Character Mesh Floats When using Custom Crouch Animation

[Zokk]

I’ve run into a problem with a custom crouching animation I created in 3DS Max and imported into Unreal. The problem is that when the character is standing (using the default third person idle animation) the feet are solidly on the ground. But when the character crouches using the custom crouch animation, the whole character floats several units off the ground in a crouched position. The custom animation’s root is set to zero on all axes, just like the default animations, but it still hovers off the ground. I’ve tried adjusting the capsule height and the relative position of the character mesh to the capsule, but changing either one so the character’s feet are on the ground when crouching results in the character sinking slightly into the ground when standing.

Here’s exactly what I’m seeing in-game:
Standing With Feet on the Ground
Crouching Results in Floating

Anyone know how to correct this kind of thing?

[GPM]

Hey Zokk,

I know this is an old post but I’ve been working on crouching animations and saw this. If you are using Epic’s default standing animations the difference would be due to their feet alignment in the animation itself. Nothing to do with your setup in Unreal.

The default idle and and movement animations for the mannequin put the feet about 3 units into the ground. This is due to the buffer that the Character Movement Component creates between the character and the ground surface which tends to fluctuate between 1 and 3 units if I remember correctly. I remember seeing on another post, this slight distance off the ground is due to how the movement is calculated. Because the character is always lifted up slightly, Epic compensated by lowering the feet a bit down in their default animations so they penetrate the ground.

You could use the Epics standard offset in your animation, just lower the feet by about 2 to 3 units, or setup an IK system to match the feet to the ground more closely.

(As I am doing this from memory, let me know if I am incorrect on those points!)

Hope that helps someone,

//GPM