Animator Dynamic Parameters

Unity Engine
1

I’m trying to using the Unity animator in a grid based game. I would like to have an animation state for grid objects called “Pulse Towards” that takes a dynamic parameter (e.g., the Vector2 of the currently selected cell on the grid).

It doesn’t look like the animator system is designed to work with dynamic parameters (e.g., Vector 2 target).

I understand how I could do this OUTSIDE the animator system, but I’m trying to figure out how to achieve the effects WITHIN the animator system.

I understand that I could use setFloat with a x and y of the target and then use a blend tree to blend across a family of up/down/left/right pulse animations. But that doesn’t allow for precise control. For example, I’d like pieces farther away to pulse more. I’d also like the directions to be true to the target, rather than the blend, which is close, but not exact.

Is there an approach I’m missing, or is Animator the wrong tool for procedural animations like this?

2

You might be able to get a better result using Mixers in my Animancer plugin (link in my signature). They are essentially the same as Blend Trees but you have proper access to all the individual animation details. There’s one major problem with them in v3.1 which I’ve fixed in v4.0 (currently in Beta). Mixers are a pro-only feature, but the Lite version lets you try out all the features in the Unity Editor so you can see if it solves your problem first.