Setup

Setting up the Climbing Motion Pack to work with your character is really the same as other motion packs. The steps are pretty simple:

1. Import the Climbing Motion Pack into an existing Motion Controller project
2. Download Mixamo’s free climbing animations and place them in the project
3. Unzip the custom climbing animation .meta files I provide
4. Use the Motion Controller’s “Packs” tab to setup your character

We’ll walk through each of those steps below…

 

1. Import the Climbing Motion Pack

1. Open Unity 5.5.0f3 or higher
2. Open your existing Motion Controller project or start a new project
3. Download and import the latest Motion Controller per the User’s Guide
4. Download and import the latest Climbing Motion Pack

While the MC User’s Guide is long, the first couple of pages are all you need to get started.

 

2. Mixamo’s Free Animation

Mixamo allows us to download and use their animations for free. However, you have to get them from Mixamo. Their SLA prevents me from giving them out.

Simply follow these steps:

1. Log into Mixamo.com
2. Click the Characters link at the top left  of the page
3. Find and click on the ‘Y Bot’ character to make him active
4. Click the Animations link at the top left of the page
5. Search for and click on the animations I list below (do this for each)
6. Click the ‘Download’ button at the top right of the page (do this for each)
7. Select the following options (do this for each):

Format: FBX for Unity (.fbx)
Skin: With Skin
Frames per Second: 30
Keyframe Reduction: none

8. Click the ‘Download’ button (do this for each (do this for each)
9. Save the .fbx file locally (do this for each)

The following are the terms you want to search for that will result in a single animation to download. Next to that is the name of the .fbx file you want to save it as.

idle to braced hang standing => ybot@Idle To Braced Hang.fbx
braced hang drop standing => ybot@Braced Hang Drop.fbx
jump from wall => ybot@Braced Hang Drop.fbx
braced hang shimmy left => ybot@Braced Hang Shimmy.fbx
braced hang shimmy right => ybot@Braced Hang Shimmy Right.fbx <--- (rename)
braced hang hop left => ybot@Braced Hang Hop Left
braced hang hop right => ybot@Braced Hang Hop Right
braced hang mid-air => ybot@Braced Hang.fbx
crouched to standing transition => ybot@Crouched To Standing.fbx
braced hang to crouch => ybot@Braced Hang To Crouch.fbx
braced hop up => ybot@Braced Hang Hop Up.fbx
braced hang drop to another => ybot@Braced Hang Hop Down.fbx <--- (rename)

The two in red will require a name change as Mixamo reused the names by default.

Note that a couple of the search terms will result in a single animation and a set of animations. Just download the single one.

Keep these files for future use.

 

3. Copy Animations and unzip Meta Files

At this point, we can copy all the animations we just downloaded into the motion pack’s animation folder. My setup code expects this folder.

Assets\ootii\MotionControllerPacks\Climbing\Content\Animations\Mixamo

However, we don’t want Unity to create its own meta files for these animations. Instead, we’ll use the ones that I’ve modified for you.

Meta files store changes to animations and animation events. So, it’s important that  you use my .meta files.

Unzip the contents of the AnimationMeta.zip file from here:

Assets\ootii\MotionControllerPacks\Climbing\Extras\AnimationMeta.zip

To the same folder you put Mixamo’s animations:

Assets\ootii\MotionControllerPacks\Climbing\Content\Animations\Mixamo

Unity will import my .meta files instead of creating new ones. You’ll see a mix of .meta files and .anim files in the .zip. Just unzip them all.

It’s best to close Unity and re-open it. Sometimes it needs to do this to recognize the animations.

 

4. Setup Character

With the animations downloaded and my .meta files imported, we’re ready to setup the motions on our character.

I suggest starting with my demo scene. You can find that here:

Assets\ootii\_Demos\MotionControllerPacks\Climbing\Scenes\demo_Climbing.unity

Simply open the scene with the Motion Controller character and click on the character in the Unity hierarchy. In the case of the demo, it’s the ‘Player’ object.

In the character’s inspector, scroll down until you find the Motion Controller character and press the “Setup Input Entries” button if you see it.

Now, press the ‘Packs’ button.

This will open the Packs view of the Motion Controller and allow you to choose the setup options.

Simply choose the ‘Climbing’ entry from the Motion Packs list.

If this is your first time setting up the character, leave everything checked and press ‘Setup Pack’.

That’s it.

Your character is now setup with the extra climbing motion and everything you need to get running.

 

Demo Scene

I’ve included a simple demo scene:

Assets\ootii\_Demos\MotionControllerPacks\Climbing\Scenes\demo_Climbing

Open the scene and do the following:

1. Select the ‘Player’ character in the hierarchy
2. Press “Setup Input Entries” (if it exists) on the character’s Motion Controller
3. Press the “Packs” button to go to the packs view
4. Select the “Climbing” motion pack in the list
5. Check all the options and press the “Setup Pack” button
6. Press Unity’s play button

Once playing, press ‘space’ on the keyboard when next to a wall. This is the button that will have us jump or climb.

WASD = Move
RMB = Rotate
Space = Jump/Climb
Esc = Drop