To implement 8-direction animation using SkeletonAnimation with an Animator Controller in Unity, you can follow these steps:

1. Single Skeleton Approach: Use a single skeleton for all directions. This method involves creating animations for each direction within the same skeleton. You can switch between these animations using the Animator Controller. This approach is beneficial for smooth transitions between directions.

2. Animator Controller Setup: Create an Animator Controller in Unity and set up states for each direction (e.g., Idle_Up, Idle_Down, Walk_Up, Walk_Down, etc.). Use parameters to control the transitions between these states based on the character's movement direction.

3. Animation Switching: In your script, update the Animator parameters based on the character's movement direction. This will allow the Animator Controller to switch between the appropriate animations.

4. Example and Resources:

   • Spine Twitch Stream: There are videos available that demonstrate the process of rigging and animating an 8-direction character. You can watch them here.
   • Spine Tips: You can also refer to the Spine Tips for guidance on creating 8-direction animations.
   • Forum Discussions: There are several forum threads discussing 8-direction movement and animation. For example, this thread provides insights into handling multiple directions.

5. Code Example:

      using UnityEngine;
   
      public class CharacterController : MonoBehaviour
      {
          public Animator animator;
          private Vector2 movement;
   
          void Update()
          {
              movement.x = Input.GetAxis("Horizontal");
              movement.y = Input.GetAxis("Vertical");
   
              UpdateAnimator();
          }
   
          void UpdateAnimator()
          {
              if (movement.x > 0)
                  animator.SetTrigger("Walk_Right");
              else if (movement.x < 0)
                  animator.SetTrigger("Walk_Left");
              else if (movement.y > 0)
                  animator.SetTrigger("Walk_Up");
              else if (movement.y < 0)
                  animator.SetTrigger("Walk_Down");
              else
                  animator.SetTrigger("Idle");
          }
      }

By following these steps and utilizing the provided resources, you should be able to implement 8-direction animation using SkeletonAnimation and an Animator Controller in Unity effectively.

thcha There is no example of an implementation of an 8-directional character in the example scenes of the spine-unity runtime, but you can see how to handle the skeleton's animation using the Animator Controller in Spine Examples/ Other Examples/StateMachine SkeletonAnimation/Mecanim Logic SkeletonAnimation View.

This scene and the example scripts that are used in the scene should be very helpful to you. (The example scripts are attached to the Hero GameObject.)