Unity UI Art and Motion Production

Overview

Turn an approved Figma visual direction and, where permitted, AI-assisted raster art into Unity UI assets and small, readable UI motion. Figma owns approved visual intent; Unity owns runtime layout, state, input, accessibility, and performance behavior. The workflow supports uGUI, NGUI, and UI Toolkit in one evidence contract and remains experimental until governed studio dogfood is observed.

When to use

Use for new or revised HUDs, menus, panels, icons, 9-slice frames, atlas-ready sprites, component states, popup transitions, screen transitions, and UI micro-motion with an identified Unity stack. Use it also when a flattened or AI-generated UI screenshot must be decomposed into reviewed raster/native UI candidates before Figma export. Read references/design-brief.md before generating or iterating visual candidates, references/figma-ai.md when the visual source or AI provenance is in scope, and references/flattened-ui-decomposition.md for screenshot decomposition, and references/visual-iteration.md when a candidate needs bounded variants or static QC. Read the stack-specific reference (ugui.md, ngui.md, or ui-toolkit.md) before selecting import settings or motion drivers.

When NOT to use

Do not use for diagnosing an already invisible or clipped UI item (route to unity-ui-rendering-debugging), character or skeletal animation, general art asset preflight, localization authority, gameplay logic, 3D assets, shaders, non-UI VFX, package installation, bulk reimport, bundle publishing, or a runtime PASS without runtime evidence.

Required inputs and context discovery

Collect project and Unity identity, active stack(s), design brief, optional source screenshot and decomposition manifest, Figma file/page/node and revision, approved component/variant/token references, export files and SHA-256 hashes, AI provider/model/prompt/reference/output provenance when used, target prefabs or UXML/USS/controller paths, owners, reviewer, dependency state, performance tier, reduced-motion requirement, baseline hashes, backup root, restore objective, and exact verification commands. Treat missing Figma access, export hash, rights, Unity project, or runtime runner as BLOCKED.

Safety and risk level

This is a medium-risk file workflow. Default to report-only planning. Use the bundled Python 3.11+ helpers (scripts/ui_art_motion.py and scripts/ui_art_qc.py) with jsonschema to validate the closed design brief, asset, and motion manifests, bind source exports to hashes, detect or explicitly select one stack, and emit a stable plan digest plus static art-QC report. Apply only through safe-project-mutation after a reviewer, backup/restore manifest, baseline, and exact target scope are recorded. Never install DOTween, LeanTween, Rive, Spine, or another tween/runtime package.

Workflow

1. Write the design brief. Bind goal, format, layout hierarchy, type system, color/material language, references, exact copy policy, negative constraints, and one-variable variants. Completion criterion: the closed design-brief schema passes and a reviewer can identify the visual system.
2. Bind visual authority. If a flattened screenshot was used, validate the decomposition manifest first: source hash/dimensions, original-pixel bboxes, raster/native decisions, overlay intersections, retained restoration variants, and reviewer approval. Then capture the Figma revision, component states, tokens, export names, rights, and reviewer; record AI provenance and hashes. Completion criterion: figma-ai.md evidence is complete or the item is explicitly BLOCKED.
3. Preflight the export. Validate dimensions, alpha, color space, scale, pivot, 9-slice borders, atlas group, compression, ownership, and safe source/target paths against the asset manifest schema. Completion criterion: every export hash matches and no target escapes the approved project root.
4. Choose the Unity stack. Detect uGUI, NGUI, and UI Toolkit markers; if more than one is present, require an explicit stack selection and matching manifests. Completion criterion: exactly one stack and one source revision are bound.
5. Author state and motion. Define states, triggers, interruption, reduced-motion behavior, duration, easing, driver, and verification cases. Prefer Animator/AnimationClip, existing NGUI components, USS transitions, or a project controller according to the stack. External tween drivers are allowed only with evidence that the dependency already exists. Completion criterion: motion manifest validates and contains no installation request.
6. Review the report-only plan. Sort operations, record baseline hashes, conflict/duplicate targets, restore actions, dependency evidence, and the deterministic plan digest. Share the plan with the named reviewer. Completion criterion: the reviewer approves the exact manifest and scope.
7. Apply through the safety gate. Run report-only first, create the backup manifest, then apply only the reviewed operations using safe-project-mutation; do not edit generated helper copies by hand. Completion criterion: after-hashes and restore paths match the manifest.
8. Verify static and runtime behavior. Run design-brief/art-QC and stack-specific static checks, import/build checks, screen-size and reduced-motion scenarios, interruption scenarios, and performance sampling. Record screenshots/video, logs, device tier, sample count, and known limitations. Completion criterion: output hashes, runtime evidence, and acceptance criteria are all present; otherwise return BLOCKED.

Motion policy

Use the native driver matrix: uGUI permits Animator, AnimationClip, or a project controller; NGUI permits existing NGUI tween components, AnimationClip, or a project controller; UI Toolkit permits USS transitions or a project controller. A DOTween/LeanTween entry must name existing dependency evidence; the workflow never adds that dependency. Keep micro-motion short, interruptible, reduced-motion aware, allocation-free in repeated paths, and within the declared budget.

Evidence and output contract

Produce ui-art-motion-production.json with identity, scope, owners, Figma revision, design brief, asset and motion manifests, static art-QC report, plan digest, baseline/after hashes, backup and restore paths, static/runtime commands and exit codes, screenshots or video, performance evidence, Verified facts, Snapshot assumptions, Unverified hypotheses, BLOCKED items, limitations, reviewer decision, and next actions. A plan is not proof of an applied or runtime-successful change.

Handoff contract

Record repository and project path, branch, goal, owned scope, do-not-touch scope, files changed, generated resources, commands and exit codes, evidence artifacts, restore command, reviewer, blockers, unresolved risks, next owner, and a reactivation prompt.

Pitfalls and anti-rationalization

• Missing Figma/AI/Unity/runtime evidence is BLOCKED, never PASS.
• Do not treat a screenshot, compile result, or plan digest as proof of full device coverage or motion quality.
• Do not overwrite source exports, localization authority, unrelated gameplay, or generated adapters.
• Do not broaden the scope from UI art/motion into character, 3D, shader, or non-UI VFX production.

Verification checklist

• Figma revision, rights, reviewer, and AI provenance are recorded.
• Optional decomposition source hash, original-pixel bboxes, overlay masks, restoration variants, and human review status are recorded.
• Design brief, prompt lineage, variant status, and negative constraints are recorded.
• Both manifests pass closed-schema validation and source revision parity.
• Static art QC passes dimensions, alpha, text policy, and variant checks.
• Export and target paths are contained, unique, and hash-bound.
• One stack and an approved native/existing driver are selected.
• Report-only digest, baseline, backup, and restore evidence exist.
• Static/runtime/performance evidence is fresh or explicitly BLOCKED.
• No package installation, bulk reimport, localization edit, or publish occurred.

References and scripts

• references/figma-ai.md: visual authority, export and AI provenance.
• references/flattened-ui-decomposition.md: screenshot classification, original-pixel bboxes, background repair, and variant retention.
• references/design-brief.md: design-system prompt structure and variant contract.
• references/visual-iteration.md: bounded variants, static art QC, and evidence boundary.
• references/ugui.md: Canvas, Sprite/Atlas, Animator, and uGUI runtime checks.
• references/ngui.md: UIPanel/atlas/tween component checks.
• references/ui-toolkit.md: UXML/USS, transition, panel settings, and runtime checks.
• scripts/ui_art_motion.py: isolated report-only manifest planner and verifier.
• scripts/ui_art_qc.py: isolated design-brief and static export QC helper.