Unity3D PlayableDirector play timeline animation backwards

Question

I have made a zooming animation to get a close view of a GameObject. I am triggering this animation by using the PlayableDirector. I can just call the Play() method on this.

But if the user is zoomed in, I want to make it possible to zoom out as well. This should be able, but I do not know how. Is there something like a reverse method available on the PlayableDirector?

I would appreciate any insight / advice.

Thanks in forward.

Answer 1

At the moment, this is not possible in a simple way. The tricky way is to invert the clips in a semi-automatic way, as described here: https://forum.unity.com/threads/how-can-i-play-an-animation-backwards.498287/#post-5004851

Answer 2

you can use a while loop to evaluate the time

using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using UnityEngine;
using UnityEngine.Playables;

public class TimelineManager : MonoBehaviour
{
    private PlayableDirector timeline;
    private bool _isPlaying;

    private void Awake()
    {
        timeline = GetComponent<PlayableDirector>();
    }


    public void PlayAnimation()
    {
        if(_isPlaying) return;
        StartCoroutine(Play());   

        
    }

    public void ReverseAnimation()
    {
        if(_isPlaying) return;
        StartCoroutine(Reverse());   
    }


    IEnumerator Play()
    {
        _isPlaying = true;
        
        float dt = 0;
        while (dt < timeline.duration)
        {
            dt += Time.deltaTime / (float) timeline.duration;

            timeline.time = Mathf.Max(dt, 0);
            timeline.Evaluate();
            yield return null;
        }

        _isPlaying = false;
    }

    private IEnumerator Reverse()
    {
        _isPlaying = true;

        float dt = (float) timeline.duration;

        while (dt > 0)
        {
            dt -= Time.deltaTime / (float) timeline.duration;

            timeline.time = Mathf.Max(dt, 0);
            timeline.Evaluate();
            yield return null;
        }
        
        _isPlaying = false;
    }
}