This page contains guidance on importing a model for use with Unity’s Animation System. For information on creating a model for use with the Animation System, see Creating models for animation.
The Animation System works with two types of models:
For general importing guidance that is applicable to all types of models, see Importing a model.
When Unity imports a Generic model, you must tell it which bone is the Root nodeA transform in an animation hierarchy that allows Unity to establish consistency between Animation clips for a generic model. It also enables Unity to properly blend between Animations that have not been authored “in place” (that is, where the whole Model moves its world position while animating). More info
See in Glossary. This effectively defines the model’s center of massRepresents the average position of all mass in a Rigidbody for the purposes of physics calculations. By default it is computed from all colliders belonging to the Rigidbody, but can be modified via script. More info
See in Glossary.
Since there is only one bone to map, Generic setups do not use the Humanoid Avatar window. As a result, preparing to import your non-Humanoid model fileA file containing a 3D data, which may include definitions for meshes, bones, animation, materials and textures. More info
See in Glossary into Unity requires fewer steps than for Humanoid models.
From the Rig tab of the Inspector window, set the AvatarAn interface for retargeting animation from one rig to another. More info
See in Glossary (animation) type to Generic. By default, the Avatar Definition property is set to Create From This Model and the Root node option is set to None.
In some cases, you can change the Avatar Definition option to Copy From Other Avatar to use an Avatar you already defined for another Model file. For example, if you create a MeshThe main graphics primitive of Unity. Meshes make up a large part of your 3D worlds. Unity supports triangulated or Quadrangulated polygon meshes. Nurbs, Nurms, Subdiv surfaces must be converted to polygons. More info
See in Glossary (skin) in your 3D modeling application with several distinct animations, you can export the Mesh to one FBX file, and each animation to its own FBX file. When you import these files into Unity, you only need to create a single Avatar for the first file you import (usually the Mesh). As long as all the files use the same bone structure, you can re-use that Avatar for the rest of the files (for example, all the animations).
If you keep the Create From This Model option, you must then choose a bone from the Root node property.
If you decide to change the Avatar Definition option to Copy From Other Avatar, you need to specify which Avatar you want to use by setting the Source property.
You can also change the maximum number of bones that can influence a given vertex with the Skin Weights property. By default, this property limits influence to four bones, but you can specify more or fewer.
When you click the Apply button, Unity creates a Generic Avatar and adds an Avatar sub-Asset under the Model Asset, which you can find in the Project view.
Note: The Generic Avatar is not the same thing as the Humanoid Avatar, but it does appear in the Project view, and it does hold the Root node mapping. However, if you click on the Avatar icon in the Project view to display its properties in the InspectorA Unity window that displays information about the currently selected GameObject, asset or project settings, allowing you to inspect and edit the values. More info
See in Glossary, only its name appears and there is no Configure Avatar button.
You can apply masking to animation clips either during import time, or at runtime. Masking during import time is preferable, because it allows the discarded animation data to be omitted from your build, making the files smaller and therefore using less memory. It also makes for faster processing because there is less animation data to be blended at runtime. In some cases, import masking may not be suitable for your purposes. In that case, you can apply a mask at runtime by creating an Avatar MaskA specification for which body parts to include or exclude for an animation rig. Used in Animation Layers and in the importer. More info
See in Glossary Asset, and using it in the layer settings of your Animator ControllerControls animation through Animation Layers with Animation State Machines and Animation Blend Trees, controlled by Animation Parameters. The same Animator Controller can be referenced by multiple models with Animator components. More info
See in Glossary.
To create an empty Avatar Mask Asset, you can either:
The new Asset appears in the Project view:
You can now choose which bones to include or exclude from a Transform hierarchy and then add the mask to either an Animation LayerAn Animation Layer contains an Animation State Machine that controls animations of a model or part of it. An example of this is if you have a full-body layer for walking or jumping and a higher layer for upper-body motions such as throwing an object or shooting. The higher layers take precedence for the body parts they control. More info
See in Glossary or add a reference to it under the MaskCan refer to a Sprite Mask, a UI Mask, or a Layer Mask More info
See in Glossary section of the Animation tab.
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