So if I go to the Unity menu “Window” → “Animation” and open the animation editor with the timeline and keyframes… is this the animation system that will be phased out eventually?
My basic understanding is that Mecanim is a system ideal for human characters and what not, but you cannot create your own keyframes or animate manually like you can in the Animation window editor. Everything is imported in whether humanoid or not. Is this correct?
I’m new learning Unity, so I’m trying to figure out if I shouldn’t be using the Animation window to make animations.
For example, if you wanted to make something simple like a door swinging open directly in Unity… will this no longer be doable in future versions?
It might simply refer to animations that are not managed by the Mecanim system. I import character animations as generic in order to use the Animator Controller, but I’ve not had much experience with other kinds of animation (object level) so don’t take this answer as gospel.
Nope, that is the animation window. With it you can animate in Unity. Its not going away, since it was just updated in Unity 4.3 so that it is now compatible with mecanim. It used to be compatible with Legacy only.
Nope, you can animate and create your keyframes manually in the Animation window editor (using Mecanim or Legacy system), it doesn’t have to be a human, it could a be a door or anything.
You can continue to use the animation window to animate and should do so if its helpful for you.
You will be able to do this in future versions of Unity, don’t worry.
If your skinned mesh is set to Legacy in the import tab, it will have an “animation” component. This is being phased out.
If your skinned mesh is set to Humanoid or Generic (Mecanim) it will have an “animator” component. This is what Mecanim uses so this will not be phased out.
Legacy is being phased out but that won’t happen so soon since Mecanim (Generic + Humanoid) has to catch up in terms of features with Legacy. At the moment some things you can do with Legacy that you can’t do with Mecanim. Until Mecanim can do at least what Legacy does it will not be removed. It will happen but not that soon.
You can still you use legacy if you need the speed (for simple animations, it is faster than mecanim). If you need a simple thing like opening a door, Mecanim can do it but won’t be as fast as Legacy.
and should do so if its helpful for you.