using a rigged 3d model for dynamic animations in Unity

Question

I have a 3ds rigged model that I want to use in Unity. I dont want to animate any motion in 3ds, since all the animations will be dynamic. All I want to is have access to bones / joints of the model in Unity so I can transform them with code in Unity at runtime.

I hear that I should import the model with an fbx format, which i do but I see no bones or joints in Unity. Also, from research I need to "bake the animation in" before export from 3ds but I don't want to animate in 3ds.

Answer 1

After importing an FBX model and dragging it into the scene project and hierarchy view should look like .

All bones defined in your modelling software appear as GameObject hierarchy under the root bone and can be accessed by the Find or other methods defined in Transform e.g.:

Transform hipsTransform = rootGameObject.transform.FindChild ("Armature/Hips");

But in general I would recommend to make your animations in the modelling software. If you need very dynamic behaviour try to split them in short strips and combine them at runtime. I am currently writing a blog post about this technique but it's not yet ready.