Animating objects fading out for game engines

MrN · 08-11-2011, 11:55 AM

Hi, i'm animating a mole, he's sleeping. The zeds coming from his mouth following a spline path constraint to above his head. The problem being is that well they don't fade out in Unity. I was wondering if anybody had any tips and the know-how on this subject. Any help will be greatly appreciated!

In advance sorry if the quality of the video is bad. The issue seen (albeit not greatly due to the video) is the dragging of the z's after reaching the top :S

Sleeping Mole Animation Test Unity3D - YouTube

PermaGrin · 08-11-2011, 12:56 PM

Could you make them a particle effect (so-to-speak) and then (do not know Unity's particle control) make them fade near the end of their lifetime?

MrN · 08-11-2011, 01:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PermaGrin

Could you make them a particle effect (so-to-speak) and then (do not know Unity's particle control) make them fade near the end of their lifetime?

Most likely yeah, that's an option i've considered but it would be awesome to know to know how to do it this way too. If i'm unable to resolve it i'll probably keep it how it is or go for the particle emitter.

Piflik · 09-11-2011, 02:07 AM

I'd definitely use particles for that in Unity. Although I don't think you can make them follow a given path...

To fade meshes out over time I guess you would either need to create an animated material (pro only) or offset the UVs via a script to use a different tile of a texture strip/matrix and change the opacity that way...

Valerien · 09-11-2011, 03:23 AM

A rather simple way to handle this kind of effect is to use an unused animation channel and bind another channel to it via script in unity.

You can make a shader with a controllable alpha value through the UI and then via script. In your shader, you only have to append it to the diffuse XYZ channels. Then in maya, you can animate for example the X scale of your objects, and using script use this value to change your opacity, then reset the X scale to 1.
You'll probably have to split your objects, but this avoids using a more complex shader and sampling a new texture.

Particles are terrible in unity, you can only make basic effects. They're working on a brand new engine for the next release.

MrN · 09-11-2011, 09:18 AM

Thanks for the help everyone, here's the progress so far as i've gone with a particle effect...

Unity3D sleep particle effect & paratrooper mole - YouTube

I think if i tweak this some more it will look better. The paratrooper isn't finished as i havent finished the animation and texture, for the texture, i've used a modified Toonshader to allow alpha transparency and backfacing, although the culling is a bit dodgy. Not too sure why.

08-11-2011, 11:55 AM	#1 (permalink)
MrN Senior Member 155 - 36	Animating objects fading out for game engines Hi, i'm animating a mole, he's sleeping. The zeds coming from his mouth following a spline path constraint to above his head. The problem being is that well they don't fade out in Unity. I was wondering if anybody had any tips and the know-how on this subject. Any help will be greatly appreciated! In advance sorry if the quality of the video is bad. The issue seen (albeit not greatly due to the video) is the dragging of the z's after reaching the top :S Sleeping Mole Animation Test Unity3D - YouTube

09-11-2011, 02:07 AM	#4 (permalink)
Piflik Amateur Artist 223 - 102	I'd definitely use particles for that in Unity. Although I don't think you can make them follow a given path... To fade meshes out over time I guess you would either need to create an animated material (pro only) or offset the UVs via a script to use a different tile of a texture strip/matrix and change the opacity that way... __________________ folio.piflik.de blog.piflik.de Looking for internship

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08-11-2011, 12:56 PM	#2 (permalink)
PermaGrin Senior Member 185 - 46	Could you make them a particle effect (so-to-speak) and then (do not know Unity's particle control) make them fade near the end of their lifetime?

09-11-2011, 03:23 AM	#5 (permalink)
Valerien New Member 50 - 26	A rather simple way to handle this kind of effect is to use an unused animation channel and bind another channel to it via script in unity. You can make a shader with a controllable alpha value through the UI and then via script. In your shader, you only have to append it to the diffuse XYZ channels. Then in maya, you can animate for example the X scale of your objects, and using script use this value to change your opacity, then reset the X scale to 1. You'll probably have to split your objects, but this avoids using a more complex shader and sampling a new texture. Particles are terrible in unity, you can only make basic effects. They're working on a brand new engine for the next release.

09-11-2011, 09:18 AM	#6 (permalink)
MrN Senior Member 155 - 36	Thanks for the help everyone, here's the progress so far as i've gone with a particle effect... Unity3D sleep particle effect & paratrooper mole - YouTube I think if i tweak this some more it will look better. The paratrooper isn't finished as i havent finished the animation and texture, for the texture, i've used a modified Toonshader to allow alpha transparency and backfacing, although the culling is a bit dodgy. Not too sure why.