# Get value from Animation Curve at a specified time

**URL:** <https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/get-value-from-animation-curve-at-a-specified-time/335759>\
**Category:** Character & Animation\
**Tags:** time, float, unreal-engine, curve, Blueprint, question\
**Created:** [October 19, 2015, 3:24am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/get-value-from-animation-curve-at-a-specified-time/335759 "2015-10-19T03:24:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![anonymous\_user\_4de5aab3](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@anonymous\_user\_4de5aab3](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/anonymous_user_4de5aab3)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 3:24am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/get-value-from-animation-curve-at-a-specified-time/335759/1 "2015-10-19T03:24:06Z")

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Is there a way to get the value of an animation curve at a particular time in blueprints?

I can get the value of the curve at the **current** animation time via [“Get Curve Value”][1]. Maybe it is possible to use [“Get Float Value”][2], but I can’t see a way to get a curve float reference for a named curve in the animation asset.

Has anyone done this before?

[https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/images/Engine/Animation/Sequences/Curves/CreateMaterialCurve.jpg](https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/images/Engine/Animation/Sequences/Curves/CreateMaterialCurve.jpg)

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**Author:** ![MartenZander](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/martenzander/32/589446_2.png) [@MartenZander](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/MartenZander)\
**Post date:** [October 30, 2023, 1:51pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/get-value-from-animation-curve-at-a-specified-time/335759/2 "2023-10-30T13:51:10Z")

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Hey mate, did you manage to figure that out?

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**Author:** ![MostHost\_LA](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/mosthost_la/32/907035_2.png) [@MostHost\_LA](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/MostHost_LA)\
**Post date:** [October 30, 2023, 2:37pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/get-value-from-animation-curve-at-a-specified-time/335759/3 "2023-10-30T14:37:21Z")

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Back then you had to make your own c++ bluerpint plugin to create a blueprint accessible node to do just that.

Thats pretty much still the case.

Even then, since animations running aren’t necessarily what you expect - and worse, since you have to contend with blends and multiple animations running concurrently via additive - you can maybe get the value of a curve in the future, but the chances of it returning the value you want are rather slim (The chances of your function not crashing the engine even slimmer, but lets just assume for a minute?).

So, the best course of action is _not_ to return/read a value from the animations as they run, but to create a curve asset which you can query or some other/similar means to retrive a value at a given time.

Alternatively, you could make a quick and dirty reader for a single animation - you feed the blueprint the animation you want to know about, and you pull out the curve value at _time_ within the animation. This becomes similar to a data query, but it has nothing to do with current animations or the ABP system so you get to avoid all the issues.

The real question though, is what do you need this value for?  
Most of the time, even for predictive animations, you don’t.
