Animation VS Animator

Animation

Legacy

Older Simpler

< Unity 4 >

Animator

Mecanim

Newer More Capable and Complex

What is the main difference? Inspector window

Create an object > Add an Animation component > go to Animation Window by going into Window > Create a New Animation file

Screen Shot 2024-03-21 at 5.18.05 PM.png

Create an Animation from Assets folder

Screen Shot 2024-03-21 at 5.12.58 PM.png

How to set Animator?

Drag and Drop Animation Clips to Animator

Legacy Animation: Animator doesn’t create a motion. No node.

Macanim Animation: Animator sets a motion automatically loading a brand new node.

Animation Component

Animation Component is meant entirely for Animation Legacy form.

Mecanim Animation doesn’t work on Animation Component. even though it is possible to drag and drop macanim animation to Animations Element as well as Animation, on the Animation window the macanim animation works the same, however, it won’t play in a play mode. Because Animator component does not load legacy animation.

Screen Shot 2024-03-21 at 5.27.20 PM.png

Animator Component

You cannot add an Animation clip to Controller directly on Animator Component.

You must create an Animator Controller to use Animator Controller on Animator Component.

Screen Shot 2024-03-21 at 5.42.20 PM.png

Differences:

Animation component can have an animation clip directly.

Simple object animation

Animator Controller requires to build the Animator controller

More complex than a simple object animation: it makes it so much easier to manage multiple states and transitions.