Hi everyone,
I’m running into a problem with my third-person character in Unreal Engine 5.3, and I hope someone here can help me figure it out.
Problem Description:
I’ve set up a character with a skeletal mesh and an animation blueprint. The animation blueprint includes a simple state machine that switches between Idle and Walk/Run animations based on speed. The character can move properly when I hit Play, but the animations don’t change — the character just glides across the ground in the idle pose.
It seems like the movement is working, but the animation blueprint is either not being triggered or not receiving the correct variables.
What I’ve Tried So Far:
-
Double-checked that the character mesh has the correct Animation Blueprint assigned
-
Confirmed that the “Speed” variable in the AnimBP is being updated (used Print String to check, always shows 0)
-
Made sure I’m casting to the correct character class in the AnimBP’s Event Graph
-
Verified that the character is using CharacterMovement and everything else is set up like the default Third Person template
-
Tried using “Try Get Pawn Owner” → Cast to MyCharacter → Get Velocity → Vector Length
-
Animation Blueprint is definitely active, just not transitioning between states
Expected Behavior:
When the character starts moving (using WASD), the animation should transition from Idle to Walk/Run based on the speed value being passed to the Animation Blueprint.
Actual Behavior:
The character moves correctly in the level, but stays in the idle pose, as if the speed is always 0. The animation state machine does not transition.
Additional Info:
-
Engine Version: 5.3
-
100% Blueprint-based
-
Using custom character (not the default ThirdPersonCharacter)
-
No errors or warnings in Output Log
-
Running on Windows 10
-
Using UE5 Mannequin (UE5 Skeleton, not UE4 Mannequin)