Easiest setup for a Pre Land animation?

Development Character & Animation
1

I currently have a (bool: isinair?) jump_start, (automatic rule transition) jump_apex and (bool: landing) jump_pre_land before going into a (isNOTinair) landing additive onto my ground locomotion.

I’ve been battling this for quite some time and can not get a fully functional way of getting some sort of indication that the player is about to land on the ground, therefore play pre_land animation.
I’ve tried using a trace but if you start tracing too early in the jump you get a hit at the very beginning of the jump. If you start too slow, you (at least I) get messy code.

I have been googling my butt off for any information regarding a setup like this but can’t find anything. If anyone has some good info it would be much appreciated!
The best thing for me would be to somehow know the time until the player hits the ground. Since then you can just play the animation its length in time before landing.

2

Gwen Frey shared a pretty nice way for handling a landing animation: Alternative Biped Solutions - YouTube
(Jumping/Landing starts at about 3:30)

3

That’s very interesting indeed. Thank you!

I’m not sure what the best way to solving the blueprints for getting the distance to ground is though. I will do some research and try more. Hopefully someone else has good tips.

4

I found this thread: Calculate Capsules Trajectory while in air? - Blueprint Visual Scripting - Unreal Engine Forums

I replicated the blueprint but modified it so that whenever my character starts falling a Timeline starts tracing as long as it’s falling, and in my transition for the pre_land animation I check how much time is left and match the time with the length of my pre_land animation. It seems to work great for now.