UnityConstraints is a collection of 3D constraints - simple behaviors you can use like building blocks. If you have used a 3D animation package, such as Maya, Max or Softimage, you will recognize the basic constraint types, but UnityConstraints takes these further to specifically aid Unity game development by offering standardized solutions to common behaviors. For example, you won’t want to code your own ‘look at’ solution ever again.
UnityConstraintsare light-weight and efficient and designed for performance in even the most demanding situations.
Most Constraints Now Update Live in the Editor even when the game isn’t playing, making classic “rigging” possible!
UnityConstraints 5.0 is now available for download.
Please note this is a major version release because it will require a minor update to your project. UnityConstraints is still backwards compatible, we just added everything to a namespace. Any script that uses the UnityConstraints API will simply need ‘using PathologicalGames;’ at the top. That’s it.
I am interested in your statement about using UnityConstraints as a classical rigging system. Is there any place in the documentation or an example video that shows this off? Does this package allows you to have IK constraints so that moving a child object will move the parent and not just the other direction?
UnityConstraints doesn’t offer an IK solver, only constraints. I believe there might be a solver out there, then you could use constraints to pick things up, attach a leg to a spine, make a head look-at control, etc.
There are some videos here that show some of the basic example files: http://constraints.path-o-logical.com/
The package comes with an example file per constraint as well.
I’m a bit confused how you can get “classical rigging” then. If the constraint only makes changes to the parent also effect the child, how is that different from parenting an object using the Unity hierarchy?
What do you mean when you say “constraint only makes changes to the parent also effect the child”?
“Rigging” is really any combination of objects and relationships which serve a combined purpose. Unity Constraints offer a number of relationship types: global and camera space Transform Constraints (rotation, translation and scale), several variations of look-at (hard/fixed, smooth/lagged, billboard) and a few other modular tools. These work in combination or separate of hierarchical relationships. I’ve rigged characters in more than 6 3D packages including (old)Softimage, XSI, Maya, Houdini and a couple proprietary ones. These constraints are similar to constraints you would find in any of these, but with some Unity-specific flavoring of course.
