Animations play only partially in Unity.

I am animating with 3DS Max

What could cause animations to play only partially? It seems likely that it is my rig setup, perhaps my hierarchy setup is wrong / corrupted? The order is bones, IKs, helpers, controllers, and then parameters that are added to the controllers to help animate some parts of the skeleton. Does linking or constraining have a difference?

NOTE - I had this issue like 2 or 3 years ago. It is the reason why I took a break. It happened when Mecanim came around. Before that I never had any issues with Legacy (besides importing my controllers in as mesh ).

 

The problems you are having could be from a number of missteps in the character creation process.
One way I began to test my animation rigs initially when I started to use mecanim - because there are so many steps involved - was to start with a default biped rig and adjust it until it matched the humanoid system perfectly. Once I found the correct bone structure I have based all my custom rigs on that biped setup, though with additional hierarchies which mecanim ignores.
And a lot of research!

You can still use legacy if you prefer. Your old process should still work as it did before mecanim came along.

If you want to use mecanim to take advantage of it's benefits I'd suggest reviewing in detail a couple sources of information which have been invaluable to me. Getting used to mecanim isn't as easy for people (like myself) who are used to prior defined and well established workflows. It took me about 3 months to overcome my resistance of root motion setup.

Hope these help

http://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/ConfiguringtheAvatar.html
http://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/Preparingacharacterfromscratch.html
http://blogs.unity3d.com/2014/05/26/mecanim-humanoids/
http://blogs.unity3d.com/2013/02/07/automatic-setup-of-a-humanoid/
http://blogs.unity3d.com/2014/04/14/turn-your-character-into-a-player/

 

Controls and IKs don't really matter in Unity. Since you are exporting out just FK joints from your 3d package with the animation data baked down onto it. That stuff just helps you animate more efficiently in Max or Maya.

The first thing I would check if this was me having the problem.

Make sure that your 3d package is exporting out the full animation. Sometimes FBX settings can retain last export settings and may have had a determined frame duration set, instead of the full time line.

 

Been absent from game dev for a while. Hoping to get back into it soon.

theANMATOR2b, ill look into those links.

Jself, the last time i worked on my animation file, if i recall correct, my own exported fbx file did not play the full animation in 3ds max itself. So it seems it is not mecanim - if i recall correct. Some parts of the skeleton where not animating while other parts were animating. I assume it was the way I setup the rig. Could be the hierarchy setup, how i linked things together, the baking process, or the export process.