Isometric monster unity multiple animation

Ichyro

Hello mate! I’m creating a 2D isometric game with a friend. I need to create a monster with multiple animations (idle, walk, attack) from two different views: front side and back side.

For this, I’ve separated each animation with a set of bones for each skin.

Example: For the back-side animation, I need to activate the back-side skin, along with all the bones and images inside it.

Alternatively, I could attach all images to the same bones (for example, all left arm images to one left arm bone) and disable attachments in animate mode. But for the workflow, I can't see both sides simultaneously while working on it

Which method do you think is best for CPU performance in-game, or for smoother transitions?

Thank you!

Misaki

Ichyro Spinebot's answers are quite appropriate, so there's not much else to add, but if you separate the skeleton for each view, it will be troublesome if you want to rotate the character in the middle of the animation, so if the character changes orientation in the middle of the animation, it is better to manage it by switching skins or attachments.

Even if you change the view of a character without using skins, you can use the Preview view to play back the animation for movement and the animation for view change at the same time, so you can check the movement of the front and back at the same time. For example, you can play back the walk animation on track 0 and the back animation on track 1, and then switch the displayed attachment to the back view while playing back the walk animation.

Spinebot

For creating a 2D isometric monster with multiple animations from different views, you have a couple of options. Using separate skeletons for each view (front and back) can be beneficial for organization and clarity, especially if the animations and bone structures differ significantly between views. This approach allows you to focus on one view at a time and ensures that each skeleton is optimized for its specific animations. However, if the bone structure is similar and you want to minimize the number of skeletons, you can use a single skeleton with different skins and attachments for each view. This method involves switching skins and attachments in animate mode, which can be more efficient for CPU performance as it reduces the number of skeletons to manage.

For smoother transitions and better performance, using a single skeleton with different skins and attachments is generally more efficient. This approach allows you to reuse animations and bones, reducing the overhead of managing multiple skeletons. However, it may require more careful management of attachments and visibility during animation.

Ichyro

thanks Misaki

Ichyro

So I worked on 2 separate skeletons, but now I need to merge these 2 animations into 1 skeleton.
The bones have the same name in each skeleton.

But this won't work. Do you know if it's possible?

I need to work on separate skeletons for a better view of the movement synchronization, and after this, merge them into 1.

Misaki

Ichyro If you want to import an animation created with a different skeleton, select Import Project from the Spine menu, select Animation in the Import section, and click OK. Then select the animation you want to import.

If you want to merge two separate skeletons into one, you can do so by moving the bones and attachments between the skeletons, but unfortunately constraints cannot be moved between skeletons.
Unfortunately, merging skeletons is not very easy from various aspects, so I don't recommend workflows that require frequent separation and merging of skeletons. We would like to make improvements to this, and there is an issue for this purpose, but unfortunately it has not progressed yet:
EsotericSoftware/spine-editor582

It would be safer to temporarily duplicate the skeleton and play the animation when you want to preview it, and then delete it once you've finished checking it.

Ichyro

ok thanks, i will do sometry