Rigging a 2D Character in Unity Using IK
In Unity, you might encounter a problem where you can only animate a character within a single hierarchy. In this course, you will learn to set it up so that its feet never miss the ground.
What you'll learn
Unity have enhanced their 2D components with bone animation for sprites, including the use of inverse kinematics rigs. To get your characters to have some traction within their environment, you need to know how to set up characters so they can be controlled by objects outside their hierarchy. In this course, Rigging a 2D Character in Unity Using IK, you will gain the ability to set up a character so that it's feet never miss the ground when being controlled by a player. First, you will learn how to assemble a 2D character from sprites, and set up those sprites to be controlled by nones. Next, you will discover how to integrate particle systems with sprites. Finally, you will explore how to create a handful of small rigging components of your own to drive objects outside the character's hierarchy, and keyframe a 2d character walk cycle that dynamically adapts its footsteps to undulating terrain. When you’re finished with this course, you will have the skills and knowledge needed to adapt these concepts to creating a 2D Inverse kinematics rig of your own. Software required: Unity.
Table of contents
- Laying out the Project and Installing Essential Packages 2m
- Creating a Simple Landscape Using Spriteshape Profile 5m
- Arranging Sprites to Build The Character 4m
- Arranging Our Sprites in Sorting Layers 3m
- Generating Geometry for Bones in the Sprite Editor 2m
- Creating Manual Subdivisions around the Joints 5m
- Drawing Bones 4m
- Creating Skin Weights and Assigning the Bones to the Mesh 5m
- Adding Inverse Kinematics to the Legs 7m
- Raycasting with the GroundSensor Script: Part 1 2m
- Raycasting with the GroundSensor Script: Part 2 5m
- The FootstepLocator Script: Part 1 3m
- The FootstepLocator Script: Part 2 3m
- Guiding Root Motion with the AboveGroundLocator Script 7m
- Bringing the Custom Scripts Together 2m
- Laying out the Animation Workspace 3m
- Creating an Idle Animation Clip 6m
- Beginning the Walk Right Animation Clip 8m
- Adjusting Height with the Above Ground Locator 2m
- Adjusting with Timeline 3m
- Adjusting the Smoothness of the Left Leg 4m
- Adjusting the Smoothness of the Right Leg 7m
- Finishing Touches 6m
About the author
Shane Whelan is a Game Design tutor at Ballyfermot College in Dublin, currently teaching in the Game Design and Animation degree program. He is also co-founder of Sneaky Vegetables, an educational games company, currently developing an untitled networked story-making game for children. He has also developed courses for Game Design that run internationally. Shane regularly works with Photoshop, 3ds Max, Unity, Mudbox, and Unreal Engine 4.