Create an animation to defeat an enemy using a Ragdoll

In this article, I will describe a method to combine Unity’s ragdoll system with STYLY’s Interaction SDK to develop a system for killing enemies using weapons.

You can use humanoid characters/avatars from Unity or similar sources, or you could easily implement them using free assets.

Even beginners can create a simple action or battle game! Let’s take a look at the game-making reference.

We will use the Interaction SDK provided by STYLY. You may want to read through the following manual beforehand for a more detailed explanation.

Sample Scene

Here is a sample scene that describes defeating an enemy using the Interaction SDK with the ragdoll.

Preparing the character

Let’s prepare a character for use in Unity. This time, we will use Mixamo, a 3D character and animation creation tool provided by Adobe.

mixamo : https://www.mixamo.com/#/

If you are new to Mixamo, please refer to this article.

I created a character and a simple animation in Mixamo. In this case, I chose this strong-looking enemy character.

I added an animation to this enemy character. You can choose from a range of animations; this time, I chose [Taunt].

Let’s download the animation in the FBX format and import it into your Unity project.

The character assets are FBX data, the character’s name is “Skeletonzombie T Avelange,” and the animation is “Taunt”.

Once the import is complete, adjust the materials and the rig.

With the character’s data selected, select the Materials tab in the Inspector window.

Select the Location item from Use Embedded Materials to Use External Materials (Legacy).

The appropriate material will now be attached.

Next, let’s adjust the rig. Select the Rig tab in the Inspector window. Under Avatar Type, select Generic as Humanoid.

We are now ready to change to the Humanoid type.

Next, let’s prepare the animation. Right-click on the Assets folder in the Project window and select Create > Animator Controller.

Let’s name it EnemyAnimator.

Select the FBX file “skeletonzombie_t_avelange@Taunt” to display the animation file.

Select the Taunt animation file and copy and paste (or press [CTRL+D]) to duplicate it.

Select the duplicated Taunt animation file and check the “Loop Time” box in the Inspector window.

Double-click on the EnemyAnimator to display the Animator window.

Drag and drop Taunt’s animation file into the Animator window.

Drag and drop the animator file into the “skeletonzombie_t_avelange@Taunt” object in the Hierarchy window.

An animator component will be added to the Inspector window as shown below.

Let’s play it once in this state. The animation will play and loop. The character is now ready to be played.

Preparing the Ragdoll

We now prepare a “Ragdoll” to represent the behavior of a character that has fallen down, just like a person when he or she topples.

A Ragdoll is a way to express behavior using physics operations such as colliders.

To set up the Ragdoll, we will use the Ragdoll Helper from the Unity Assets Store. Ragdoll Helper is a handy asset that converts humanoid avatars into a Ragdoll. Download it from the Assets Store and import it into your project.

 

When the import is complete, you will see “Window > BzSoft > Ragdoll Helper” in the top menu bar.

 

 

Once the window is open, select the Skeletonzombie object on your scene.

The Ragdoll Helper window should now look like this:

With “Ragdoll” selected at the top of the window, select Create. The Collider will now be attached along the body. It will look like this:

Ragdoll is now ready.

Prepare a ground object so that the character will land on the ground when it falls.

Create a Cube from the Hierarchy window and choose Create > Cube.

Name it “Floor” and transform it as follows:

Let’s also set the Transform of the character’s objects. Do the following:

This is how it looks:

Finally, we’ll set up a collider to determine if a weapon is a hit.

In addition to the Ragdoll collider, we will add a new Capsule to the scene. Let’s add it in the Hierarchy window by going to Create > Capsule.

Set its name to Collider Object and set its Transform as follows:

Make the Collider Object a child object of the enemy character.

We now have the following:

Let’s hide the mesh, which will still be visible at this point. Select Collider Object and uncheck the Mesh Renderer in the Inspector window.

Now, only Collider will be shown in the scene.

Ragdoll preparation is now complete.

Ready for weapons

Next, we need to prepare our weapons. You can prepare a weapon from the asset store, but in this case, it is simplest to prepare a simple stick-shaped weapon via Create > Cube.

Go to Create > Cube and prepare a cube. Name it “Weapon” and Transform it as shown in the image:

The image will look like this:

Attach a rigidbody from Add Component. Set it up as follows:

All the objects are now ready. In the final step, let’s set up the Interaction SDK.

Setting up the Interaction SDK

I now set up the Interaction SDK.

First, set up the Weapon Interaction SDK. Attach STYLY_Attr_Breaker and STYLY_Attr_Draggable to the Weapon you just created.

STYLY_Attr_Breaker is a script that “destroys the object to which the STYLY_Attr_Breakable component is added”. STYLY_Attr_Draggable is a script that “allows you to grab the object with your pointer”.

You can now grab and move the Weapon object and destroy the STYLY_Attr_Breakable.

Next, we need to disable the animator of the enemy character.

Select the Collider Object and attach STYLY_Attr_Breakable from Add Component to the Interaction SDK.

STYLY_Attr_Breakable is a script that is “destroyed by the object to which the STYLY_Attr_Breaker component is added”. STYLY_Attr_Breaker and STYLY_Attr_Breakable are always used together.

“Breakable” destroys the Collider Object and “On Destroy Event” makes the enemy character’s Animator.enabled false.

Add a List of On Destroy Events.

Add the List by pressing the + button in the bottom right corner.

Drag and drop the skeletonzombie_t_avelange@Taunt object into the None (Object) field.
In the No Function field, choose bool enabled.

Once you have the settings as shown in the image, your task is complete.

Play and check

Let’s play the scene in Unity and check it out!

Drag the weapon and try to hit the enemy.

You’ve defeated the enemy! Your job is done.

Upload to STYLY

Upload to STYLY. This time, we’ll upload it in a scene.

If your scene is too large to upload to STYLY, please refer to this article.

Let’s upload the scene you’ve created in your timeline to STYLY.

Create a STYLY account
Sign up for free

How to create an account　

How to upload a prefab from Unity to STYLY

 

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