Search Unity

Timeline: Parenting and Unparenting

Discussion in 'Timeline' started by Mario167100, May 29, 2020.

  1. Mario167100

    Mario167100

    Joined:
    Jul 25, 2016
    Posts:
    49
    Hey y'all.
    Right now, I'm using Unity as an animation station as opposed to a game engine. Currently, i'm working on an animated scene that has a character pick up a gun and put it back down again. My question is, how exactly do I parent and unparent a gameobject to another gameobject within timeline.
     
    Mario167100, May 29, 2020
    #1

  2. seant_unity

    seant_unity

    Unity Technologies

    Joined:
    Aug 25, 2015
    Posts:
    1,516
    It isn't possible out of the box with timeline, but it is something you can write your custom track/clip to do. One of the major roadblock to re-parenting in timeline is previewing - reparenting in the editor will cause changes to the scene. Timeline 'previews' any properties it changes.

    More about timeline scripting:
    https://blogs.unity3d.com/2018/09/05/extending-timeline-a-practical-guide/

    Alternatively, you could try to use Signals instead, which will only trigger in playmode.
     
    seant_unity, May 29, 2020
    #2

  3. Mario167100

    Mario167100

    Joined:
    Jul 25, 2016
    Posts:
    49
    If it's possible, can you explain how I would accomplish this using timeline signals?
    (Also, I hope that they allow easy parenting in future builds. I do know of a asset package called UMotion that can possibly help with this, but I just paid off some some stuff and I'm going to have to wait for my next paycheck)
     
    Mario167100, May 29, 2020
    #3

  4. seant_unity

    seant_unity

    Unity Technologies

    Joined:
    Aug 25, 2015
    Posts:
    1,516
    Here's a sample of how to do it.

    The pieces used are a
    * signal asset to act as the signal identifier
    * signal emitters on the track to tell the object to re-parent
    * signal receiver on the Cube to call a custom script that cycles through a list of parents, re-parenting to the next one in the list.
     

    Attached Files:

    seant_unity, May 29, 2020
    #4

  5. Gregoryl

    Gregoryl

    Unity Technologies

    Joined:
    Dec 22, 2016
    Posts:
    7,728
    Here's another idea: instead of parenting/unparenting, could you just have 2 guns? One parented to the hand and the other not. Then activate/deactivate them from timeline.
     
    Gregoryl, May 29, 2020
    #5
    hbguler and wm-VR like this.

  6. Mario167100

    Mario167100

    Joined:
    Jul 25, 2016
    Posts:
    49
    I haven't tried the signal package seant_unity sent, but that idea reminds me of stuff I used to do in other animation programs aswell as game prototypes i've built in the past. Thanks!
     
    Mario167100, May 30, 2020
    #6

  7. Mario167100

    Mario167100

    Joined:
    Jul 25, 2016
    Posts:
    49
    I tried your package and it worked. I'm gonna have to find a way to figure out how to exactly track the gun that is being parented within the editor. One idea I had was making a duplicate, faux object that would be used as a model for what actually goes on in game. If you got any suggestions, that would be good.
     
    Mario167100, May 31, 2020
    #7

  8. seant_unity

    seant_unity

    Unity Technologies

    Joined:
    Aug 25, 2015
    Posts:
    1,516
    Faux models or placeholders seem like a good idea.
     
    seant_unity, Jun 1, 2020
    #8

  9. KevinCastejon

    KevinCastejon

    Joined:
    Aug 10, 2021
    Posts:
    109
    I necro this post to share a solution I've came to for handling parenting into the timeline : a SetParentTrack.

    The track itself reference the object you want to be parented, the track inspector let you define a default parent when there is no clip under the playhead (null = scene root), and each SetParent clip let you define the desired parent.

    It's my first Timeline customization so let me know if you think there is a better way to achieve this

    https://gist.github.com/kevincastejon/7bc223c32344df0604d7ce7057416fda
     
    KevinCastejon, Mar 25, 2024
    #9