Not too expensive, I hired a 3D artist on CG Trader to animate a Legionary and skirmisher for approx. $200 USD each, both are published. Unit animations tend to be the hardest to complete, so many frames you have to render (attacking, walking, idle, death, and decay, in multiple directions…) Buildings are usually a single render (exception Mills or Stables with either windmill spinning or horse idle animation). However DE has destruction animations which are much more complicated. I have not seen a custom destruction animation yet, but I don’t see why one couldn’t be done if the building was rendered in 3D software. I believe the developers had a special physics engine/animator for this that made it doable. Need a super smart programmer to replicate 
well if merging existing graphic animation files into a custom building counts… https://youtu.be/A-LuaTHBmzw
Is there an easy way to merge those damage layer frames?
yea I used slx studio it has a merge function
merge for damage layer? where?
ops i misread. the damage layer is something i just add in other damage graphics and photoshop the area where the chains are. the destruction animation is the merge.
I have attempted my first new building with Destruction Animation. Live in forums now.
Age of Empires - Mods - Roman Town Center - Imperial Age
Here are my opinions about it:
- the animation is just way too much fast, it collapses way too fast.(the complete height flattens in just 5 frames (16-20) out of 100)
- no damage graphics, so it doesn’t get smudge bruises when getting damage.
- is the upper part of the frames intentionally made flat, it feels a little bit odd.
Is the animation rendered or merged parts from some buildings?
Really Nice Work by the way! 
Side note: the folder structure needs to be corrected, exclamation mark after subscription.
Thanks Juggernaut for the feedback.
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Yes the animation is fast, will explore slowing it down and adding additional frames. I attempted to duplicate certain frames in SLX but it makes the animation less fluid. This was sort of a proof of concept, since it was first building destruction animation for me. However, I think I could add a couple additional custom frames during collapse of main building to slow down and keep it fluid.
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I could explore adding a damage graphic, does anyone have a good tutorial or understanding of how this works in SLX?
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Unclear about the frames being intentionally flat, the building goes from a 4 Peak roof on each side and collapses from corners then peaks/Center. As the building falls, yes the animation become more flattened as the peaks fall away.
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The animation is a copy and paste construction. I merged frames of original TC collapse manually copy and paste with editing frame by frame to make sure they overlaid correctly. (Will need to add additional ones to match rate of animation if I add additional frames to main building)
My takeaways, is destruction animations are totally doable and honestly fun, but very time intensive. My tools were primitive, copy and paste, however I hope others will be encouraged to try this themselves. It was awesome to see this come to life, and my personal favorite is the little ball post that rolls away in the end. 
Would love to see what else the community can produce with their own projects.
yeah indeed it looks lovely 
i did create a destruction animation for my harbor graphics in indian civ mod using the same method 
the damage graphics can be created using existing ones and just photoshop it. when damaged building turns darker and even if using a different building, as long as size is similar it is almost impossible to tell and thats the good thing about damage graphics.
Working on Updated Legionary Unit (Higher Resolution Render/rescaled in SLX).
Unit will also have a more squared shield (Scutum).
Plan is to have 3 variants.
- Sword Infantry Unit
- Spear Unit (With Roman Pilum)
- Elite Unit with Crested Helmet
3 types for 3 upgrades?
More Roman Units, this time Pilum (Spear Unit) and Roman Praetorians attacking some Persians!
The Praetorians have some NEW ornate armor including a new shield design, with Crested Helmets. Legionary variant is now sporting a Pilum/Spear.
Working on unit cards for each variant, and will include both in upcoming Mod.
Really impressive! \20chars
Thanks @Exradicator
btw this building is a mix of different parts of different building from AOE1/2 DE im assuming? could you tell me what they are? I want to have a shot at destruction animation even if itlooks bad.
Very impressive! I look forward to play it
Awesome! Thank you for all the work, time and money you put in this project.