Installation

As a prerequisite, you must have a working Unity project to which you can add the spine-unity runtime.

1. Download and install Unity.
2. Create a new empty project in the Unity Editor.

There are multiple installation options to add the spine-unity runtime to your Unity project:

• Installation via Unitypackage
• Installation via Git
• Installation via Unity Package Manager

Via Unitypackage

You can install the spine-unity runtime into your Assets folder via the spine-unity unitypackage.

1. Download the latest spine-unity unitypackage.
2. Import the unitypackage (double-click it or drop it onto the Project panel in Unity to import it).

The latest spine-unity unitypackages are available on the Spine Unity Download page.

Via Git

Alternatively to installing from the unitypackage, you can get the latest changes via Git as described below.

1. Clone the spine-runtimes Git repository.
2. Copy the contents of spine-runtimes/spine-unity/Assets/ to your project's Assets/ folder.
3. Copy the folder spine-runtimes/spine-csharp/src to your project's Assets/Spine/Runtime/spine-csharp folder.

Via Unity Package Manager

Alternatively, you can install and update the spine-unity runtime via the Unity Package Manager.

If your Unity version is rather recent and your Unity Package Manager provides the Add package from git URL... option, you can directly add the three packages with these URLs:

1. https://github.com/EsotericSoftware/spine-runtimes.git?path=spine-csharp/src#4.2
2. https://github.com/EsotericSoftware/spine-runtimes.git?path=spine-unity/Assets/Spine#4.2
3. https://github.com/EsotericSoftware/spine-runtimes.git?path=spine-unity/Assets/Spine Examples#4.2

The latest Unity Package Manager URLs are also available on the Spine Unity Download page.

To open the example scenes of the Spine Examples package, please copy the scene files from the package directory to your Assets directory using your system's file manager (Explorer or Finder respectively). Unfortunately a bug in Unity causes the error "Opening scene in read-only package!" when trying to directly open a scene within a package downloaded via git URL:

Details

Open the Package Manager in Unity (via Window > Package Manager). For each of the three packages, select the + icon, choose Add package from git URL..., and enter the git URL above (or from the download page). The part #4.2 determines the branch and can also be set to a specific git commit hash like #5e8e4c21f11603ba1b72c220369d367582783744 to ensure everyone on your project has the same consistent state of the package. The Package Manager window will now list the added package entry. In the Project panel you will now find spine-unity Runtime and spine-unity Runtime Examples entries under Packages. If the entry is not yet listed in the Project panel, you may need to close and re-open Unity.

Optional Extension UPM Packages

The spine-unity runtime works without additional plugins. Some optional features, such as Timeline or Universal Render Pipeline (URP) support, are provided via separate Unity Package Manager (UPM) extension packages.

Why separate extension packages

Unity has moved many of their optional modules to the new Unity Package Manager (UPM) ecosystem. For example, their Universal Render Pipeline base shader files are also provided as a UPM package under the name Universal RP and not part of every new Unity project out of the box.

Including our Universal RP Spine shaders in the spine-unity runtime would lead to confusing error messages and additional configuration steps in case Unity's Universal RP package has not been installed in a project. By providing our Universal RP Spine shaders as a UPM package, such dependencies are automatically resolved, making it easier to use this additional functionality.

Installation

There are two options on installing extension UPM packages:

• Option A - Downloading the UPM package and installing it locally.
• Option B - Using Add package from git URL.

A - Download the UPM package

1. Download the desired UPM package via the download page or find it in the spine-unity/Modules subdirectory in the Git repository.
2. Having your Unity project open, it is recommended to close any scene containing Spine components (e.g. by opening a new empty scene).
3. After unzipping or cloning, you can make use of the package in one of these two ways:
   • a) Copy into your project
     Copy the package contents to the Packages directory in your project. Unity will load it automatically.
   • b) Via the Package Manager
     Copy the package contents anywhere outside your Assets directory, then open the Package Manager in Unity (via Window > Package Manager), select the + icon, choose Add package from disk..., and point it to the package.json file. The Package Manager window will now list a Spine Lightweight RP Shaders entry: In the Project panel you will now also find a Spine Lightweight RP Shaders entry under Packages: If the entry is not yet listed in the Project panel, you may need to close and re-open Unity.

4. To add example scenes available at a UPM package like the Spine URP Shaders UPM package, first select the package, then select Samples and Import.

B - Add package from git URL

If your Unity version is rather recent and your Unity Package Manager provides the Add package from git URL... option, you can also directly use the git URL.

Important Note: When installing the URP Shaders UPM package from git URL, it is required that you also have the spine-csharp and spine-unity packages installed via the Unity Package Manager, and not from a unitypackage to the Assets folder. Otherwise URP Shaders UPM package shader include paths point to a spine-unity package directory which does not exist, leading to shader compile errors.

1. Find the git URL for your UPM package on the download page.
2. Having your Unity project open, it is recommended to close any scene containing Spine components (e.g. by opening a new empty scene).
3. Open the Package Manager in Unity (via Window > Package Manager), select the + icon, choose Add package from git URL..., and enter the git URL from the download page. E.g. https://github.com/EsotericSoftware/spine-runtimes.git?path=spine-unity/Modules/com.esotericsoftware.spine.urp-shaders#4.2 The part #4.2 determines the branch and can also be set to a specific git commit hash like #5e8e4c21f11603ba1b72c220369d367582783744 to ensure everyone on your project has the same consistent state of the package. The Package Manager window will now list a Spine Lightweight RP Shaders entry: In the Project panel you will now also find a Spine Lightweight RP Shaders entry under Packages: If the entry is not yet listed in the Project panel, you may need to close and re-open Unity.
4. To add example scenes available at a UPM package like the Spine URP Shaders UPM package, first select the package, then select Samples and Import.

Note for older UPM packages:
Older versions of UPM packages directly contained example scenes in the normal package structure. To open the example scenes contained in the package, please copy the scene files from the package directory to your Assets directory using your system's file manager (Explorer or Finder respectively). Unfortunately a bug in Unity causes the error "Opening scene in read-only package!" when trying to directly open a scene within a package downloaded via git URL:

Samples

To explore the spine-unity runtime example scenes:

1. Download and install Unity.
2. Create a new empty project in the Unity Editor.
3. Download the latest spine-unity unitypackage and import it. Alternatively you can install spine-unity via Git or the Unity Package Manager as described in the Installation section above.
4. Open the project in the Unity Editor, then checkout the different example scenes in the Spine Examples/Getting Started folder in the Project panel. Each example scene has text instructions on how to run it and a description of what you see.

You can inspect and modify the C# code of both the samples and the spine-unity runtime by opening the project in Unity Editor and selecting Assets -> Open C# Project. For additional information on the example scenes, please see section Example Scenes.

Updating the spine-unity Runtime

Upgrade Guide

Before updating your project' spine-unity runtime, please consult our guide on Spine editor and runtime version management.

Note: Json and binary skeleton data files exported from Spine 4.1 or earlier will not be readable by the spine-unity 4.2 runtime! The skeleton data files need to be re-exported using Spine 4.2.

If you have many projects, we suggest automating exporting your project files as described here.
For example, we use this script to export all the Spine example projects and to create texture atlases: export.sh

Please consult the following upgrade guides when updating from spine-unity 3.6, 3.7, 3.8, 4.0 or 4.1 to newer versions:

• spine-unity 3.6 to 3.7 Upgrade-Guide
• spine-unity 3.7 to 3.8 Upgrade-Guide
• spine-unity 3.8 to 4.0 Upgrade-Guide
• spine-unity 4.0 to 4.1 Upgrade-Guide
• spine-unity 4.1 to 4.2 Upgrade-Guide

It is recommended to perform the following steps to prevent potential problems:

1. As with Unity updates, it is always recommended that you back up your whole Unity project before performing an update.
2. Always check with your Lead Programmer and Technical Artist before updating your Spine runtime. Spine runtimes are source-available and designed to be user-modifiable based on varying project needs. Your project's Spine runtime may have been modified by your programmer. In this case, updating to the latest runtime also requires reapplying those modifications to the new version of the runtime.
3. Read the CHANGELOG.md file included in the downloaded unitypackage or on github. You can find the necessary documentation here when obsolete methods have been replaced with new counterparts.

Once you are sure you want to update to the latest spine-unity runtime, you can update spine-unity according to how you installed the package.

Update via Unitypackage

1. Get the latest spine-unity runtime by downloading the latest spine-unity unitypackage. Alternatively you can update by pulling the latest changes from the spine-runtimes Git repository via Git as described below.
2. Close the Unity Editor and Visual Studio/Xcode.
3. When upgrading to a different major or minor version (e.g. from 3.7 to 3.8), delete the previous spine-unity installation directories Assets/Spine and Assets/Spine Examples from your project.
4. Open the project in the Unity Editor. In case you removed the previous spine-unity installation, ignore any logged errors.
5. Import the unitypackage (you can double-click on it and Unity will open it).
6. When upgrading to a different major or minor version, re-import the skeleton assets by selecting right-click - Reimport All in the Project panel. Alternatively to not re-import all assets, you can locate the folder containing your Spine skeleton assets in the Project panel that you want to re-import, right-click on the folder, then select Reimport.

Update via Git

1. Get the latest spine-unity runtime by pulling the latest changes from the spine-runtimes Git repository.
2. When upgrading to a different major or minor version (e.g. from 3.7 to 3.8), delete the previous spine-unity installation directories Assets/Spine and Assets/Spine Examples from your project.
3. Copy the contents of spine-runtimes/spine-unity/Assets/ to your project's Assets/ folder.
4. Copy the folder spine-runtimes/spine-csharp/src to your project's Assets/Spine/Runtime/spine-csharp folder.

Note: The spine-unity runtime is based on the generic spine-csharp runtime. Make sure to watch changes to both the spine-unity and spine-csharp runtime on GitHub.

Update via Unity Package Manager

If you have added the spine-unity runtime as packages from a remote git URL via Add package from git URL you can use the Unity Package Manager to update the packages.

Open the Package Manager in Unity (via Window > Package Manager), select each of the packages

• spine-csharp Runtime
• spine-unity Runtime
• spine-unity Runtime Examples

and hit the Update button to re-download the latest version of the specified branch from git.

Note that if your URL has the ending #4.2 as in https://github.com/EsotericSoftware/spine-runtimes.git?path=spine-csharp/src#4.2, it will re-download the latest version from the 4.2 branch of the git repository.

Updating an Extension UPM Package

When upgrading an optional extension UPM package:

• The same principles as updating the Spine Unity runtime apply.
• As mentioned above, it is always recommended that you back up your whole Unity project before performing an update.

Following the installation options, there are two options on updating the package:

• Option A - In-place Update
• Option B - Using Add package from git URL

A - In-place Update

1. If you have your Unity project open, it is recommended to either a) close Unity or b) close any scene containing Spine components (e.g. by opening a new empty scene).
2. Copy the content of the new UPM package zip file or git directory over the existing one. Depending on how you have installed the UPM package, this will be either the project_root/Packages/package_name directory in your project or the arbitrary directory outside the Assets directory from where you have loaded it via Add package from disk...
3. If you have closed Unity, open your project again in Unity.
4. Unity will import the new assets and display a loading progress bar.

B - Add package from git URL

If you have added the package from a remote git URL via Add package from git URL you can use the Unity Package Manager to update the package. Open the Package Manager in Unity (via Window > Package Manager), select the package that you want to update and hit the Update button to re-download the latest version from the specified branch from git. Note that if your URL has the ending #4.2 as in https://github.com/.../Modules/com.esotericsoftware.spine.timeline#4.2, it will re-download the latest version from the 4.2 branch of the git repository.

Next: Examples