process of importing these files for my computer configuration ends with a memory overrun.
If they are resized to the size of the same Fei.psb 2141x2705 - import occurs quickly and completely without problems.
Of course, all the information about bones and skins will be distorted, but the import will end without errors and I can study new examples even with distorted sprites.

I understand that my laptop has a very “weak” configuration by now but trust me - With Unity 2019.3 -it is fully functional again! (but 2019.2 was too slow)
And now -new Unity's beta-versions -works on it completely fine! Like all other 2D packages.
And the PSD-importer, too, in all other cases, with the exception of such large pictures

I hope this is still a bug or some kind of non-optimal code... -And all this can be fixed..

If it is impossible to fix it in the PSD-importer... -These are Official Examples...
-It would be better if they worked absolutely for everyone without problems.
(And the documentation does not say anywhere about possible memory overrun in case of too "voluminous" graphics )

With best regards, Alex!

 

Will there be the possibility to pack sprites via sprite atlas to generate an optimized sprite sheet to use for the rigging?
Currently the sprite sheet workflow seams only to work with psb importer package or did I overlook something?

 

Well... is about UI when the rig is inside a canvas it is always drawn behind everything, I'm doing something wrong or you guys didn't reach that part yet?

 

@ed_s and Team, Is there a way to do Sprite Swap without using PSB format? normal PNG format with separated arts / geometries? I can't see sprite option in the visibility menu in this format, its unfortunate for the non-adobe user

 

I am planning to use 2d animation for my project, as it is still in preview should I go ahead?
At which version of unity will this package be available?

 

Hi, thanks a lot for the response, yes I've tried that, and it works, but its for per sprite slice, for a rig that looks like this:

its only possible to change the whole sprite, not per parts (ie: arms sprites switched with another arms sprite only, without changing the whole character).

Seeing this link https://docs.unity3d.com/Packages/com.unity.2d.animation@3.0/manual/SLASwap.html , I can't find this menu below, when using a PNG:


Hopefully this gets updated soon. Cheers.

 

Hi everybody how are you? I am new to game development, and I am interested in 2D development, I created my character with this tool, but I have problems in the code to move it. I can only apply movement when my Rigidbody2D is set as Kinematic, but I would like my character to be affected by gravity. Somebody could help me? Of course, thank you very much to everyone!


Link Reference Rigidbody2D: https://prnt.sc/prx0x6

Code (CSharp):

1. using UnityEngine;
2.  
3. public class JohanControler : MonoBehaviour
4. {
5.     private Rigidbody2D rbPersonaje;
6.     private Vector2 vMovimientoPersonaje;
7.     public float velocidad;
8.     public Animator animPersonaje;
9.  
10.     private void Start()
11.     {
12.         rbPersonaje = GetComponent<Rigidbody2D>();
13.         animPersonaje = GetComponent<Animator>();
14.     }
15.  
16.     // Update is called once per frame
17.     void Update()
18.     {
19.         Vector2 moveInput = new Vector2(Input.GetAxis("Horizontal"), Input.GetAxis("Vertical"));
20.         vMovimientoPersonaje = moveInput * velocidad;
21.  
22.         if (Input.GetKey(KeyCode.RightArrow))
23.         {
24.             Vector3 temp = transform.position;
25.             temp.x += velocidad * Time.deltaTime;
26.             rbPersonaje.MovePosition(temp);
27.         }
28.     }
29.  
30.     void FixedUpdate()
31.     {
32.         rbPersonaje.MovePosition(rbPersonaje.position + vMovimientoPersonaje * Time.fixedDeltaTime);
33.  
34.         if (Input.GetKey(KeyCode.RightArrow))
35.         {
36.             animPersonaje.Play("PlayerRun");
37.         }
38.         else
39.             animPersonaje.Play("PlayerIdle");
40.     }
41. }
42.  
43. This is only a test, but with this code using the Kinematic mode of the RigidBody2D, the character moves in the direction he wants, but it affects gravity, I need to be affected by gravity, as he will jump and others and also I can use the collisions.
44.  
45. I hope you have explained to me and some good soul leads me, thank you very much!
46.  
47. Greetings from Argentina!

 

Hey there, firstly, thanks for the amazing work on the whole package. It changed the way we animate things in our game! Having everything inside unity is a huge gain for us! ♥

Right now I'm facing an issue with changing layers on one of our animations in Photoshop and wanting to get that little change into unity again.
If I overpaint something in Photoshop, which makes a layer/sprite larger, the rendered image becomes a blurry mess in unity. I'm assuming this is because the generated sprite sheet inside unity shifts around from the differently sized layer/sprite after the change in Photoshop.

Is there any way I could tackle this? I've been looking at sprite swapping but it doesn't seem like the solution for me. I've also tried the Reslice option on the PSD importer. That did fix the rendering issues, but it removed all the mesh and weight information.

 

Once you asked me - what can I offer to improve workflow...
-Just see this short video in which there is probably everything that all 2D Unity animators dream of - FFD, sprite swap "on the fly", auto rigging ...
Just look at how easy it is to assign bones to sprites, replace sprites...

And then take a look at the Skinning Editor's window 2DAnimation-packet with drop-down lists of Categories and Labels that you need to enter and rename... and not make mistakes in names...

Yes, everything works! Thank! B-I-I-IG Thank! -This is the best of what is now in Unity.
But is it really convenient?..

And here are many, many examples of what we would love to see in Unity:

https://www.reallusion.com/cartoon-animator/draw-to-animate.html

 

Is there a built-in way to sprite swap with sprites that add additional bones?

We're using Unity 2D Animation to animate characters that are going to have the option for different hairstyles. We've successfully set up our Sprite Library and Sprite resolvers, and are able to switch for hair style to hairstyle from different sprite files. We copied the hair bones from the base character's PSB files so we can swap hairstyles and still animate.

However, hair styles that are long and flowy will have different bones and animations than a spiky hair style. We've seen that when using the Sprite Resolver, Unity will automatically remove unused hair bones when switching sprites, so long as the base bones all exist in the main character sprites. However, if we want to add say a long pigtails hairstyle with new bones, Unity can't add these new bones to the rig, and just leaves these bones as "none." If we have the bones added in to the base character rig, they will appear when we sprite swap to the sprite that uses them, but this also will only place the bones where they are located in the base character rig, not necessarily where they are in the hairstyle sprite.

Is the only option to have the base character rig to be built with all possible bones for all hairstyles already added, and then have the hairstyle sprites only include the subset of those bones that are required?

 

Thanks for the work arounds! Will give them a try. It would be really convenient if the sprite swapping could add the extra bones on the fly; the extra sprites already have the basic bones from the main rig copied and pasted in so that the animations are already picked up. If the additional bones could be auto created on the sprite swap I think that would add a lot to the experimental sprite swap feature. I'm really excited about the direction the 2D Animation package is going and how much it simplifies character rigging and customization.

 

I've done a video on how to customize a 2D rig, without using the PSB format, here it is:

Cheers

 

But why?
If in the PSB-file for each layer its position is absolutely known, then why does the Sprite Swap components work that way?



How to fix this shift now?..
Maybe I missed something again?

 

The sprite swap implementation didn't quite work as I wanted either. Sadly, the 2d packages have a bunch of internal classes which make it very cumbersome to extend or even reference from another namespace. For my project, I just wound up writing my own sprite swap code.

 

Nobody home...

 

That would be great!!!

 

Hi, I'm an animator and about to use Skinning Editor for my characters and monsters.
I have few questiions.

1. Is there any way to use this package without using PSB?
I just noticed that because the PSB make the atlas itself, it cannot be able to combine with other atlases. and which means it costs drawcall by the number of PSB.
I tried importing just PNG file and made some bones skinned using Skinning Editor, but it won't generate any bones in hierarchy.
So, I just found the way that I put all the character images on one PSB file and skin them all to get low drawcalls.

2. Is there any way to re-use the sprite in PSB?
For example, I made Jellyfiish with 4 legs, and even though the legs look exactly same, I had to add same 4 legs in PSB file. If I know how to reuse the sprite, I could save lots of resources.

3. Is there a shortcut for details of Weight Brush?
For me, it's really difficult to change brush size and hardness.
I change those parameters very often when I skin sprites. If there are any shortcuts of them, it will save my time.

 

Would my performance be affected too much if I use the Skinning module with a single sprite? I want to attach 3-4 bones to the sprite so that I can deform it (it is a large palm leaf, 30-40 of them).

Also, is the skinning module fast enough to be used for mobile games?

 

Hi everyone
I have a question regarding the Unity 2D animation asset.
On my project I have tons of little character doing simple animations. I was thinking for optimisation purpose (My project is for mobile) to make 1 2048x2048 sprite containing all my characters (with texture packer or inside unity), and then with unity 2D animation asset to create different rigs and characters with this single texture atlas...
Well I am not sure it is feasible, I only see tutorials where people import 1 single spritesheet per characters via photoshop psb importer. I could do that but it seems to be not a good practice (having 10 sprites instead of 1) for optimisation.
What do you think about that, is there a work around? Is it ok to have that much sprite loading on mobile apps?
Thank you for your feedback !

 

One last question
Is it possible to have a an automatic setup out of a photoshop hierarchy. Actualy I dont need even bones or deformation, as my animations would be really simples, and there will be only one animation per character.
Making a bones setup per character (about 50 in total) will take me as much time as making the animations.
I guess it is not possible, but I ask in case I had missed some informations.
Thank you !

 

Hi Molmote88
I have the same exact question and was thinking putting all my characters in one single psb as you said. Did it worked for you to create differents characters in unity 2D animation with one single psb file? I am a bit lost at the moment...

 

Yes, mine works. I made them all in one PSB and made to separated prefab.
But not sure if this is the right thing to do.

 

I found another problem with using one single PSB.
If I change a single sprite layer in PSB file and save it again, the geometry of that sprite will be reset.
So I will lost all skinning information about that sprite, and I have to do it again.
I dunno. It will be awesome to have all geometry information even though I change sprite.
You know we can manually move and create vertices of geometry. If I change sprite, I want to change geometry not just reseting everything.

Btw, I cannot get any answer since last Saturday. Is this right place to ask to developer of 2D Animation?

 

Bug in 2.2.1 (Unity 2019.2.13): Renaming a PSB inside Unity causes it to cease working in some cases (like on an Android build), until I change anything in the PSB and hit apply.

 

May I suggest making this binding optional, may be? or somethin else...
-The fact is that the "Name of the Layer" - is something that I can easily control and that I can easily navigate.
And with reference to the "Layer identifier" - deleting a Layer or moving objects to a new one
and forgetting about - it is very easy.
And then return everything to the correct state - it is not always possible...

 

Is performance still considered an issue?

There was a part in previous pages about the fps dropping on addition of characters with bones animated, but mentioned it would be fixed with a new edition... It's a new edition, so not sure if it happened.

I am running a sample of a dancing flower that has 4 bones in the legs and 5 in the stem and about 20 sprites. The total size it's roughly 512*700 pixels. If I run an animation I get about 180 fps. If I put 14 flowers in the scene I get 16 fps.

I run this at 4k resolution or 1080 and the fps does not change. Adding a single flower about cuts the fps in half, but each one are takes a little less, like half, third, quarter, fifth, etc. After I reach 16 fps adding like 10 more flowers drops it to about 13 fps. It seems to do with the bones or animation.

I tested this in 3 different machines of various power and it's all the same. Seems like it is a constant issue. Related to fixed time or updates?

I have not tested this in a build, only the editor so far. I save 256-ish items from batching and only does 3 draw calls.

I saw a setting to adjust bone resolution times per frame, but that might have been a previous version as I can't seem to find it now.

I was running in 2019.2.14 with preview 2.1 I think (the latest as of now), but I had an error where bone settings would not save in an animation. I would push to Git repo after getting things set and load it back up and everytime some of the bones would not be set in the bone Sprite component (going from memory sorry). Seemed like selling wasn't writting to the meta file maybe.

I updated to 2019.3 with 3.5? (Latest to date of post) and all is well, minus the fps issue.

I love the new editor too!

So... Should the fps drop like that? Seems to be related purely to animating bones.

Here is a video.

 

Nobody home, again...