2D Animation (Unity Tutorial)!

Learn how to create and animate your 2D characters in Unity & Spine!
Spine: en.esotericsoft...
Spine Unity Runtime: esotericsoftwar...
Layer Exporter: github.com/hsw...
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► What I believe: • What I Believe

[@thomasbrush]

Thanks for watching! Hope you learned a ton. ► Join my 2D character workshop, free: www.fulltimegamedev.com/opt-in-2d-character-art-workshop ► Learn how to become a full time game dev, free: www.fulltimegamedev.com/opt-in-how-to-make-six-figures ► Enroll in my 3D workshop, free!: www.fulltimegamedev.com/opt-in-15-minute-3D-game ► Make your game instantly beautiful with my free workbook: www.fulltimegamedev.com/opt-in-instant-beauty-color-workbook ► Get my 2D game kit, free: www.fulltimegamedev.com/opt-in-2D-game-kit ► Wishlist Twisted Tower: store.steampowered.com/app/1575990/Twisted_Tower/ ► Learn how to make money as a KZbinr: www.fulltimegamedev.com/opt-in-indie-game-income-workshop

[@MaThMaTa1000]

I wanna throw here that this has a very different perspective from most Unity tutorials around the subject. As a programmer, I like the design details and the subtle things that, simply put, makes the game look good. This tutorial is honestly amazing, keep them coming!!

[@thomasbrush]

Mathews Motta cool thx for letting me know!

[@billywhitaker6658]

I am a late beginner and your videos have not only taught me a few things but also inspired me to stick with my passionate hopes to finish a game. Keep it up man!

[@willgorut87]

Man, I found your vids like a week ago, and let me tell you that you´re amazing. Thank you for sharing all your knowledge and experience. Please keep up with your awesome work!

[@haoyuan7333]

This is so awosome! I have done a lot of search on the Internet to find out how to control Spine animation with Unity Mecanim, but I didn't know this easy thing until I watched this video.

[@thanosm99]

Thomas, once again you're so good at explaining things. Greatest tutorials in yt ;)

[@AshishSharma-ri4mz]

It is usually hard to get a right balance of creative & logical skills and you are like super loaded with both. Not only you are a good programmer, but you have these awesome graphics skills too. I really like your design details and you are such an inspiration to game developers. Please keep making these awesome videos. Ta

[@lo3alex]

Hey Thomas, I really want to start on making my own game, but I feel a bit out of water when it comes to the artwork... Could you perhaps make a video-tutorial where you explain and show how you do it? I think that would help me a lot! Love your work btw!

[@mason3872]

Just practice you can’t really just magically get better. It sucks but you just have to practice a lot and watch digital art tutorials and animation.

[@junaidalam8660]

U can use tiles to nake your game

[@x11Hamza]

I think you can use Inverse Kinematics to easily keep the legs in the same spot. I'm not actually sure if Spine 2D has Inverse Kinematics but it's definitely worth looking into.

[@thexenobunny]

I've begun experimenting with Spine's IK. There have been pluses and minuses to the feature that a more experienced animator than I may have found a solution to. Further experimenting continues. Assigning IK to a limb end point such as an ankle or wrist removed bone rotation control for the limb up to the point and put all limb movement control on the single IK goal (only the translate tool can move the limb combo now). It makes offset animations more difficult as you surrender control to an automated process (very stiff). I recommend Brackeys tutorials as well as these, I am excited to try Unity's IK weighting solution but unfortunately with 2019 there are some missing 2D kit packages.

[@williamtpenningtonart]

As an animator I wonder if I could just make Sprites right out of After Effects. I use Duik (It's free) for my rigging system and it has IK functionality.

[@PixelDough]

That was the best intro ever. I did not expect it at all, and it ended quickly. XD

[@APT4Tech]

Thank you for this Thomas, your videos are a great help. It is very easy to get overwhelmed with learning animation and unity.

[@MegaKhaitan1]

I am very much inspired by your videos, I am also beginning my journey as indie game development and your life story really inspires me. I love your quotes. Keep making those videos and keep inspiring.

[@imranyafith4251]

I've seen multiple unity tutorials on animations and I gotta say, this is undoubtedly the best one I've watched yet... Good work and godspeed mate

[@EUArrow]

Tom, whilst you didn't say much of it explicitly, this is actually a masterclass in principles of animation: movement smoothing with a sigmoid curve, giving 'mass' or 'weight' to limbs creating that offset effect. Excellent job! Would love to see more of this on animating in Spine :)

[@winklehouse6518]

I asked about this last week and you made a video on it! Thank you!

[@jankozorbas]

I can't explain how much of an inspiration you are to me and I hope one day I can make games similar to yours! Stay awesome my man!

[@MesaTheAalfa]

Do you do tutorials at udemy? You’re teaching skills are so engaging. I wasn’t so sure about spine until now that I watched your videos . :”) Thank you so much, you’re awesome!!

[@Oxmond]

This is one of the best - if not THE BEST 2D animation tutorial on the web! Well done! 😍👍🤓

[@alltidtratt3564]

55th time Iam trying to start with game design, just want to thank you for making these sorts of vidoes. Lovely background music aswell.

[@RedCapVII]

Damn Thomas! I love the professionalism of your vids. They always look so clean and well done as well as your art. Can’t wait for Coma to come out! Keep up the awesome work

[@lhfirass6447]

hi dude seriously i have a long time watching u i decided to leave a comment on any video, i like your videos so much especially the music on your KZbin videos may god bless u and show u the right way

[@felixw9185]

The Result looks insane !!! overall thanks for all of your videos. I startet to design 2d landscapes while learning C# for Unity

[@beardordie5308]

Entertaining AND informative! I really appreciate the details given to export settings, import workflow, and clearing inevitable oops errors.

[@IRIUISIHI3IR]

Hey Thomas, great video as always! I noticed a very little "bug" in the walking animation... At 19:19 you can see, that the particle effect of the gras and the bouncing animation is also visible, when the character walks while he´s in the air :) Its nothing dramatic, just wanted to draw your attention to it, if you didn´t see it before :) Keep on doing your thing! :)

[@PhoenixesAnimation]

I saw it soo tiny

[@nickgennady]

Holly crap. I just found this Chanel and its amazing. Also I'm currently using Spine in my project. You can use the Spine Animation class and it allows change animation by name by code. No Mecanim needed.

[@thomasbrush]

Awesome thanks for sharing!

[@jorgygonzalez9158]

Nice! 13:36 is the best part. :) By the way, I like your art style and the process encourages me to learn "Spine".

[@strawberrymilky694]

no.

[@miJmitoo]

Thanks, mighty big help for a 3D and 2D animator to Unity!

[@killer777881]

It would be great if you make some videos about how you achieved visual effects in your game, like that fancy sun shaft.

[@UnicycleSoul]

Mate I love your art, it's clean, it's colorful and just pleasing to the eye. Would be great if you showed how you approach creating a main character :)

[@MesaTheAalfa]

The best tutorial for spine users , Thank you so much !!

[@yousefyousef495]

Such a helpful video 😍😍😍thanks , you got a new subscriber 👌

[@invadercivic2774]

I love the character design for Pete: I don't know if you intended this but from what I know about design theory his striped shirt signifies Pete's inquisitive child like nature, also with the orange jacket framing his striped shirt making a nice line to the brightest part of his body, the head. All and all I love this design and can't wait to play the game.

[@Junbish]

Man this was a great video! You are an awesome game dev, keep going on inspiring others.

[@war61111]

Subscribed because that was a PERFECT hook into the office joke! haha but really, great tutorials glad I found your channel!

[@imaginationcentral6406]

0:00 WTF man nearly gave me a heart attack, people eat chips and watch youtube after midnight you know.

[@wibiyoutube6173]

😢

[@igorthelight]

"...people eat chips and watch youtube after midnight..." - that's a bad habbit! And you was punished for that ;-)

[@zidlik6461]

Hey Thomas, awesome tutorial! Love your work. Could you please make a tutorial for that attack animation and the swing effect?

[@likopens6770]

Wow! Just subscribed, your videos are pure fire!!! This really helped me create my 2d game character. Thank you.

[@aFewBitsShort]

Eyes have bones for looking around. Eyelids have bones for opening and closing (or a flat sprite). Bones, bones everywhere!

[@lisssner]

this was just the video I needed today... thx Thomas

[@TheCivildecay]

I wonder how you did the running animation from full front perspective

[@benhannah1462]

"Did you just hear my stomach growl??" "that was amazing" hahaha :)

[@OutcastChao]

Wow this is going to help me so much man thank you 😁😁😁.

[@andylin384]

that so cool , learned a lot form this video , thanks !

[@StevenRogers-mero909]

Great video and enjoyed the humor. Thank you!

[@mrxbrk4624]

best video i watched this week

[@isto_inc]

I just switched over to spine. this tutorial was amazing and the spine software is 100x better than animating in unity. MY LORD

[@CrystalKeeper7]

Ah, so is it worth it to buy? I would probably have to do a lot of 2d animation and I'm trying to find somewhere to do it. Should I use spine? Currently I don't know anything else.

[@isto_inc]

@@CrystalKeeper7 I think it is. It really is amazing

[@CrystalKeeper7]

@@isto_inc Great, it looks that way for me too :D

[@ljiljankocurcic8893]

Idle animations=heart attack

[@severyansilver8207]

1:07 : "I see a little silhouetto of a man Scaramouch, scaramouch will you do the fandango"

[@oriksgaming8383]

That burp lol great video

[@autumnshade84]

Fantastic walk through! Thank you!

[@giggleghost3751]

Am I missing something, or are features of Spine Essential pretty much available in unity Skeletal Animation package free of charge? On top of that, Unity also gives you Inverse Kinematics free of charge, while Spine will offer that in it's Professional package and will set you back $300.

[@gmay67eoa]

I am researching this as well.. what would be the benefits of using Spine instead of using the Unity package? At first glance learning, extra software seems unnecessary ... but I am really curious why Thomas choose this workflow.

[@gamerize7451]

This is really fantastic. As someone who is at the beginning of the game development journey at the tender age of 37, I usually find myself using existing or very simple assets in my game. it would be amazing to see how you go about creating simple 2D characters, because this video on how Spine works make the animation part of this look very doable. Possible to make 2D chars in Adobe Photoshop? (i.e. the cheap one?)

[@atulsingh7539]

So we make every aspects in different software like character in Photoshop, animation in blender & everything else in unity??

[@droptraus6146]

You mean assets? Yes. Blender is not needed if you are making a 2d game or animation. Also you can animate your character frame by frame in photoshop and the create animation in unity.

[@lencysoup]

best intro ever

[@codersexpo1580]

Very good video Thomas. Question, have you worked at all with the Unity asset AnyPortrait by RainyRizzle? What's your opinion on the new Unity 2D animation/IK tools vs AnyPortrait vs Spine?

[@thomasbrush]

WHOA. My next game Neversong comes out on Steam MAY 20th! Wishlist now to snag that tasty launch discount :) store.steampowered.com/app/733210/Neversong_formerly_Once_Upon_A_Coma/

[@aarondebrabant3152]

Your the man Thomas, thank you so much for the help!

[@otterlord3795]

Wow, offsetting the animations for different bones makes a HUGE difference!

[@BluesInSeattle]

Great video. Unfortunately, Spine 2D is no longer available for Unity. But the concepts still apply. I'm not actually making a 2D game, but it sure is fun to put this stuff together and see cool stuff happen. I like your style.

[@ZedAmadeus]

Huh? what do you mean "available _for_ Unity"? Are they not compatible anymore?

[@TheCivildecay]

Wow thanks, this is just what I needed

[@techstergeeks5974]

that's what she said.

[@foreverawake7]

I would like to echo people's suggestion on doing Udemy tutorials. You're great at going into detail and I think a longer tutorial would be great. I'm not sure how they go about paying you, but I know they do pay their instructors. Thanks for the great vid!

[@doskaey]

Any chance you could cover how you tie the animations with the movement in visual studio? Thanks for the videos

[@jumpskull]

can you make another tutorial on how to make emission whenever the player walk on the grass or snow, it come out some particle effects?

[@HandleDisliker]

Not going to lie that I misclicked onto this video and I was met with the most hooking experience of my life.

[@ramtejeshm9344]

Hey Thomas, Can you plz do a video on how to rig animate a character in all directions, I'm new to unity so I' m facing few difficulties, I'm only able to play animation in one direction, it would be very helpful for me if you could help.

[@Leo_reyes15]

You can make a video in unity about jump, doble jump and human glider if you press the mause pls?

[@robestey5628]

Very cool. Thank you

[@dgreeky]

ive noticed that most artists use this is Unity for gaming. Now, can you also use this for regular animation films?

[@jeshi-kx8rp]

Hey do you think you could do a tutorial on character design? Even a sped up version of your workflow would be helpful. I can program but art is a real struggle for me.

[@tamimdeeb6891]

If Json file doesn't appear try to use the script located in c

[@christopherferry5757]

In the method you describe where you remove the default "SkeletonAnimation (Script)" and replace it with the Animation Control/ Mechanim are you are able to keep Bounding Box Attachments you attach in Spine?

[@sog6289]

I noticed you change Pete’s clothing colours. They look nice 🙂

[@lucasbird6367]

Hi Thomas! Thank you for all thouse tutorial videos man, they are very helpfull! And may you can tell me the character document size should be in photoshop please? sorry my english is not very good, thank you so mutch! :)

[@Shadowsphere1]

Where in the code can you control the boolean checking for the state machine variables during runtime? Obviously no player is going to have access to a checkbox in Unity's state machine window. Do we just create a standalone script that controls when animations are triggered by the state machine?

[@DimaProsto]

Does spine-unity compatible with unity 2020 ?

[@densva]

Love this video. Thanks

[@dafiarecord72]

Great video, thanks for sharing with us your best, thanks man i find your channel more helpfull, i learn more thing from u, thanks again, morocco👍👍👍

[@matthewfinch4184]

Sorry for the noob question. Am a 3D modeller but am trying to judge if a project I'm starting would be better as 2D. Kind of a random question I'm having trouble finding an answer to. I know with 3d models and animations you can animate a rig, and as long as different skins (or equipment pieces say) are weighted to that rig, you can play the same animation file with varying model arrangements. Are you able to use the bones in Spine the same way bones are used in 3D models? Could you, for instance, replace Peter (or parts of Peter) and have the animation play just fine in Unity? Or would you need to copy/paste the animation keys for each segment you want to swap out?

[@melobit6137]

If someone can't get the right script there is one that Thomas used in Spine website

[@MatthewCC0311]

What do you think about using PS for your animations? I’m just learning about that capability, but I’m thinking spine would be the best bet moving forward.

[@ThinkCitric]

Thank for the tutorial! BTW, seems you're using an older version of Unity or Spine (or both). You don't need to rename the extension to .json.txt anymore. I use the latest versions of both Unity and Spine, and the default json extension works beautifully.

[@amurizon]

Hi Thomas, great content! Your art is fantastic. I'm an aspiring 2D game creator/artist, and curious about the Coaching mentorship you mentioned... but I only see Patron!/Friends!/Brush Club on your Patreon. Is the coaching thing going on/still going to be a thing? Sounds like something I'd be interested in! Cheers.

[@bhuvneshtenguria3349]

Hi Thomas your game arts awsm Pls can you make video about it how to make game arts like yours

[@DerillPlays]

I don't have background knowledge about all about 'creating games' all I know is, I like games and I want to creat games. Should I go to school for this? Or try to find much easier tutorial. For now I don't have any equipments for doing games. I want to know anything from start, pre, basic, to advance.

[@1lence_kick]

everything you need is out there just google it.

[@jordanknipe9652]

As someone who went to school to study i'd suggest if you have the drive, learn it online.. much cheaper. if you decide that you need the extra push on where to begin, i probably wouldn't recommend a full 3 years, maybe 1 ( I did, and got diploma) but i know programmers who have studied for 3 years and are behind in comparison to friends who are self-taught for 2 years. truth is, studying game development in school is difficult as you will often not get a teacher who is successful as a developer, and the industry is changing rapidly and curriculum can't catch up. i do have friends that wouldn't have gotten anywhere without going to school as they needed the direction and contacts more than actually knowing how to do things. pretty much, school isn't for everyone. I personally appreciate the teachers and people that i met and what they taught me. But since i have the drive to learn outside of school, i was actually learning 90% of the stuff online and going to class and being ahead of other students for that fact.. Learning online, and attending as many game jams/meetups as possible is just as effective if not more than schooling

[@jordanknipe9652]

tbh can't stress this enough, 100% if you have the drive teach yourself. even though i'd recommend 1 year of schooling IF you don't have the drive/lost in direction. 1 year is not enough time to learn everything. It just gives you a direction/fundamentals of game dev

[@kevinsantana876]

As long as you have access to a computer you basically have all the tools you really need to make games. I would suggest doing a lot of research, maybe sign up for some Udemy courses (they're $10) on game development and watch videos like the one's atmos releases. As far as school goes I can say, getting my undergraduate degree in computer science has helped me a lot in the programming sense of game development but, if you just want to do game development I don't think that's a great route to go. I have also heard great things about certain game development programs like FIEA (UCF), SCAD and one they have at CMU. They're Very rigorous programs where students have you churn out games once every 2 weeks at least for FIEA but also very expensive (30k in state and upwards of 50k out of state). Funny thing is I like you am very interested in creating games and have done a fair share of learning and researching to get into the industry, just thought I'd share what I've heard and learned about to maybe help you on your quest of making games :).

[@sugarstool1602]

I would say, build a game is just a skill, the most important is imagination and attractive story script, it's like write a move. That's required experience. Environment will help u huge if you really interested. involve into related social team or groups. don't be shy to be a dummy, everyone is a dummy at the first time. you can start developing simple game like flappy bird follow the online tutorial. see how patient you are, if u really enjoy in it and strong willpower to keep going. then progressly go deeper and deeper. but from the other side if feel so boring. maybe it just for fun not for career.

[@monoyou]

01:56 PSLayerToPNG 11:16 ExportSPINE 15:32 Dont forget the skelete data

[@poolcomet]

Sadly the script doesn't seem to create the json file anymore... but still a great video!!

[@Jaypordy]

10:25 how did he get the skateboard animation? do you need a separate sprite sheet for that?

[@JW-uu9je]

omg that stomach growl was insane!

[@captaincaveman8532]

Pete looks kind of like if the Canadians from South Park were created in a Tim Burton movie

[@renday2636]

*Oh my god! How scared I was at the beginning 😱*

[@techstergeeks5974]

that's what she said.

[@itsnotbloodborne1237]

do you use the pro version of spine? or the essential? TY so much for these tuts

[@018FLP]

Awesome tutorial! But layer exporter crash my PS everytime :/

[@pbmzbr]

Hello, Tomas. First of all: thanks for the videos and for all the (help) information you give us. I watched (entrer others) your video "DO NOT QUIT YOUR JOB FOR INDIE GAMES (5 Reasons)!" and when you talk about having a quality I caught myself thinking "Tomas did it all, Braid guy did it all, the Super Meat Boy guys did everything, and Fez guy did all the design part." It seems to me that the most important of indie games is the graphics / design part of the game. Even if it is not, I have that impression. Child of Light and Bastion, for example, I love these two games and what I like most about them is the design and the feeling of peace and relaxation they give me. Do you think I'm wrong, or far from the truth? Even though I have no talent for graphics / desing, should I continue with the idea of ​​creating games? My biggest / best talent (in the sense of creating games) is (I think) telling a good story. As a Dungeon Master for more than 30 years, players have always praised my adventures. I thought about using this talent in creating a game. But now, after all I've seen, about successful games, that seems to me the least important. What do you think?

[@meridjal]

Should mention it's Spine specific in the title!!!

[@BoomBunny]

Hey Thomas, lol this is a late comment but do you also use Spine to make your background come alive? (ex: leaves and the grass)

[@JackpotTFT]

problem, the layers to photoshop script, when it runs, it does not create a json file nor does it have to open to check it within photoshop

[@drummergeek129]

how does this approach compare to the skeletal animation available in Unity Preview packages? I think brackeys has a video showcasing those late last year. Just curious not sure which to use.

[@da_duke]

I couldn't find coaching tier on Patreon. Am I blind or it's not there?

[@ozanyokuva6930]

Is the coaching tier full or something , cause I just could not see it on your page dude.

[@sosasees]

Please make all the text much larger in future videos. My monitor isn't THAT good. Please don't assume that everyone has a 2160p Monitor. Many people still have a 1080p Monitor instead.