Help with proper PSB setup and workflow for bone-based animation and sprite resolver in 2021 LTS

Unity Engine
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So, I started my project on v2019 and have recently upgraded my project to 2021 LTS and it seems like the workflow and setup for importing a skeletal-animation character has changed. I’m struggling finding a viable tutorial for best-practices around this so I’m asking the community.

Let me set the stage: I have a character designed in Photoshop, fully layered (head, hair, torso, forearms, arms, hands, legs, shins, feet) and I have multiple options under each item (20 hairstyles, 3 different forearm sizes, etc.).

  1. What is the best way to setup my PSB file for 2021 LTS if I want to use the new approach to Sprite Swap/Sprite Library? Do I group each category of items in a photoshop folder/group? Previously, I had them all in one big list in photoshop and just assigned them a sprite resolver category in Unity but that is no longer the same so I need help with how to best set up my PDB file for 2021.

  2. How does setting up the sprite resolver groups work now? This is totally different in 2021 LTS vs 2019 so I could really use some help or tutorials there.

  3. What are best practices and proper steps in setting up my character, bones, etc. in 2021 for those that have done it successfully?

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From what I understand it’s a much bigger pain now, especially if you liked the way it used to work. Here’s a forum post that goes over how to set it up in 2021: https://discussions.unity.com/t/837608

I voiced my grievances over the 2021 changes at the bottom of that post.

As for your other questions, unfortunately I ran into a really annoying bug with weight painting before I could test out how to best use the new systems, and went back to 2020, so I’m not really qualified to answer.

Here’s my post on the bug I encountered if you’re curious: https://discussions.unity.com/t/904653/2

This bug doesn’t exist in 2020 as far as I know.

There are some nice quality of life improvements in 2021, but the overall systems work much better in 2020 in my opinion, so I’m just sticking with that for now.

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Thanks for sharing. Much appreciated and reading your frustrations helps me understand what I was seeing in 2021 as well. I’m going to give 2020 a try now.

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