Tips and tricks for using PlayableDirector in Manual update mode

Unity Engine
1

The documentation on this is pretty sparse and infuriating so I’m including the completely undocumented things you need to do to actually control a PlayableDirector manually.

The main thing you’re probably missing is that you always callplayableDirector.DeferredEvaluate() once per frame.

  • Set your Update Mode to Manual.
  • In an Update function, call playableDirector.DeferredEvaluate();
  • If you want to advance the whole director, use playableDirector.time += yourDeltaTime.
  • If you want to use the PlayableGraph object, for whatever reason, you must rebuild the graph at least once (try doing it in Start / Awake) or whenever your playable asset changes:
playableDirector.RebuildGraph();
playableDirector.playableGraph.SetTimeUpdateMode(DirectorUpdateMode.Manual);
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