I had a question: is there a way to import (or create) flat GUI or 2D animations? I know how to make 3D animations using autodesk Maya, but I don’t know how to make 2D shapes specifically animate… like a GIF sequence. Is there a way?
Use Unity GAF:
There are three approaches I know of. The first is to cycle through a set of textures. You will find some example code in this answer:
http://answers.unity3d.com/questions/19848/making-textures-scroll-animate-textures.html
The second way (also mentioned in the answer link) is to use a texture sheet and animate the texture offset of the material. You will find examples in the Unity Wiki including here:
http://wiki.unity3d.com/index.php?title=Animating_Tiled_texture
The third way (and I don’t have any example code to point you at), involves using a texture sheet and changing the UVs of the plane. This is the best way and used by third-party interface tools like NGUI and EZGUI. It is best because multiple animations (sprites), get batched together reducing drawcalls.