Layered Blend per Bone (UE 5.0)
Documentation Page: Animation Blueprint Blend Nodes in Unreal Engine | Unreal Engine 5.0 Documentation
This animation node needs more detailed documentation. For people who are not familiar with concepts of animation and rigging (me), this page offers very less and too technical information. The examples offered in this page aren’t offered in proportion with the descriptions of the parameters. Here is an overview of the issues that I am going to talk about in this post:
- “Blend Weights” node input isn’t explained.
- “Curve Blend Option” setting doesn’t contain examples.
- “Branch Filter” setting doesn’t contain enough examples.
- “Mesh Space Rotation Blend” setting isn’t explained.
- “Mesh Space Scale Blend” setting isn’t explained.
- Every setting under the “Functions” category aren’t explained.
“Blend Weights” node input isn’t explained
In the screenshot of the node, this input is clearly visible, yet it is not mentioned in the documentation. For people who are expert on animations, this input might be self explanatory. But for everybody else, the name of the input is not self explanatory. We need to know what this input does. Yes, there are unofficial tutorials (Youtube) but the official documentation should explain this input in depth, as those unofficial tutorials might possibly get out-of-date with each version release of Unreal Engine. I don’t want to go on an information hunt in Stackoverflow, or UE forums for basic information that should already be included in the official documentation.
“Curve Blend Option” setting doesn’t contain examples
There is a table which explains the individual options that this setting can have. Which is good. But the descriptions of these options are too technical and too short. If I have to give an analogy, this table is similar to the piece of paper that you find in a drug that you get from a pharmacy. That piece of paper is also quite technical to understand.
Also, these descriptions are very difficult to visualize. A (or several) examples would be very very much appreciated, with each option. Now, some people is going to say “Why don’t you just test each of them in the editor?”, which I did. Well, there isn’t any visible difference among each of them. So, clearly, these options are for some specific scenarios. As a starting point, these scenarios can be explained.
“Branch Filter” setting doesn’t contain enough examples
Trying to understand this part has clearly caused the most frustration in me. The sentences here are very small and contain way too much information compared to their size. Here is a quote from the page:
After adding an element to the Branch Filters property, you can input a bone as the Bone Name to use as a reference point to control localized animation blending.
This sentence took at least 5 or 6 times of reading before I finally understood, a little bit. This sentence should have been at least 2 sentences:
After adding an element to the Branch Filters property, you can input one or more bone information(s). These bone information is used as a reference point to control localized animation blending. In the added bone information, the Bone Name field refers to a bone name in the skeleton.
I think, with this way, this paragraph is more understandable.
Next on this is the description of Blend Depths. This table suffers the same sickness as the “Curve Blend Option” table suffers. The depths doesn’t have enough examples and their descriptions are too short and superficial. For the Positive and Negative values, the GIF images are almost the same (maybe they are). Fortunately, I was able to test this in the editor and saw the difference it produces. But more in depth explanation would be very appreciated.
Conclusion
My purpose of writing these in this style is not to insult the team or the developers. I have great respect to the work that you guys put in the editor and the engine. My writing style is purely out of frustration. At the end, when I see the unreal team in Youtube and announcing these beautiful features, I get hyped, only to see that there aren’t enough documentation that explains these things. It is demotivating when this happens every time.
Also, in general, I feel that the unreal engine documentation are oriented towards seasoned game developers and 3D artists. It is not easily accessible by who are new to the field.
I hope you guys take my critics well and fixing these in short time.