Skip to main content
Dynamic Bone is a bone or a Game Object that allows animating bones in a different space. To make a Dynamic Bone, add the Dynamic Bone component:

Dynamic Bone component.

  • Target — this bone will be the animation source.
  • Update Mode — defines the update order for this bone.
  • Apply Blending — whether to include this bone in blending.

​
How to use it

Dynamic Bones are quite useful when we want to take one bone’s animated transform and move it to a different space. For example, let’s say we have a weapon bone, which is not parented to the right hand. To fix this, we can create a Dynamic Bone that will be parented to the right hand, targeting the gun bone:

Dynamic Bone example.

This Dynamic Bone will be animated just as ik_hand_gun, but as if it were parented to the right hand. As a result, our weapon will be positioned correctly at all times. Another example is left-hand IK. Instead of using a transform to attach the left hand, we can create a Dynamic Bone and parent it to the right hand:

Left hand example.

This will make the Dynamic Bone take the left-hand transform, but still be parented to the right hand, just as if it were attached to it!

​
How update modes work

This property defines when the Dynamic Bone will be updated:
  • Default — after the “Overlay Animation Slot” in the Playable Graph.
  • Preserve Overlay — after the “Overlay Pose” and before the “Overlay Animation Slot”.
In most cases, the update mode should be set to “Default”, unless there is a need always to keep the original pose.