An Animator ControllerControls animation through Animation Layers with Animation State Machines and Animation Blend Trees, controlled by Animation Parameters. The same Animator Controller can be referenced by multiple models with Animator components. More info
See in Glossary allows you to arrange and maintain a set of animations for a character or other animated Game Object.
The controller has references to the animation clipsAnimation data that can be used for animated characters or simple animations. It is a simple “unit” piece of motion, such as (one specific instance of) “Idle”, “Walk” or “Run”. More info
See in Glossary used within it, and manages the various animation states and the transitions between them using a so-called State MachineThe set of states in an Animator Controller that a character or animated GameObject can be in, along with a set of transitions between those states and a variable to remember the current state. The states available will depend on the type of gameplay, but typical states include things like idling, walking, running and jumping. More info
See in Glossary, which could be thought of as a kind of flow-chart, or a simple program written in a visual programming language within Unity.
The following sections cover the main features that Mecanim provides for controlling and sequencing your animations.