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Animation problems, need help badly

Discussion in 'Getting Started' started by Bill_Martini, Aug 13, 2019.

  1. Bill_Martini

    Bill_Martini

    Joined:
    Apr 19, 2016
    Posts:
    445
    I'm struggling with everything animation...

    I can't seem to make a clean playable loop from an animation clip. Even when all four indicators show green the loop transition is extremely noticeable. Can't find a start and end that will loop seamlessly. What are my options?

    Another animation I found is perfect except the hands sink into the body at points in the animation. Moving the hands forward a bit would solve. Is there a way to correct this in the animation clip? How?

    Is it possible to copy all hip down animation keyframes and paste into another clip? How?

    How to make a full humanoid animation clip? I can move a gameobject or change color / scale on it, but I'm completely overwhelmed with 60+ data points for each keyframe. Are there tricks for this? Are there editors for this that can make this easier?

    Does this make sense to hire someone to do these? I've wasted several days trying to get something usable and I don't feel I'm making progress. Anybody know the going rates for a freelance animator? Any thoughts and suggestions are most welcome.
     
  2. JoeStrout

    JoeStrout

    Joined:
    Jan 14, 2011
    Posts:
    9,859
    Those things are normally done in a 3D modeling/animation program like Blender, 3DS Max, Cheetah3D, or maybe Maya. In Unity, you just play the imported animation clips, not try to edit them.

    And yes, if you want to focus on learning to code, then you should probably hire out your custom animation needs. Fiverr.com is a decent place to try and find such freelancers, though I've had somewhat mixed-quality results.
     
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  3. Bill_Martini

    Bill_Martini

    Joined:
    Apr 19, 2016
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    Thanks Joe.

    It bugs me to pay to get this done. My games never get published or distributed. I just enjoy making them and don't want the hassle of publishing, support, maintenance, etc. It's not like I haven't paid for assets in the past, but I'd really like to learn this skill too. In the end there is still 24 hours in a day and sleep has to get crammed in there somewhere.
     
  4. JoeStrout

    JoeStrout

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    Jan 14, 2011
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    9,859
    I feel you. In that case I would suggest picking a game design and/or art style that simply doesn't require high-quality humanoid animation. That's a career-level skill and full-time job in itself.

    But there are tons of great games that use much simpler characters — like literally every arcade game from the 80s, every game on the GameBoy or SNES, and a lot of modern games like Geometry Dash, etc. Surely you can find an exciting idea that's either 2D, or simple enough 3D that you can manage the modeling or find suitable off-the-shelf assets?
     
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  5. Ryiah

    Ryiah

    Joined:
    Oct 11, 2012
    Posts:
    20,958
    Use Mixamo. It has an enormous database of animations as well as an autorig tool and it's completely free.

    https://www.mixamo.com/
     
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  6. Bill_Martini

    Bill_Martini

    Joined:
    Apr 19, 2016
    Posts:
    445
    Thanks @JoeStrout and @Ryiah much appreciated.

    Joe, I make all different styles of games 2D and 3D. So far I've used models that allowed retargeting the huge libraries of animations available to me. Since this is a hobby (with the hours of a full time job) I prefer free assets as much as possible. The intersection of good game ideas and free assets is very narrow, I do what I can with what I've got to work with.

    Ryiah, the first thing I tried was to retarget animations. As stated in my OP hands/forearms are penetrating the body. The reason for this is the model. It is a cartoon character with a big head, shoulders, arms, and chest with small hips and stubby legs. The character is grossly out of proportion so animations designed for a realistic proportions just don't work.
     
  7. Joe-Censored

    Joe-Censored

    Joined:
    Mar 26, 2013
    Posts:
    11,847
    I'm no good at animations either, and so far I got around the issue by simply choosing game ideas which don't require human models.
     
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  8. Bill_Martini

    Bill_Martini

    Joined:
    Apr 19, 2016
    Posts:
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    When I first started out I followed your (and @JoeStrouts) advice. Maybe I'm a little too ADD but I can't make the same type or genre twice. I'm fully aware that my methodology means I jump from one pitfall to another because I'm always forcing myself into new territory, it's also a way to learn, albeit a bit masochistic.

    Thanks for the advice but I can't help myself. And, I do this for fun!!!
     
  9. FiveFingerStudios

    FiveFingerStudios

    Joined:
    Apr 22, 2016
    Posts:
    510
    1. In order to loop a humanoid animation you have to get all the lights green AND enable “Loop Pose”.

    2. You can download the asset Umotion. It’s great for altering humanoid animations and there is a free version.
     
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  10. Bill_Martini

    Bill_Martini

    Joined:
    Apr 19, 2016
    Posts:
    445
    Thank you @FiveFingerStudios for the suggestion. I looked at that and it is a complete solution in itself. Sadly, I didn't want to spend my time learning an odd tool. I'd rather spend the time learning to do it in Maya, which is mainstream.

    But I am persistent. After trying to import the model into several different modeling and animation software, my problem became fairly clear. Every one complained about the model, each one had a different issue with the rigging. It became obvious I'd need to re-rig to fix this. My attempt to re-rig in Maya failed as I really don't know what I'm doing and following the step-by-step had no contingency for what happens when Maya chokes on the rigging.

    At that point I decided to take @JoeStrout advice and hire out at Fiverr. I'm supposed to have a re-rigged model on Monday. Hopefully that will resolve my animation issues. As long as the rigging was screwed up, I don't think there was a solution for this. I took it as far as I could go with it, sometimes you got to call out the big guns. Thanks all.