title: Unity: How to animate a flashing TextMesh (so varying the alpha when the player does something)?
body: <p>I have tried retracing the steps from the survival shooter tutorial (create an animation clip on the property of the TextMesh, vary the alpha, and create a state machine), but animating the alpha property in the textMesh.MeshRenderer._Color object does nothing, because this object disappears on runtime (even though the animator window accepts it as a valid object to animate...), and my animation window actually shows the object is missing when I reopen it--so I am thinking that this must be some kind of throwaway color object? </p>
  
  <p>The problem is that this is the only "color" that I can edit in the Text Mesh object.  Otherwise, the state machine is working perfectly; and the animation seems to be playing...Just nothing is happening...and, like I said, when I reopen the animation clip in the animation window, the property is labeled as 'missing,' even though I have not touched the respective object. </p>
  
  <p>Coming back to what I am trying to do: I am trying to implement a flashing label in the game (rather than on the HUD) that is invisible until the player gets close, whereupon it starts slowly flashing (it is a control suggestion). Maybe the Textmesh object is the wrong object; maybe my animation process is wrong...but I think the easier answer might be to go into how to implement what I am trying to do...rather than trouble shoot the mistake I am making... </p>