SpriteAnimator is a light-weight sprite animation library for Unity

SpriteAnimator will allow you to create simple sprite frame-by-frame animations in Unity. Animations are created as scriptable objects and played via the SpriteAnimator MonoBehaviour.

The intention of the SpriteAnimator is to have a very light-weight way to play simple sprite animations without the need for Unity's complex animation system.

Should work in all versions of Unity as it only uses basic C# language and Unity features.

How to use SpriteAnimator

Include the following files in your project (in src folder):

SpriteAnimation.cs
SpriteAnimator.cs

Create Animation

To create an animation, right-click a folder of your choosing in the Project Explorer, choose Create > SpriteAnimation

A Sprite Animation has the following properties:

• Title: A string that allows you to name your animation
• Frames: A collection of frames stored as an Array. Each frame holds a Sprite and a Duration. This allows you to give each frame it's own duration (in seconds)
• Looping: When ticked, the animation will continue looping
• Show First Frame At End: When ticked, the first frame of the animation will be shown when the animation ends.

Play an Animation

Add a SpriteAnimator component to your GameObject. If the GameObject does not have a SpriteRenderer component on it, it will be added automatically.

The SpriteAnimator component has the following properties:

• Play On Awake: When ticked, the default animation will start playing when the GameObject is added to the scene
• Default Animation: A default SpriteAnimation that will always be referenced by the SpriteAnimator. If PlayOnAwake is ticked (true), then this animation will be played when the GameObject is added to the scene.

Play an Animation from code

If you wish to play a SpriteAnimation from code, it can be done in the following way:

[SerializeField]
private SpriteAnimator animator;

[SerializeField]
private SpriteAnimation idleAnimation;

private void Start() {
	// Play the idle animation
	animator.Play(idleAnimation);
	
		// Play the idle animation starting at frame 2
		animator.Play(idleAnimation, 2);
	
		// Force the idle animation to play starting at frame 2
		// By default, calling the Play method with the same SpriteAnimation that is already playing will be ignored.
		// Using force, you can ensure the SpriteAnimation is always played no matter what.
		animator.Play(idleAnimation, 2, true)
	
		// Play the idle animation with a callback that will run once the animation ends. Callback will never be executed for looping animations though
		animator.Play(idleAnimation, () => {
  			Debug.Log($"Animation {animator.CurrentAnimation.title} finished");
		});
}

The SpriteAnimator also has the following method:

• Stop: Stop an animation that is playing