FxChain: Procedural Animation Sequencing for Unity
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FxChain is a modular animation system of components that connect intelligently and trigger sequentially—fully previewable in the Unity Editor and powered by a unique timing system.FxChain is compatible with all render pipelines. The package includes separate versions of the demo scene for HDRP, URP, and Built-in RP — you only need to import the one that matches your project's render pipeline.Introducing FxChain — a new animation system for the Unity Game Engine.No coding required. No keyframes. No external tools. Just a modular system of components that connect intelligently and trigger sequentially — all within the Unity Editor, powered by a unique timing system.With FxChain, components are linked visually in a hierarchical, branching structure with a plug and play feel. Kinda like lego blocks for building animation.This structure enables data and timing information to flow down through the component chain enabling a procedural approach to sequencing.The modular nature, combined with the ability to preview your animation directly in the editor, speeds up your workflow for quick revisions and experimentation.Check out the workflow demo / mini tutorial video above to see how complex behaviours can emerge with minimal setup.Key Features:Visual Chaining: Through the inspector, each FxChain component is linked to the next via the ‘Next in Chain’ list. Create parent-child relationships independent of the scene hierarchy. The chain structure is dynamic – remove a link, and it smartly splits into separate chains! Any script can become a new chain root.Instant In-Editor Preview: A dedicated "Play" button on every component lets you preview the entire chain's output directly in the Scene view without entering Play mode. This rapid feedback loop dramatically speeds up iteration, allowing you to fine-tune timings and behaviours instantly.Timing Control: Each component in the chain allows you to assign an Initial Pause and Duration, with options to inherit or modify timings based on parent data for perfectly synchronized or offset effects. This allows for procedural timing changes and easy sequence retimes.Modular Components: Build complex behaviours by combining specialized components:Animate: The core movement tool to apply position, rotation and scale transforms over time. Features include diverse orientation options, preview of end transform, dynamic object targeting (move towards targets that can change at runtime), randomization, world/local space control and multiple options to fine-tune your easing.Animate (Spline Mode): Effortlessly animate objects along splines. Simply specify an object with an existing Unity Splines Container or Line Renderer component. Includes options for alignment, look ahead, banking, easing and offset control. These make it perfect for coordinated camera movement.Repeater: Powerful spawning system! Create multiple instances ('spawns') of subsequent chain elements with controls to offset/randomize timings. Attach spawns to geometry mesh points, along existing splines or arrange them in an arc or line - Then combine with randomization, orientation control, and optional motion inheritance. Think particle systems, but fully integrated into your animation flow. (Familiar with C4D Mograph? You'll feel right at home!)Spritesheet Control: Easily manage and play single or multiple spritesheet animations. Includes a helper tool for easy setup and in-inspector preview with scrubbing/playback for quick view and testing. Features playback controls, randomization, color/alpha/emission over time, and dynamic sorting layer adjustments.Scaling: Specialized to control scale over time animations using the curve editor. Simple but very effective.Parent Link: A simple null node for organizing complex chain branches.Additional Features:Flexible Orientation: Control object facing and up directions using various targets (Objects, Camera, Axes, Own Trajectory, Chain Data).Randomization Power: Inject life and variety into your animations with built-in randomization options for transforms, timings, and spawn properties. Uses complex seed generation to ensure natural differentiation throughout your animation and components.Performance Ready: Includes option to preload all potential spawns ahead of time (e.g., during a loading screen), ensuring smooth playback even with complex nested Repeater setups.Code-Free Workflow: Design and implement intricate animation sequences entirely within the Unity Inspector – perfect for artists, designers, and developers alike.External Control: Trigger FxChain sequences from your own C# scripts, passing in dynamic parameters like duration, materials and target objects to adapt the animation to game state or user interaction.User-Friendly UI: Clean, organized interface built for clarity. Each section includes a handy ‘TIPS’ dropdown, assistance is always close by.Script Integration: Leverage FxChain's timing system to trigger your own custom scripts, audio clips, or video clips. Your scripts become part of the chain.Who is FxChain for?Game Designers & Developers: Quickly implement dynamic UI animations (menus, HUD elements), character/item effects (introductions, power-ups), environmental interactions (timed sequences), timed camera movements, and interactive feedback loops.Motion Designers: Create sophisticated visual effects, procedural animations, and motion graphics without deep coding. Especially powerful for those familiar with node-based or procedural workflows like Mograph.Solo Developers & Small Teams: Accelerate your animation workflow with a powerful, intuitive toolset that bypasses traditional keyframing complexity.Anyone wanting dynamic, synchronized animations: Ideal for UI/UX, procedural generation, cutscenes, AR/VR projects, and real-time broadcast graphics.A Note from the DeveloperAnimation, I've found, lives and dies by iteration. You can spend hours planning the perfect sequence, but it's only when you see it move that you spot what needs adjusting. The difference between serviceable animation and something with real character often comes down to those small refinements—tweaking an ease curve here, adjusting timing there.This has been reinforced throughout my work as a freelance motion graphics artist, working extensively with tools like Cinema4D, Houdini, and After Effects where quick preview and refinement are simply part of the workflow. When developing games in Unity, I found myself rather frustrated by the disconnect between coding transforms and seeing the results—The slow compile time wait after pressing the play button is, ironically, the quickest way to kill flow…FxChain started as a handful of utility scripts I wrote for my own projects, nothing particularly grand, just reusable tools to avoid reinventing the wheel each time. Over time, these scripts grew more sophisticated and I began connecting them with a timing system that let them work together. Eventually, it occurred to me that other developers might find the whole thing useful, and so FxChain was born.I hope it proves helpful in your projects, and I'd love to see what you create with it.DependenciesUnity 2021.3 LTS (minimum compatible version)Unity Splines (optional) - install through the package managerFull DocumentationFor a more in-depth deep dive into FxChain you can view the documentation here: FxChain DocumentationDemo SceneHave you watched the Promo video above? The whole thing was built with FxChain tools and its scene file is included as a learning tool when downloading the FxChain package.Design. Preview. Refine. All in-editor. No code. Just creativity. FxChain.I used Chat GPT for assistance with writing the documentation.I used Suno to generate the song for the promotion video.I used the Cursor as my IDE. AI assistance was minimal, using features like code completion and inline suggestions.
