EDIT: We are sorry to announce that we have interrupted the development of UMOTION 2D and we consider it an obsolete software.
If you are using UMOTION 2D in a current project, please PM me for the support.
We are impressed by the upcoming Unity Native 2D Tools and the 4.x GUI and we plan to use them as soon as they will be available.
Instead of developing an external tool, now we are focused to develop native Unity Extensions.
UMOTION 2D PREVIEW !
we are happy to announce the development of a new 2D animation tool called Umotion. Using this tool you can easly create 2D animations and export them directly into Unity.
Umotion is very fast (only one draw call) and can save you a lot of memory since you only need to work with the separate elements from your texture Atlas and not the whole animation sequence. Furthermore you can use Umotion to resize complex 2D games with bigger 2D animations with Unity for iPhone and iPad.
The final result is similar to what you get when creating animations with a 3D software like Maya or 3DMax, only you are working into a 2D environment.
Umotion 2D workflow:
1)! Load the folder with the separated graphic elements ( even in different size ) created using a tool such as Photoshop or Flash ( .jpeg or .png Files ). *Example for a character: Head, body, arms and legs ( one leg or arm if you want to mirror it ).
*Example for animated background: ( background image and separate objects in movement ).
Move the pivot for every elements.
Change the Object priority.
Organize the element group.
In the working area you may rotate, move, zoom or mirror and change the assignation of elements.
Make keyframes and interpolations for all the animations ( copy and Paste keyframes ).
Create Atlas automatically and export it pixel perfect ( you can choose 512, 1024, or 2048).
Export the Script for Unity ( Automatically with the atlas ) to read the animation ( we export UV coordinates of the Atlas and all the animations ).
Within Unity assign the animation script and the Texture Atlas with separate UV to an empty object and use it as you want .
Umotion 2D is coded with Blitzmax ( Mac and PC ) and is available as a separate tool, but we are working with another Unity developer to provide an integration in the Unity editor that will be distributed in the Unity Asset Store.
If you are interested in Umotion please contact me PM for more information or for the Beta.
EDIT: the beta is for Mac and PC now
EDIT: Umotion 2D is “Work In Progress” stage even if is fully working for our 2D game projects.
EDIT: we are evaluating the price range and beta tester suggestions to add new features.
Umotion 2D for now is an external editor ( Mac and PC ) but we are studying, with the help of another Unity developer , the possibility to port it inside Unity Editor.
We have to valuate the cost and time for the porting.
I’m preparing basic documentation for beta testers.
Added Layers: with layers you can create complex character animation ( for example manage 2d Character animations with different angles ).
With layers you can create also scrolling brackgrounds with parallax .
You might notice the very few elements used to create the background ( 1 draw call ).
EDIT: removed obsolete link.
Script Usage: Function play_anim(number,startlayer,finishlayer,start,finish,anim_speed).
Added visual icons for graphic element assignation.
The software is looking fantastic, great job! It’d be interesting if there was a sort of “bending” feature.
it’d be great to move soft bodies, such as clothes and hair.
Also, since you also seem interesed in making the program work for environments, having a sort of grid or tiling option would help make pieces of environment easily “snap” together.
I know this is being a bit far along, but would you maybe consider upload these videos to youtube.
Somehow I’m having trouble investigating these .mov files and in .mov files in general. Could earn even more interest, also with this platform you’d get to reach an even wider audience.
I understand if it’s too much work.
Just thought, I’d put this in here, since I’m really interested in this project
@Diegoale2000 For clothes and hair we use traditional sequence of animation ( in Umotion 2D you can assign different graphic for every frame ). So you can mix animation with separated elements ( like arms and legs ) with sequence of animations ( hair and clothes ) in the same timeline.
It’s not well documented for now, we will prepare specific video tutorials.
@Acumen the .mov files are only for this preview. We will upload the videos to youtube as soon as possible.
