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Help with Backward Walk Animation in Cutscene
Hi Chris,
I want the player to walk backward a few steps during a cutscene. I created a custom animation and added it to the player's animation set.
However, when I trigger it, the animation plays but the player doesn't actually move. And when I use Character: move to point, the character will turn and walk.
How can I make the player move backward while using the correct animation?
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What animation engine does the character use?
If Sprites Unity, you can use the Character: Animate Action's **Set Standard" method to temporarily replace their normal walk animation with one that plays backwards, or create a Timeline that animates and moves the character together.
I'm using Sprites Unity. I tried to animate my player character (which is a prefab) using Unity's Timeline. I've added the prefab to the Timeline, created an Animation Track, and assigned an animation clip — but the character doesn't animate, either in Preview mode or during gameplay. I’ve watched your older video on the subject, but I still can’t get the prefab character to animate correctly through Timeline.
It's likely your Sprite Child that has the Sprite Renderer on it - not the prefab's root. You can drag/drop the Player into the scene, and assign their Sprite Child in the Timeline.
At runtime, you'll need to remap your bindings in the Action to re-link the child object to the tracks.
Thank you, Chris. I assigned the Sprite child in the Timeline, and that part worked. However, I'm unable to record any animation—when I press the record button, it displays the message: "This can't be recorded." I even unpacked the prefab, but the issue persists. Do you have any idea how I can resolve this?
Odd, not sure. It'll be a Unity aspect, though. If you want to stick to AC, give the other method of changing the "standard" animation a try.
I do prefer the Adventure Creator approach, to be honest, but it wasn’t successful either. I used the Character: Animate action to temporarily replace the character’s walk animation with the backward animation (Nora_Backward_L). However, Unity keeps showing the error: “Can’t play animation Nora_Backward_L_L” even though my animation is not named Nora_Backward_L_L. If I rename it to Nora_Backward_L_L, Unity adds yet another “_L”, turning it into Nora_Backward_L_L_L. Any idea why this keeps happening?
https://prnt.sc/gjbVilImYd6Y
https://prnt.sc/2lw57UcDYiFL
Cannot play animation Nora_Backward_L_L (layer 0) on character Nora's Animator, Nora_Sprite
I'll need to see the Actions involved, and what's present in your animator. You'll need to remove "_L" from the Action, however.
Keep the naming convention in the Animator as you'd expect, Nora_Backward_L.
I removed the _L from the action, and the “Can’t play animation Nora_Backward_L_L” error stopped appearing. However, the character still doesn’t animate backward—she just walks to the 2D marker and then turns around. The goal is to make her walk backward to the 2D marker positioned behind her.
Actionlist: https://prnt.sc/ibL6iEHuasxj
Animator: https://prnt.sc/tlsjnB92Lwlb
From the naming convention, Nora_Backward_L should animate the character facing right, while they move left in screen-space. Is this the case?
What animation plays in the Animator during the movement Action, and what are your AC/Unity versions?
It's the other way around. The character is facing left and move right to reach the 2d marker https://prnt.sc/SVzQRXCs1Gee
For some reason, the Animator isn’t doing anything during the movement action or when the player character moves. I'm using Unity 6000.0.32f1 and AC v1.82.1
Are there any Actions that affect the character's animation running beforehand, not shown in the screenshots? Try using the Character: Animate Action's Reset To Idle method to ensure they aren't in a custom state.
In this situation, the character will be technically facing right - it's just that the animation should have them face the opposite direction. If they start off facing left via the Marker, use the Character: Face direction Action to have them face right instantly before moving them.
This movement will play the "_R" animation, unless you're using frame-flipping. If you are, the "_L" animation should have them face right.
Sorry, I don’t think I explained the issue clearly. The problem isn’t with the character’s facing direction. When I use Character: Animate → Set Standard to trigger Nora_Backward, the backward animation plays correctly, but the character doesn’t move.
To make her step back, I set a 2D Marker behind her. However, instead of walking backward to the marker, she turns around, walks to it, stops, and then turns again.
How can I make the character walk to the 2D Marker using the backward animation??
If the character is moving to the right, she will turn to the right as well. The intent behind the animation swap is to play an animation that makes her appear to face left - despite her technically facing right. If you snap her to face right before moving her, the transition should be seamless.
Alternatively, to keep her facing left on a technical level, you can precede these Actions with a Character: Change rendering Action that uses the Sprite direction field to force her to face left. Another such Action can be used to release this lock afterwards.
Great suggestion, Chris. The Character: Change rendering Action solved the issue and the character now is walking backward. Thank you XD