Complex 3D Weapon Animation

Hi everyone!

First of all, thanks for any help you might give me in advance.

As part of a personal indie game project, I am creating a weapon which has the property of a three barrelled-shotgun. Everything in my head is clear conception wise but one thing: The reloading.

The concept:
First of all, my reloading doesn’t involve magazine since my weapon doesn’t have one. The reloading animation of my weapon is to be the three barrel (place in a triangle formation with the shooting barrel oriented to the top), turning clockwise (after the player shoot), placing the next barrel on the top, ready to shoot.

Step-by-step animation concept:

  1. Gun is ready to shoot;
  2. Player shot;
  3. The tree barrels turn clockwise;
  4. Next barrel at position of the first barrel;
  5. Gun is ready to shoot.

The Problem:
The problem is that I may want my weapon to have a skin which makes the tree canons different, meshwise. Why is that a problem? I initially wanted to make the tree barrels turn 120°, and returning it to the initial position of the barrels (the switch being invisible to the player eyes). Now, if I have three different canon, should I have three different animation for the tree barrels? Make a step by step animation? What should I do?

Thanks a lot!

Nathan

If your shotgun is a Skeletal Mesh, you should be able to use an animation montage with no issues. If you need 3 parts, animation montages are very flexible and easy to work with. I would recommend the official Unreal video about them, which is on their youtube. Good luck with your gun!