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Animator Controllers

Tactical Shooter Pack relies on Animator Controllers to apply animations:

AC_TacFPS_Character controller.

Let’s break down each animation layer to better understand how they work.

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Idle

Idle layer.

This layer consists of a single state - base idle weapon pose. This is usually a static animation clip of a character holding a weapon. It’s main purpose is to positiong the gun and IK bones.

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Procedural

Procedural layer.

This layer applies general movement animations, like idle, walk, spring and jump. These clips are applied via IK, so that’s why procedural layer uses a special Avatar Mask that mainly affects the ik_hand_gun_additive bone:

Mask_GunAdditive Avatar Mask.

Tip: ik_hand_gun_additive is not a native bone, it was added as an empty Game Object in Unity. To use it with your custom skeleton, just add such a Game Object to the root bone.

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Actions

Actions layer.

This animation layer contains all weapon-specific actions, like draw/holster, reload, mag check, inspect and attachment clips. The Tactical Shooter Pack plays states fom this layer in the weapon component, and once the action is over - it will blend out to the idle pose.

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PistolQuickDraw_Additive

PistolQucikDraw layer.

This layer implements the pistol quick draw mechanic in the pack. Simply put, it allows the player to draw a pistol while holding a weapon in the left hand. This layer is additive, so it’s applied on top of the current weapon pose smoothly. Thanks to this setup, a single animation can be used with different guns.

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PistolQuickDraw

This layer does the same job as the previous one. The only difference is that it’s not additive, and it only overrides right hand fingers.

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Fire

Fire layer.

This layer is used to apply firing animations. It’s additive, so it doesn’t override the weapon pose.

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Override Controllers

AC_TacFPS_Character is a template controller, so weapons don’t use it directly, but instead they use override controllers. You can find such controllers in weapon-specific animation folders: “KINEMATION/TacticalShooterPack/Animations/”. These are the character override controllers currently used in the asset:
  1. OC_FP_WK-11_Viper
  2. OC_FP_TR15
  3. OC_FP_Herrington_11-87
  4. OC_FP_SRM-12
Tip: Such override controllers use the same naming convention - OC_FP_WeaponName.
When a weapon is equipped, it will replace the current animator controller its custom override using this code snippet:

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IK and Camera Bones

The Operator skeleton features special bones to drive IK and camera:

Skeleton structure.

Here’s what bones are important in this pack:
  • ik_hand_root: this is the main IK bone that positions the gun; it’s main purpose is to position the gun.
  • ik_hand_gun: this is the pivot IK bone that follows the ik_hand_root; it’s used to position the gun relative to the left hand when quickly using a pistol mechanic.
  • ik_hand_r: this is an IK target for the right hand.
  • ik_hand_l: this is an IK target for the left hand.
  • ik_hand_gun_additive: this bone is used for general movement, like idle, walk, sprint and jump.