Unite Now - Blending Gameplay and Storytelling with Timeline

Is it necessary to create separate assets for each section? For example, an island game where the player triggers an even that opens the next area of the island. So do I have to create separate sections of the island to make the events possible?

 

I have a situation where I'm trying to have a bunch of creatures running around my level, using timeline until the player comes across them. When the player enters a collider on the creature game object, pause timeline turn off one child mesh and turn on a different one. I got all of the above working to a point that I'm happy with.

But it's creating some unforeseen complications in the timeline workflow. I would really like to use Root motion if possible on the parent gameobject to move around in timeline. Seems like a much more intuitive way to block out the rough animation, and making it move naturally in the world. When I use root motion, it moves the child mesh inside the game object at double speed. The parent game objects collider, and center is no longer where it should be on the GO.

I tried to make a "fake" root animation clip that would move the parent gameobject the correct amount in scene space to look natural, and match the non root animation loops attached to the child mesh. Allowing me to quickly drag in animation clips and loop them to create natural looking movement in timeline like you could with a cut scene and a FBX file. But instead with a Game Object that has a visible and invisible child mesh.

So I when I go back through timeline to make sure uneven terrain isn't causing the creature to float or have their foot go through the floor. There doesn't seem to be anyway to keyframe that information on the parent game object in timeline without overriding the XZ scene movement I was trying to make with my "fake root motion". My current solution is to use a third track in timeline, that is a child of the parent game object, to match the animation clip to the uneven surface. Which is, of course, separating the parent Game Object center and collider from the mesh again.

My solution has been to move all the relevant colliders and trigger scripts down to the mesh child layer instead, and just let the parent game object float off wherever it wants. periodically re centering the game object with the mesh. But this feels very clunky, and I foresee it having some unknown consequences down the line in development.

Is there anyway to get root motion working with timeline on a complex parent game object, rather then only being able to use root motion in the context of a cutscene?