🎬 Animation Lab

What You'll Do This Week

Two hours of focused practice. Hour 17 is sandbox-style — three short exercises to get fluent with the Animation window. Hour 18 moves up a level to Mecanim, Unity's state-machine-based animation system used in every shipped Unity game.

Project Setup

1. 1
   Open Unity Hub → New Project → 3D (Core). Name it AnimationLab. Click Create.
2. 2
   In the Project window, create folders: Assets/Animations, Assets/Scripts, Assets/Materials.
3. 3
   Save the open scene as SandboxScene in Assets/Scenes/.
4. 4
   Add a Plane at origin (GameObject → 3D Object → Plane) so animated objects have a visible ground reference.

Animation Fundamentals — 5 Things to Know

1. Two Different Windows

2. The Auto-Setup Magic

When you click Create in the Animation window for a GameObject with no animations, Unity creates 3 things at once:

3. Record Mode = Auto-Keyframing

The big red ● button in the Animation window. While Record is on, every property change to your GameObject gets saved as a keyframe at the current playhead position.

4. Two View Modes

Switch between them with the tabs at the bottom-left of the Animation window.

5. Essential Shortcuts

Make an Object Fly in a Large Arc

Make an Object Flicker

Make an Object Appear to Morph

Welcome to Mecanim

Mecanim is the name for Unity's animation system above the level of single clips. It uses a visual state machine to control which animation plays when, based on parameters your scripts can set.

The Animator Controller

An Animator Controller (.controller file) is the asset that holds your state machine. Every animated GameObject references one through its Animator component.

Anatomy of the Animator Window

• Layers panel (top-left): for advanced layered animation. Leave on Base Layer for now.
• Parameters panel (left): variables that drive transitions. Click + to add.
• Graph view (centre): the state machine. Right-click to add states.
• Entry node (green): the entry point — connects to the default state.
• Any State (cyan): a special state for transitions that should fire from anywhere.
• Exit node (red): used for sub-state machines.

Default State (Orange)

The state coloured orange is the default — Unity automatically transitions into it when the Animator starts. To change which state is default, right-click any state → Set as Layer Default State.

The Four Parameter Types

Transitions and Conditions

Creating a Transition

1. 1
   Right-click the source state → Make Transition. A white arrow follows your cursor.
2. 2
   Click the destination state. The arrow connects.
3. 3
   Select the arrow. In the Inspector, click + under Conditions. Choose a parameter and a comparison.

Important Transition Settings

Build It: An Opening Door

Put everything together. You'll build a door that opens when the player presses Space and closes when pressed again.

State Diagram

Step-by-Step

1. 1
   Build the door. Create an empty GameObject named DoorPivot at (0, 0, 5). Add a Cube as child, position (0.5, 1, 0), scale (1, 2, 0.1). The pivot lets the door swing on its hinge edge.
2. 2
   Create two clips. Select DoorPivot. In Animation window: Create → save as Door_Closed.anim. This clip should keep rotation Y at 0 for both keyframes (1 second long).
3. 3
   From the clip dropdown in the Animation window → Create New Clip → save as Door_Open.anim. Record. Frame 0: rotation Y = 0. Frame 1:00: rotation Y = 90.
4. 4
   Open Animator window. Window → Animation → Animator. With DoorPivot selected you'll see both clips already in the controller. Right-click Door_Closed → Set as Layer Default State.
5. 5
   Add a Bool parameter. Parameters tab → + → Bool → name it IsOpen.
6. 6
   Make transitions. Right-click Door_Closed → Make Transition → click Door_Open. Select the new arrow. In Inspector: untick Has Exit Time, set Transition Duration to 0.1. Add Condition: IsOpen = true.
7. 7
   Make the reverse transition. Right-click Door_Open → Make Transition → Door_Closed. Same settings but condition: IsOpen = false.
8. 8
   Write the controller script. See the script below. Attach to DoorPivot.

// DoorController.cs
// ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
// Toggles the IsOpen Animator parameter when the player presses Space.
// The Animator handles the visual transition automatically.
// ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

using UnityEngine;

public class DoorController : MonoBehaviour
{
    private Animator animator;
    private bool     isOpen = false;

    void Awake()
    {
        animator = GetComponent<Animator>();
    }

    void Update()
    {
        if (Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.Space))
        {
            isOpen = !isOpen;
            animator.SetBool("IsOpen", isOpen);
        }
    }
}

Common Problems

Extension Challenges

Continue Studying Mecanim

Your Hour 18 task is to keep exploring. The official Unity documentation is the canonical reference — bookmark these pages.