PICO-EC: Versatile, Lightweight and High-Performance Animation State Machines in Unity
PICO-EC is an innovative project found on GitHub that aims to revolutionize the way developers control animations within the Unity game development engine. This project's main objective is to provide a versatile, simplified, and high-performing way to handle animation state machines within Unity.
Project Overview:
PICO-EC was established to address the complications game developers often face when dealing with complex animation state machines in Unity. The project aims to simplify the process by providing an easy-to-use, code-based solution that offers improved efficiency and versatility over traditional animation controllers within Unity. The project is targeted towards game developers, both beginners, and experienced, looking for a lightweight and flexible animation state machine solution in Unity.
Project Features:
The key features of PICO-EC include its lightness and performance, easy coding setup, support for any state type, compatibility with Unity Jobs/Burst for potential performance boosts, and easy state transitions. With these features, users can effortlessly manage animation state machines and achieve smooth animation transitions, thereby enhancing their game's overall visual execution. For instance, developers could use PICO-EC to manage a character's animation states, such as idling, running, jumping, or attacking, and smoothly transition between these states.
Technology Stack:
The PICO-EC project is built with C#, utilizing the power of Unity's Jobs and Burst systems for high-performance computation. C# was chosen for its seamless integration with Unity and its flexibility, while the Jobs and Burst systems allow for concurrent execution of code, resulting in improved performance. The project also uses a proficient utility, Animancer, for better and versatile animation control.
Project Structure and Architecture:
The project displays a straightforward structure and architecture, with the core functionality encapsulated within a lightweight library. Unity's animation system interacts directly with this library to track and manage different animation states and transitions. The developer has also used an Object-Oriented Programming approach, making the code easy to manage and extending its capabilities smoother.
