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Chaining Animations Above Layer Zero
Scenario:
An animation is running constantly on layer zero and should not be stopped.
Several animations need to be seamlessly chained together on a higher layer such that layer zero is faded out and remains faded out until the end of the chained animations.
Example:
The idle animation is running on layer zero. (It should not be stopped.)
An eat animation needs to be run on layer 100. It consists of 3 animations run in the following order:
Sit Down <- Fades in from idle.
Eat
Stand Up <- Fades out to idle.
The Issue:
After the first animation fades in, the idle animation should remain hidden. I've succeeded in doing this, but it seems harder than it should be. So the question is, what is a good pattern to use in this case? Am I missing some feature of the animation component that will let me cross fade a clip in, but not out.
Here is some prototype code for what I have so far. As you'll see, things get a bit messy in the middle of the code.
// Prototype code. Not optimized.
void Start()
{
animation.AddClip(sitDownClip, sitDownName );
animation.AddClip(eatClip, eatName);
animation.AddClip(standUpClip, standUpName);
animation[sitDownName].layer = 100;
// Don't like this having to do this.
animation[sitDownName].wrapMode = WrapMode.ClampForever;
animation[eatName].layer = 100;
animation[standUpName].layer = 100;
}
void Update()
{
// Note: An idle animation is running on layer 0.
if (state == 0)
{
if (Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.P))
{
Debug.Log("PlayAnim: SitDown");
state = 1;
// Will manually control weight.
animation.Play(sitDownName);
return;
}
}
else if (state == 1)
{
/*
* This is the section that seems unnecessarily complex.
*
* Have to manually control the weight of the sitDown
* clip. Can't use CrossFade or Blend since
* they also blend out at the end of the clip, which will
* expose layer zero.
*
* Also can't just monitor for the end of the sitDown clip since
* that will result in a one-frame exposure of layer zero.
* Work around is to set the sitDown clip's WrapMode to ClampForever
* then monitor its play time.
*/
float t = animation[sitDownName].time;
if (t > animation[sitDownName].length)
{
// Reached normal end of the sitDown clip. Transition to
// the the eat clip.
// Note: The eat clip loops.
Debug.Log("PlayAnim: Eat");
state = 2;
animation.CrossFade(eatName, fadeLength);
}
else if (t <= fadeLength)
// Continue to fade in.
animation[sitDownName].weight = (t / fadeLength);
else
// Completed fading in.
animation[sitDownName].weight = 1;
return;
}
else if (Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.O))
{
// Start the standUp clip.
Debug.Log("PlayAnim: StandUp");
state = 0;
animation.CrossFade(standUpName, fadeLength);
}
}