animation-workflow

Animation Workflow

Procedural guide for setting up Unity animation systems. Covers Animator Controller authoring, state machine design, blend tree configuration, animation events, and Avatar/humanoid rigging — all via the UnityEditor.Animations API and the Unity Animator runtime.

When to Apply

Activate when the task involves:

• Creating or editing an Animator Controller asset
• Defining animation states, transitions, and parameters
• Setting up blend trees (1D, 2D Freeform, 2D Cartesian)
• Configuring animation events that call MonoBehaviour methods
• Setting up Avatar definitions for humanoid characters
• Adding animation layers for body part isolation (upper body, additive)
• Writing editor utilities to scaffold a standard controller from code

Do NOT activate for clip authoring or rigging in a 3D DCC tool (Blender, Maya) — that work happens outside Unity. Return here once imported clips need to be wired into a controller.

Project Context Check

Before creating or modifying any animation asset:

1. Inventory existing animation assets:

   • Call search_by_name("*.controller") to find all Animator Controllers — avoid creating a duplicate for a character that already has one
   • Call search_by_name("*.anim") to see which animation clips are already imported and available
   • Call graph_query(edgeKind: "references", edgeTargetNamePattern: "Animator", edgeTargetKind: "Class") to identify which GameObjects/prefabs have an Animator component — this surfaces the characters and props that need controllers wired up
   • Call recall_memory("animation workflow conventions") to surface documented team conventions (layer naming, parameter naming, state naming, root motion policy)

2. Adapt work based on findings:

   • If a controller already exists for the target character → open and extend it; do not create a parallel asset
   • If memory documents a parameter naming convention (e.g. Speed, IsGrounded, AttackTrigger) → follow it exactly so gameplay code that sets those parameters keeps working
   • If root motion is disabled project-wide → do not enable Apply Root Motion without discussing with the user
   • After establishing a new controller pattern, call propose_memory_update to record the state machine structure