🔸Animation Asset

This section explains how to use Animation Assets.

Overview

An Animation Asset is a ScriptableObject that stores an Animation Clip and the properties that define how CAS plays it:

Animation Asset example.

• Clip — the Animation Clip to play.

• Mask — the bones affected by this animation.

• Ease Mode — easing function for blend in/out.

• Blend In/Out Time — seconds to blend in/out.

• Play Rate — playback speed multiplier.

• Is Additive — apply the animation additively.

• Auto Blend Out — automatically blend out on completion.

• Slot — where to play this animation in the layered blending.

Tip: Create a new Animation Asset via Create ▸ KINEMATION ▸ CAS ▸ Animation Asset.

Animation Slots

Animation Slots define where a clip is applied in the animation graph. By default, there are three:

• Default Overlay

• Overlay

• Full Body

Each slot applies at a different stage of the graph.

Slots.

Default Overlay

Use for general animations when you want to preserve Dynamic Bones.

Example: If a Dynamic Bone positions the weapon and you want its result preserved, use Default Overlay.

Overlay

Applied after Default Overlay. Use when the animation should affect Dynamic Bones.

Example: For a reload animation that should drive the weapon’s Dynamic Bone, use Overlay.

Full Body

Applied after blending; affects the whole character pose. Use for full-body animations (e.g., climbing).

Post Full Body

Applied after Full Body; plays on top of the final character pose.

Example: Parkour motions, like climbing or vaulting.

Use the Character Animation Component to play or stop an Animation Asset:

CharacterAnimationComponent.cs

public virtual bool PlayAnimation(AnimationAsset newAnimation, float startTime = 0f);
public virtual void StopAnimation(float blendOutTime = 0f)

ExampleClassHere.cs

[SerializeField] private AnimationAsset animationToPlay;
private CharacterAnimationComponent _characterAnimation;

private void Start()
{
    _characterAnimation = GetComponent<CharacterAnimationComponent>();
}

// Your function that plays an animation.
private void PlayAnimation()
{
    _characterAnimation.PlayAnimation(animationToPlay);
}

Custom Events

You can bind custom events to an animation asset by supplying an array of AnimationMixerEvent objects.

Example:

private void YourCallback(AnimationAsset animationAsset, float normalizedTime)
{
    Debug.Log($"Animation: {animation.name}, Normalized time: {time}");
}

private void YourMethodHere()
{
    _characterAnimation.PlayAnimation(animationToPlay, 0f, new []
    {
        new AnimationMixerEvent(YourCallback, 0f),
        new AnimationMixerEvent((animationAsset, time) => 
        {
            Debug.Log($"Animation: {animation.name}, Normalized time: {time}");
        }, 0f)
    });
}

The AnimationMixerEvent struct has a very simple constructor.

//Callback will be invoked at the normalizedTime.
public AnimationMixerEvent(AnimationTimeEventDelegate callback, float normalizedTime)

The callback has the following signature.

public delegate void AnimationTimeEventDelegate(AnimationAsset animationAsset, float normalizedTime)

• animationAsset — The animation asset that triggers the event.

• normalizedTime — The normalized playback time [0..1] when the event is triggered.