There was a feature to create animations more intuitively, which was planned from the beginning when making SPUM.
It's been a feature that was started back in 2021 and then abandoned... but somehow, after 2 years, I'm finally adding the feature...
Since I had to recreate this for my current needs, I ended up facing the same problems I encountered before..
Since Unity doesn't provide a default animation or 2D plugin, and cases where you have to create them yourself are rare, it was difficult to find documentation on how to use the functions or how to apply them.
Since there is not much information in this field, I trusted ChatGPT, but it is no different from just talking nonsense..
Anyway, after a grueling Google search, I finally found some hints and started making it.
Basically, by utilizing Unity's Gizmo system, we made it possible to intuitively move parts in the scene.
Of course, it is a feature that is possible to do directly in Unity, but actually using it feels a bit more convenient.
Actually, when working with animations based on SPUM, the main tasks involve changing the position of each pivot and adjusting rotation values. Initially, I considered implementing IK, but it seemed too difficult. So, focusing on SPUM's internal system, I created a tree structure that is concise yet gives a slight IK feel.
Unlike in the past, I was able to access this relatively quickly.
Oh my... I thought it would be made quickly...
Actually, adding keyframes to Unity's animation clips was not as easy as I thought..
There are two main ways to do this, but I still don't really know why they are separated like this. As a result, the information found through Google is very fragmented, and the information that occasionally appears is rare... There was difficulty because there was a lot of invalid data.
AnimationUtility.SetEditorCurve
https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/AnimationUtility.SetEditorCurve.html
AnimationClip.SetCurve
https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/AnimationClip.SetCurve.html
Based on this content, keyframes for animation can be recorded, but I still don't quite understand why this is divided up like this.
Anyway, after a few days of struggle, I've created a feature that can record animations. The structure is such that you adjust the pivot's position and angle by clicking the Gizmo and then clicking Record to record the keyframes.
Then, you can check that the animation has been recorded as shown below.
Of course, there are still many things to fix.. The biggest problem is that I have absolutely no idea how to get the information about the current time bar in Unity's animation window..
When searching, I realized that the TimeLine feature supported by Unity overlaps with this, so it's really hard to find information..
As a result, while it is possible to keep adding animations, modifying existing ones requires utilizing the original editor's functionality..
For now, I plan to share this with SPUM users to see if others can help out.. I'm hoping for some assistance.