In the first chapter, we imported animations from external 3D packages to Unity. Now we will learn how to use Unity's powerful built-in tool called the Animation View. It allows us to animate almost everything within the editor and can be used to create interesting gameplay mechanisms. Knowledge of this tool is essential to learn future recipes as we will use Animation View a lot.

This first recipe shows how to make a basic animation inside Unity. We will animate a light-intensity value to create an interesting flickering light effect, which is often found in horror or sci-fi games.

Before we start, you need to have a scene with geometry and at least one light. You can also download the example provided; open the project in Unity and go to the folder Chapter 02 Working with the animation view\Recipe 01 Using the animation view to create a flickering light. You will find a scene called Example.unity there, with a point light that has already been animated.

This recipe shows how to use Animation Controllers with the clips created in Animation View.

We will animate the light color in this example. You need to have a scene with at least one light and a mesh to see the effect. You can also download the provided example Unity project and go to the Chapter 02 Working with the animation view\Recipe 02 Using the animation view and the animator controller to blend light colors directory. You will find a scene called Example.unity there, with a direction light that has already been animated. In this example, we also animate the background color of the camera (the camera is a child object...

In this recipe, we will create a very common gameplay mechanism: a moving platform. We will use a Rigid body for our character and an animated, kinematic Rigid body for the platform.

Before we start, you should have a scene with your character and a platform you want to animate. You can use the example project; go to the Chapter 02 Working with the animation view\Recipe 03 Animating objects world position - creating a moving platform directory. There is a scene called Example.unity there. If you open it, you will find a Sheep character in the Hierarchy. This is our character, using the Rigidbody component and...

In this recipe, we will learn how to animate an object's local position to be able to use the same animated object in multiple locations in the scene. We will create another common gameplay mechanism, automatic door, as an example.

To make an animated door, you should have two objects ready: the Door Frame and the Door. The Door should be a child of the Frame in the Hierarchy. It should be placed in the closed position. We assume that our Door will slide upward when opening. You should also have a player character with the Player tag assigned. The character should use a Rigidbody component to move or have...

In this recipe, we will explore local transform animations further. We will use the Hierarchy and create smart parent-child relationships between our game objects to make an interesting effect of orbiting planets. Learning how to animate an object's local position and rotation and use the Hierarchy to our advantage is key to getting the most of Unity's animation system.

Before we start, you need to prepare at least two objects to animate. We are using planets in this example. You can also use the example Unity project provided and go to the Chapter 02 Working with the animation view\Recipe 05 Using the hierarchy to animate...