Animation Controller
FSM time
As the animation plays it useful to be able to trigger certain events. For example in a sneeze animation when the sound should play or in a attack animation when the weapon should fire. This is done by setting named events on the animation timeline. So at 1.2 second the sneeze sound event will be sent back to the game object that own the animation so they can do what they need to play the sound.
Trigger: Trigger events is sent when the animation pass that position on the timeline.
OnEnter: Is sent when the animation starts, no matter where on the timeline it starts.
OnExit: Sent when the animation ends no matter where on the timeline it ends.
Blending
Poses
Root motion
Node Controllers
Node controllers are way to modify the transforms of node without using animations. It can be used to make characters look at things, reach for things, ragdoll and walk up steps.
Reference
AiGameDev - Character Animation Technology - 2015 - Part 1 and Part 2
Destiny Character-Animation - 2014
Overview of Motion Planning - 2013
Parametric Motion Graphs - 2007
Animation Blending: Achieving Inverse Kinematics and More - 2003
http://grail.cs.washington.edu/projects/motion-fields/