unity-animation

Q: How do I install unity-animation?

Run npx skills add https://github.com/gamedev-skills/awesome-gamedev-agent-skills --skill unity-animation in your project. The skills CLI detects the agents you use and copies the skill into the right folder. For Claude Code you can also place the skill folder at ~/.claude/skills/unity-animation/ (personal) or .claude/skills/unity-animation/ (project).

by gamedev-skillsFrontend & Design

Drive Unity 6.3 LTS character animation with Animator Controllers: states, transitions, parameters, blend trees, animation layers, and humanoid Avatar IK. Use when wiring an Animator, setting parameters from script (SetFloat/SetBool/SetTrigger), building blend trees, or when the user mentions Animator, Mecanim, state machine, blend tree, or .controller.

Installs: 6.1K
Last 24h: +314
Trending rank: #928
Security: Pass

Install

Works with every agent the skills CLI supports.

npx skills add https://github.com/gamedev-skills/awesome-gamedev-agent-skills --skill unity-animation

01
Install
Run the command in your project. The CLI asks which agents to install for.
02
Describe the task
Ask your agent for something this skill covers. It loads unity-animation automatically when relevant.
03
Review the result
The agent follows the SKILL.md steps, scripts and references bundled with the skill.

Security audits

Independent scans of the skill's instructions and bundled files.

Gen Agent Trust Hub PassSAFE ·This skill provides guidance and C# code examples for controlling Unity character animations using the Animator system, covering parameters, blend trees, layers, and Inverse Kinematics (IK). No security issues were detected.

Socket PassNo alerts

Snyk PassLOW ·Risk: LOW · No issues

SKILL.md

The instructions your agent reads when the skill is triggered.

Unity Animation (Animator / Mecanim)

Control animation state with Unity 6.3 LTS's Animator and Animator Controllers: parameters, transitions, blend trees, layers, and humanoid IK. Targets Unity 6.3 LTS (6000.3).

When to use

Use when connecting animation clips into a state machine, driving them from script via parameters, blending locomotion (idle→walk→run), layering an upper-body action over movement, or adding foot/hand IK on a humanoid rig.
Use when the project has *.controller (Animator Controller) and *.anim assets, or a rigged model with an Avatar.

When not to use: simple non-skeletal value tweens (UI fades, position lerps) are better done with a tween/coroutine — see unity-csharp-scripting. Timeline cutscenes are a separate tool. 2D sprite frame animation also uses the Animator but with sprite keyframes.

Core workflow

Add an Animator to the model and assign an Animator Controller; for a humanoid model, set its rig to Humanoid so it has an Avatar (enables retargeting and IK).
Define parameters on the controller — Float (Speed), Bool (IsGrounded), Int, Trigger (Jump) — and states with transitions whose conditions read those parameters.
Set parameters from script, never poke states directly: SetFloat, SetBool, SetInteger, SetTrigger. The state machine resolves transitions for you.
Blend continuous motion with a Blend Tree (one Float like Speed drives idle↔walk↔run) instead of many discrete states + transitions.
Layer additive/override motion (e.g. an upper-body "aim" layer with an Avatar Mask) and control its layerWeight.
Verify in the Animator window during Play mode — the live state highlights and parameter values update, so you can see exactly which transition fired (or didn't).

Patterns

1. Drive locomotion + a one-shot action from script

using UnityEngine;

[RequireComponent(typeof(Animator))]
public class CharacterAnim : MonoBehaviour
{
    private Animator _anim;
    // Cache parameter hashes — faster and typo-proof vs string lookups every frame.
    private static readonly int Speed     = Animator.StringToHash("Speed");
    private static readonly int IsGrounded= Animator.StringToHash("IsGrounded");
    private static readonly int Jump      = Animator.StringToHash("Jump");

    private void Awake() => _anim = GetComponent<Animator>();

    public void Tick(float planarSpeed, bool grounded)
    {
        _anim.SetFloat(Speed, planarSpeed);     // drives a 1D blend tree (idle/walk/run)
        _anim.SetBool(IsGrounded, grounded);    // gates a falling/landing transition
    }

    public void DoJump() => _anim.SetTrigger(Jump);  // fire-and-forget; auto-resets after use
}

2. Smooth a noisy input into a blend parameter

// dampTime smooths Speed so the blend tree doesn't snap; great for analog sticks.
_anim.SetFloat(Speed, targetSpeed, 0.1f /* dampTime */, Time.deltaTime);

3. Play / cross-fade a state directly (bypassing parameter conditions)

// Useful for hit reactions where you want an immediate, explicit transition.
_anim.CrossFade("Hit", 0.1f);                    // 0.1 = 10% of the state's length, not seconds
_anim.CrossFadeInFixedTime("Hit", 0.15f);        // duration in seconds
// Or jump instantly:  _anim.Play("Hit");

4. Wait until the current state finishes

private System.Collections.IEnumerator AfterAttack()
{
    yield return null;                                 // let the Animator start the transition
    // During a transition the "current" state is the one being left; read the next one.
    var info = _anim.IsInTransition(0)
        ? _anim.GetNextAnimatorStateInfo(0)
        : _anim.GetCurrentAnimatorStateInfo(0);        // layer 0
    yield return new WaitForSeconds(info.length);      // seconds; approximate, varies in blend trees
    // ...follow-up logic
}

Pitfalls

SetTrigger missed or "sticks" — triggers are consumed by the next satisfied transition and auto-reset; if no transition consumes it, it can fire later unexpectedly. Use ResetTrigger to clear, or prefer a Bool when the condition is a sustained state.
String parameter typos fail silently — a misspelled name just does nothing. Use Animator.StringToHash and cache the int hashes.
Transition feels laggy — Has Exit Time makes the transition wait for the clip to reach a normalized time. Uncheck it for responsive, condition-driven transitions (jump, hit).
Character slides or won't move — Apply Root Motion is on but your code also moves the transform (or vice versa). Decide: root motion or scripted movement, not both.
Upper-body layer overrides the whole body — set the layer's Blend mode (Override vs Additive), assign an Avatar Mask, and tune layerWeight (0–1).
A cross-fade is much slower or faster than expected — CrossFade's duration is normalized to the state's length. Use CrossFadeInFixedTime to give the duration in seconds.
IK does nothing — IK only applies inside OnAnimatorIK, requires "IK Pass" enabled on the layer, and needs a Humanoid Avatar.

References

For blend trees (1D vs 2D Freeform/Directional), animation layers + Avatar Masks, and humanoid IK (OnAnimatorIK, SetIKPositionWeight, SetIKPosition, look-at), read references/blend-trees-and-ik.md.
Primary docs: Unity Manual "Animation" section and ScriptReference/Animator.

Related skills

unity-csharp-scripting — the MonoBehaviour and coroutine timing used above.
unity-physics — moving the body that the animation visualises.
game-ai — deciding when to play which animation state.

FAQ

What does the unity-animation skill do?

How do I install unity-animation?

Run npx skills add https://github.com/gamedev-skills/awesome-gamedev-agent-skills --skill unity-animation in your project. The skills CLI detects the agents you use and copies the skill into the right folder. For Claude Code you can also place the skill folder at ~/.claude/skills/unity-animation/ (personal) or .claude/skills/unity-animation/ (project).

Which AI agents can use unity-animation?

Any agent that supports the open Agent Skills format (a folder with a SKILL.md file), including Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, Windsurf, Cline, OpenCode and more.

Is unity-animation safe to install?

Security partners have reviewed it: Gen Agent Trust Hub passed; Socket passed; Snyk passed. As with any skill, read the SKILL.md and bundled scripts before installing.

Who maintains unity-animation?

It is published by gamedev-skills in gamedev-skills/awesome-gamedev-agent-skills. It has 6,103 recorded installs.