dev update : scrapping my weapon workflow

So, first off I apologize for the lack of updates these past couple weeks. I got a lot done in a short amount of time on a workflow pipeline for adding weapons to my game, and I went at it with a bit too much fervor. I didn't stop to think about other ways to do what I was doing, or problems I'd run into later down the road with my current method, until I actually ran into said problems.
The workflow I create is neat in concept, but highly inefficient and not at manageable long term.

There is also a much easier way to do what I am trying to accomplish and potential for a super quick and easy workflow.

The goal: 

Create a workflow where I need only make an initial sprite of a weapon, and with the click of a few buttons, end up with that weapon in my game, fully animated and implemented into my current systems. 

Lastly, I format the sprite sheets, and use them to create an animation override controller, which can feature slowed down, sped up, or entirely different attack animations, changes to hitboxes for that specific weapon, etc.

The problem with this method:

So far as I know, there is no easy way to automate the very time consuming last step: replacing every frame in my animations with frames from the new spritesheets. I say 'no easy way', as I know how I could do this, but writing the code for it seems like more effort than its worth, and it will be very difficult to expand upon in the future, so I am ditching this method in its entirety... which is not something I'm used to doing. It's hard to scrap something you spent a lot of time and effort on, but I have a an alternate plan that is much more flexible, and more scalable long term.

The new plan:

Learning to  use blender (finally) and making low poly 3D models of new weapons. These will be imported into Unity, and animated in engine using the animator timeline to sync up with my hand drawn pixel art. I'll then use a shader material to pixelize the 3D model weapon at runtime. I already know mostly how to do this, though I know I'm going to run into some challenges along the way, but thats what I enjoy most about indie game dev.

Anyhow, thanks to anyone who read this, none of it is really important information about development, just an update on what I've been doing and where I'm at with it, as well as a bit of self reflection. I think this process was cool, and fun to figure out, but ultimately doesn't fit for me.