Animation Process

Using Maya and my mesh with a completed rig I can pose the character

I chain these poses across a certain time frame by placing key frames

The computer then extrapolates the movement the mesh takes between each pose

After each key pose of the movement is placed I use the Graph Editor to smooth the movements between each pose When animating is done I export the model as an fbx with the animations baked into the model

Done with the animations!

Getting it to work:

I import the animations into Unity

I have to make sure the base mesh is rigged in Unity, so I configure the rig in Unity to the skeleton I created earlier (Unity makes this really easy if you made your rig correctly!) After making sure my mesh allows animations I then create an animation controller: this will tell the mesh what animations it should be playing and when

I drag and drop my animations into the controller and hook them up to play in a cycle The result is the mesh moves in Unity!