Fundamentals of sprite animation
In this section, we will discuss, in general, the features included in Unity that can be used to create a sprite sheet animation. There are three main features that will be used to create a fully animated sprite character: Animation clips, Animation Controllers, and Animator components.
Animation clips
Animation clips are the heart of the animation system within Unity. All animations are saved with the .anim
file extension. The animation Dope Sheet system (as shown in the following screenshot) is very advanced; in fact, it tracks almost every change in the Inspector for sprites, allowing you to animate just about everything. You can even control which sprite from a sprite sheet is used for each frame of the animation:
The preceding screenshot shows a three-frame sprite animation and a modified x position modifier for the middle image, giving a hopping effect to the sprite as it runs.
Tip
Sprites don't have to be picked from the same sprite sheet to be...