Playing an animation clip using scripts

Overview

In this tutorial, you will learn how to:

• Find an animation clip in Asset Library.
• Configure it in your Space.
• Play it by using a LUA script.

Getting an appropriate animation clip

First of all, you need to find an appropriate animation clip to play in your Space. Go to Asset Library to browse animation clips.

Find an animation clip named "wave_hip_hop_dance_wave_hip_hop_dance". Add it to My assets after you preview the animation clip and make sure it's the animation clip that you want. Now you can view it in your Workspace under Scenary>Animation clips>Assets.

You can also preview the animation clip in Workspace by choosing Preview on the top right of the box.

Getting an appropriate model and binding the animation clip to it

Find an appropriate model for this animation clip. As for now, these animation clips in Asset Library can only apply to humanoid models. Find the humanoid model named "BackRoomsCharacter01" and put it in your Space.

To bind the animation clip to your model, you need a community component (Component) named "Animation-play ability." It can be found in Asset Library as well.

Add it to My Assets and you can view it in your Workspace under Game>Misc>My Assets.

Attach this Component to your chosen model and bind your animation clip by choosing Animation clip.

Turning this model into an AnimatorController

Only an animator controller can play animation clips. You can turn a model from Asset Library into an AnimatorController by making it a non-player character(NPC). Attaching a Character or Monster component makes the model an NPC.

Playing the animation

Create a script and attach it to the model you've added to the Space.

1. Create an entity for the object, which is the model you put in the scene. Then check if the entity is an animator controller as only an animator controller can play an animation clip.

   local _selfEntity = script:SelfEntity()
   if not YaAnimatorAPI.IsAnimatorController(_selfEntity) then
       return
   end
   

2. Get an AnimatorControllerEntity using the entity and then you can play the animation clip by its name. In this tutorial, you will play the animation clip called "wave_hip_hop_dance_wave_hip_hop_dance".

   local _selfEntity = script:SelfEntity()
   if not YaAnimatorAPI.IsAnimatorController(_selfEntity) then
       return
   end
   local _animatorControllerEntity = YaAnimatorAPI.Instance(_selfEntity)
   local _handle = _animatorControllerEntity:Play("wave_hip_hop_dance_wave_hip_hop_dance")
   

3. Set the animation to loop using _handle:SetLooping(true).

4. Add an event to trigger the animation clip to play.

   local _selfEntity = script:SelfEntity()
   function OnAvatarSpawned(playerId, spawnPointEntity, avatarEntity)
       if not YaAnimatorAPI.IsAnimatorController(_selfEntity) then
           return
       end
       local _animatorControllerEntity = YaAnimatorAPI.Instance(_selfEntity)
       local _handle = _animatorControllerEntity:Play("wave_hip_hop_dance_wave_hip_hop_dance")
       _handle:SetLooping(true)
   end
   function OnPlayerJoined(playerId)
       local player = YaGame:GetPlayer(playerId)
       EventHelper.AddListener(player, "SpawnedEvent", OnAvatarSpawned)
   end
   EventHelper.AddListener(YaGame, "PlayerJoinedEvent", OnPlayerJoined)
   

5. Save the script and playtest it in Play Mode.