Is it possible to use the fully body animations with first person arms that are rigged with bones that are the same as would be on an arm with a full body rig? Or do you have to make a separate animation for third person and first person arm rigs?
Currently the player is able to switch between first and third person views. The first person view is separate from third person and uses culling to hide the third person body and vice versa. I want to be able to have the animation viewable in first person, but I would use a separate animation controller and hand positioning.
For this kind of animation you could use Animation Layers. Just use the same rig for first person as third person, and then use the Avatar Mask to additively add the first person animations.
The only difference between a third person and first person game is the position of the camera. So I am not sure what you would need two rigs for. Make one model that has it’s whole body, and set the camera to be in a first person position were you only see your arms?
Observing player animations from a first person perspective can be quite…well…dull. It can look crap.
What a lot of people do is use a similar rendering/layering trick which is used to prevent your gun going through a wall with disembodied arms only visible in the camera near plane. This can often involve separate animations. You could mask your model in the Modeller and export just the arms and hands. This way you can sync the animations and position the arms more effectively on the screen.
Do note that when it is done badly it is hugely noticeable.
There should be something of use in this search.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=unity+first+person+hands+layering&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=n3YpVv_iD8X3UIzXqdgG