So, I’ve seen a lot of information online, but none of it quite addresses my concern.
My goal is to create a NEW ANIMATION from two preexisting ones.
For example, I want to use the body animation of one sequence and the head animation of the other.
I don’t want to use an Animation Blueprint, because I want the animation to be accessible by all meshes (not just those that are pawns/characters).
People mention using a Blend Space, but correct me if I’m wrong, Blend Spaces blend EVERYTHING, and that’s not what I want.
I tried using the Control Rig in the Level Sequencer, but I can’t seem to bake more than one animation at a time onto it. I feel like I’m so close here, because if I can find a way to transmit the body data of one animation with the head data of the other onto the rig, my issue would be solved.
Hmm… I didn’t tinker with sequencers much, but I think I remember you could record things to save as animation assets. So why don’t you try splitting the body and recording the animation?
To Split the Body Between 2 Animations
Create a new slot from the Anim Slot Manager window (which you can access from any animation asset)
Head to your animation blueprint, into the main anim graph, then get a Slot node (which you can get by right clicking on an empty space inside the anim graph, searching for “default slot” on the menu that pops up, and selecting "Slot ‘DefaultSlot’ " from there)
While the Slot node is selected, navigate to the Details window and change the slot to the one we created from the dropdown menu under the Settings section
Plug the animation you want to play on the upper body into the Slot node’s input (Source) pin, and plug the node’s output pin into the Blend Poses 0 pin pf the Layered Blend per Bone
While the Layered Blend per Bone node is selected, navigate to the Details window and click on the plus (+) button next to the Branch Filters section under Config > Layer Setup and insert the exact name of the desired bone into the text box next to Bone Name (the animation will affect the bones with a lower hierarchy than the bone you choose)
Finally plug the animation you want to play on the lower body into the Base Pose pin of the Layered Blend per Bone node
Yes, I have tried recording (and a bunch of other things; the rig has gotten me closest), but again, the issue is that Unreal, by default, blends the ENTIRE skeletal mesh.
A rig allows me to isolate bones, but the rigs seem limited to one animation at a time.
This is all assuming I’m not mistaking your meaning.
I will sooner give up on this venture than open Blender. Unreal is ENOUGH for me.
Oh so recording animations during runtime is possible? Then what’s stopping you from recording the animation of the split body? Maybe I’m also missing something though.
That would actually be my personal suggestion. I just wanned to help you find ways in Unreal if it’s possible, since you wanned it that way. I think Blender is the better place for this anyway.
Good question. What happens is Unreal records unused bone transformations as “0,0,0”, not “null”, so they still take up “space”, if that makes sense. Any additional animation will not override the “0,0,0” but add to it. So, no matter what, blending will occur.
Yeah, Unreal is not meant to animate in such depths (yet). I actually use Filmora Wondershare to fast-track UI elements, because creating them in Unreal can be extremely convoluted. And don’t get me started on sound design. I have to use Cubase for that. But Wondershare and Cubase I learned WAY before Unreal, so it’s not a hassle.
