Platform Input Controller Animations

Questions & Answers
1

I am a bit of a beginner to Unity3D animation system particularly in this version of a game (3D Side-Scroller). I am using the Platform Input Controller script on my player and the third person model (mechanic) as my model. It comes with an idle, running, jump and walk animations, using the PIC how can I make animations happen according to what is happening? When he is standing still idle plays, when he runs run plays etc… Here is the script of the PIC.

// This makes the character turn to face the current movement speed per default.
var autoRotate : boolean = true;
var maxRotationSpeed : float = 360;

private var motor : CharacterMotor;

// Use this for initialization
function Awake () {
	motor = GetComponent(CharacterMotor);
}

// Update is called once per frame
function Update () {
	// Get the input vector from kayboard or analog stick
	var directionVector = new Vector3(Input.GetAxis("Horizontal"), Input.GetAxis("Vertical"), 0);
	
	if (directionVector != Vector3.zero) {
		// Get the length of the directon vector and then normalize it
		// Dividing by the length is cheaper than normalizing when we already have the length anyway
		var directionLength = directionVector.magnitude;
		directionVector = directionVector / directionLength;
		
		// Make sure the length is no bigger than 1
		directionLength = Mathf.Min(1, directionLength);
		
		// Make the input vector more sensitive towards the extremes and less sensitive in the middle
		// This makes it easier to control slow speeds when using analog sticks
		directionLength = directionLength * directionLength;
		
		// Multiply the normalized direction vector by the modified length
		directionVector = directionVector * directionLength;
	}
	
	// Rotate the input vector into camera space so up is camera's up and right is camera's right
	directionVector = Camera.main.transform.rotation * directionVector;
	
	// Rotate input vector to be perpendicular to character's up vector
	var camToCharacterSpace = Quaternion.FromToRotation(-Camera.main.transform.forward, transform.up);
	directionVector = (camToCharacterSpace * directionVector);
	
	// Apply the direction to the CharacterMotor
	motor.inputMoveDirection = directionVector;
	motor.inputJump = Input.GetButton("Jump");
	
	// Set rotation to the move direction	
	if (autoRotate && directionVector.sqrMagnitude > 0.01) {
		var newForward : Vector3 = ConstantSlerp(
			transform.forward,
			directionVector,
			maxRotationSpeed * Time.deltaTime
		);
		newForward = ProjectOntoPlane(newForward, transform.up);
		transform.rotation = Quaternion.LookRotation(newForward, transform.up);
	}
}

function ProjectOntoPlane (v : Vector3, normal : Vector3) {
	return v - Vector3.Project(v, normal);
}

function ConstantSlerp (from : Vector3, to : Vector3, angle : float) {
	var value : float = Mathf.Min(1, angle / Vector3.Angle(from, to));
	return Vector3.Slerp(from, to, value);
}

// Require a character controller to be attached to the same game object
@script RequireComponent (CharacterMotor)
@script AddComponentMenu ("Character/Platform Input Controller")
2

If you want to distinguish between walking and running, you need a new if statement. It should check whether directionLength is below a certain threshold (a public float variable that you can adjust to determine what speed should constitute running as opposed to walking) in which case it will call animation.Play(“Walk” (or whatever your animation is called)). You should then add an else statement immediately afterward that calls animation.Play(“Run” (or whatever the running animation is called)). For jumping, add and if statement something like this:

if(Input.GetButton("Jump")){
    animation.Play("Jump");
}

For idling, you will need an if statement like this:

if(!Input.GetButton("Jump") && directionVector == Vector3.zero){
    animation.Play("Idle");
}

If you want the animations to fade smoothly from one to the next instead of just switching instantly, you can replace animation.Play with animation.CrossFade and add an argument that states the time in seconds you want it to take to smooth the transition.

I hope this helps. I am a bit of a beginner myself, so this may not be exactly the best way to do this.