Unity Error: Animation Event has no function name specified

I recently ran into a weird error in Unity. I wanted to create a simple animation to move a cube in my scene. Basic stuff. But, Unity suddenly reported an error in the Console. The error in the console said that the “AnimationEvent has no function name specified”. I thought the warning was a bit vague. It turns out that the warning is perfect.

About the Error

The error occurs when you create an AnimationEvent in your animation clip and don’t specify a function name for that AnimationEvent. Surprisingly basic.

You can use animation events. Animation events help call a specific function. The animation clip triggers the event at a predefined point. This happens during an animation’s playback.

Most likely, you accidently created an animation event in your animation. But, you did not assign a valid function name for that animation event. (Why would you?).

To resolve this error, you need to assign a function name to the animation event. Or, you need to remove the animation event.

In this article, I will explain:

• How to assign a function name for the AnimationEvent, and
• How to remove the AnimationEvent

How do I assign a function name to the AnimationEvent?

You can use an animation event to trigger a function from your animation timeline. This is an easy way to add interactive events to your game. You need to specify a function name for the AnimationEvent to trigger.

1. Open your Animation tab (Window > Animation > Animation).
2. Click on the blue pointer at the top of the timeline.
3. In your inspector, click the “No Function Selected” dropdown.
4. Pick a function from the options.

How do I remove the AnimationEvent?

Like me, you probably created the AnimationEvent by accident. It’s easy to remove the AnimationEvent.

1. Open your Animation tab (Window > Animation > Animation)
2. Right-click on the white pointer at the top of the timeline in the row above
3. Click “Delete Animation Event.”

How do I create a new AnimationEvent?

You can create a new animation event in your Animation window. You can add as many events as you like. Here’s how to add an animation event.

1. Open your Animation tab (Window > Animation > Animation)
2. In the top left, click the Event button

The function can have either zero or one parameter. The function should return void.

What else do I need to know?

That’s pretty much it. AnimationEvents are a nifty way to tie animations to functions. If you create an AnimationEvent and don’t tie a function to it, Unity will complain. To fix it, either remove the AnimationEvent or assign a function to it.