Extra Ordinary, the Series

There was an Animation Rigging incompatibility with Sequences in Unity which has been fixed in version 1.2.0 of Animation Rigging. (It results in lots of exceptions in the Console and frequently fails to work correctly.) Unity 2022.1 has not been officially released yet (still in beta), so this is the versions I am using at the moment in case useful to others. As soon as 2022.1 is officially released, I am hoping Animation Rigging 1.2.0 will be the default, so the extra “add from GitHub” step below will not be needed any more.

First, I create a project with 2022.1.0b12. Other versions may work as well, this was the version available when I created my first project, so I am sticking with it until I need a fix from a later beta. I am doing “production” work with the beta, which is not recommended, but I wanted some of the 2022.1 features so I am taking the risk. Note: I am generating video clips, not games, so as long as it successfully outputs a video file I am happy!

I am also not using HDRP as a lot of the assets I purchased from the Unity Asset store don’t work with HDRP. So I am staying with the default built in render pipeline for now.

Next, I use the “Features” capability of Unity to add “Cinematic Studio”. This includes tested combinations of the Timeline, Sequences, FBX Exporter, Alembic, Cinemachine, and Recorder packages. When I upgrade Unity, it automatically upgrades all these version numbers for me as well. (I don’t recall which version of Unity this got added – 2021.something I think.)

I am creating animated videos, so the role these packages play for me are:

• Timeline – allows me to drop animation clips into a timeline for characters
• Sequences – makes it faster to create and organize Timeline assets
• Cinemachine – for animating cameras easier (e.g. follow a character)
• Recorder – for writing out video clip files from the Timeline

I also add the “3D Characters and Animation” feature, but it only adds the Animation Rigging package. But in principle it should update automatically in the future also with compatible versions with all the other packages.

• Animation Rigging – allows inverse kinematic (IK) overrides of hand and foot movements, for example when you need to pick up an object in the world, or have the hand follow a door handle as it swings open

However, Animation Rigging 1.1.1 does not work with Sequences – there is a bug that was fixed in Animation Rigging 1.2.0. This is an official release (not a pre-release) but as of 2022.1b12 it still included 1.1.1 of Animation Rigging. If you pick a newer beta, see if it already has been upgraded to 1.2.0. If so, you can skip this next step.

To install Animation Rigging 1.2.0, I use “Add package from git URL”.

For the URL, enter “com.unity.animation.rigging”. Yeah, its not actually a URL – Unity recognizes it as one of its own packages and works out the URL for you.

And that’s it! It will install the latest 1.2.0 version of Animation Rigging!

It will warn you that you are not using the recommended version of Animation Rigging, but a small price to pay. If you don’t need the Animation Rigging package, you can of course skip that step, but I find it very useful myself.