Unity Character Animation GDC 2012 Feature Preview

While the process of preparing the next batch of lessons from unity3dstudent is in process , I want to share the news.
On the last CDG for Unity3d a new system for working with animation and input system was announced.
You can get acquainted with it by watching the video .

From the innovations:

• Simplified animation work:
  
  1. Aminating an avatar using a state machine, animation tree (blend trees) and animation clips with a few mouse clicks.
  2. Use animations from provided templates, a resource store (assert store), or create and export your own motion capture data.
  
  
• Moving animation:
  Once designed, animation can be used everywhere. Simplified creation and transfer of animation on several characters.
  
• Hierarchical state machine:
  The state machine shows the actions of the characters and is updated during the game.
  
• Animation tree:
  Tree animation allows you to create a variety of different movements from several animated clips.
  
• Automatic rigging control:
  
  1. Creating a control rig (control-rig) avatar by attaching bones to parts of the body.
     
  2. Adjusting the size and mobility of the character in the Muscle Space editor.
     
  
  
• Contextual rigging of inverse kinematics (IK Rigging):
  The character interacts with the environment with a realistic positioning of the arms, legs and body, including changing the position of the head depending on the direction of the gaze.
  

Link to the news from the video on the official Unity3d website

In the comments the developer (PierrePaul Giroux) tulza writes:

If you’re on the floor, you can’t see it. However, it might be necessary.

- Support any bibed character. They can be different proportion, hierarchy and different bone naming convention
- A suite of tools that gives easy loopable animation creation (from existing animation)
- Tool to author BlendTree (continuous blending, pivot based blending, live feeback)
- Tool to author Hierchical State Machine (multilayered, live feedback)
-
- An API to support all this ...
- so much more, that is not ready for prime-time yet !!!
')
Will keep you guys informed as we go forward on this!

PS: It is a pity that in one of the issues of KANOBU, telling about Wasteland 2, they gave some strangely bad evaluation to Unity3d, showing only some knee crafts.