Bring Your Game to Life: Apply Animation Using One PNG File (Player) While Moving Player Through a Script in Unity

Are you tired of using multiple spritesheets to create animations for your game characters? Do you want to simplify your animation process and reduce the complexity of your game development? Look no further! In this article, we’ll show you how to apply animation using one PNG file (player) while moving the player through a script in Unity.

What You’ll Need

To follow along with this tutorial, you’ll need the following:

• Unity game engine (2019 or later)
• A 2D game project set up in Unity
• A single PNG file containing the player character’s animation frames
• Basic knowledge of C# programming

Preparing Your Animation PNG File

Before we dive into the Unity side of things, let’s prepare our animation PNG file. For this example, we’ll assume you have a PNG file containing 8 frames of animation for your player character. These frames should be arranged horizontally in a single row, with each frame being the same size.

Example of an animation PNG file with 8 frames

Setting Up the Player GameObject

GameObject > 2D Object > Sprite. Name this object “Player”.

Next, import your animation PNG file into Unity by dragging and dropping it into the Assets folder. Select the imported image and set its Pixels Per Unit value to 100 in the Inspector window.

// Ensure the image is set to Sprite mode
ImageImporter imageImporter = (ImageImporter)assetImporter;
imageImporter.spriteImportMode = SpriteImportMode.Single;

// Set Pixels Per Unit to 100
imageImporter.spritePixelsPerUnit = 100;

Creating the Animation Controller

In this step, we’ll create an Animation Controller to manage our player’s animation states. Go to Window > Animation > Animation Controller and create a new Animation Controller asset. Name it “PlayerAnimationController”.

Open the Animation Controller and create three new states: “Idle”, “Walk”, and “Jump”. These states will correspond to the different animations we’ll apply to our player character.

Example of Animation Controller states

Adding Animation Clips

Next, we’ll create animation clips for each of the states we created earlier. Right-click in the Project window and select Animation > Animation Clip. Name the clip “Idle Animation”.

In the Animation window, set the Sample Rate to 10 and the Wrap Mode to Loop. Then, drag and drop the animation PNG file into the Animation window.

// Idle Animation Clip
AnimationClip idleClip = new AnimationClip();
idleClip.frameRate = 10;
idleClip.wrapMode = WrapMode.Loop;

Repeat the process to create animation clips for the “Walk” and “Jump” states. Name them “Walk Animation” and “Jump Animation”, respectively.

Applying Animation Using a Script

Now that we have our Animation Controller and animation clips set up, let’s create a script to apply the animations to our player character.

Create a new C# script by going to Window > C# Script. Name it “PlayerAnimationControllerScript”. Attach this script to the Player GameObject.

using UnityEngine;

public class PlayerAnimationControllerScript : MonoBehaviour
{
    public AnimationController animationController;
    public float moveSpeed = 5.0f;

    private Rigidbody2D rb;
    private bool isMoving = false;

    void Start()
    {
        rb = GetComponent();
    }

    void Update()
    {
        float horizontalInput = Input.GetAxis("Horizontal");
        float verticalInput = Input.GetAxis("Vertical");

        if (horizontalInput != 0 || verticalInput != 0)
        {
            isMoving = true;
        }
        else
        {
            isMoving = false;
        }

        if (isMoving)
        {
            animationController.Play("Walk Animation");
        }
        else
        {
            animationController.Play("Idle Animation");
        }

        rb.velocity = new Vector2(horizontalInput * moveSpeed, rb.velocity.y);
    }
}

In this script, we’re using the AnimationController component to play the “Walk Animation” clip when the player is moving, and the “Idle Animation” clip when the player is not moving. We’re also using the Rigidbody2D component to move the player character based on the horizontal input.

Final Steps

Now that we have our script set up, let’s add the final touches to our player character.

In the Inspector window, set the Animation Controller component’s Controller property to the “PlayerAnimationController” asset we created earlier.

Save your scene and press the Play button to test your game. You should now see your player character animating when moving and idle.

Conclusion

And that’s it! You’ve successfully applied animation using one PNG file (player) while moving the player through a script in Unity. By following this tutorial, you’ve simplified your animation process and reduced the complexity of your game development.

Remember, this is just the starting point for creating engaging animations in your game. Experiment with different animation techniques, such as using multiple PNG files or incorporating physics-based animations, to take your game to the next level.

Happy coding, and don’t forget to apply that animation!

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