So I am just trying to get a better understanding of Blendspace usage. Is blendspace only use for movement type of animation, examples walking, running & jumping, or can it be use to smooth out transitions of all animations. Example if my player character is standing still in idle animation then say throws a punch and then goes back to idle. Or also something like standing still, idle to block & back to idle animation.
OK so there is more to your question that could be answered in full with in the limits of a forum post but as to the basics.
Rule of thumb is all things in UE4-5 blends and not on how the data is formatted. You can then control the ease in and out depending on the required rate. You could do something as simple as creating an animation tree and change the weight of the nod they are attached to control the blend.
Blend Space is missed named as to what it actually is. In code terms it is either a 1d or 2d array that you can assign an animation take and the animation take is given an address with in the array.
This brings in the buzz word Context Based Animation. With in context a walk is different from a run which is different than a jump or even climbing a ladder. By using a blend space you can group animation takes with in the same context as to what is needed state wise as to say running WASD and jumping from state to state with in the same “index”.
Throwing a punch adds to the complexity of going beyond the limitation of the question as to adding “context” to the addition of “animation layering”
https://learn.foundry.com/modo/content/help/pages/animation/animation_layers.html
So a blend space could be used for locomotion states and then expanded to include action states like punching. Formatted this way the player could be running, walking, or even jumping while throwing a punch at the same time with out the need to expand the blend space index.
Sorry if still confusing but it’s a case of connecting the dots
Yeah sorry, it’s confusing to me just because of the use case I am trying to use it for. So the game I am working on the player will not technically move as it’s a boxing game (the best example is the game Super Punch out on SNES). I only want to know if I should be using blend spaces to make my animation transition between each other smoother or if blend space is only useful for movements, walking jumping, etc. So is animation layering something available in UE5?
Well in Unreal 4-5 there is no hard and fast rules as to best practice as once again what would be consider best practice is based on the “context” of the desired result. A blend space could be useful for many things but most common is when states share the same blends are required (running left then right = requirements of the base state). The context = the player running and the benefit is the complete requirements stay with in the space with out having to exit to preform direction changes.
It’s confusing because the fundamentals of animation covers a lot of basic ideas using simplified words understood by experienced animators.
Example of context
What blend spaces “could do” takes time based on experience of solving by discovery using the nod based array theory but once again blending is handled mostly by Unreal and placing animation takes into a BS is just a very neat a tidy way of packaging animation in a way that can be triggered by a variable.
So is animation layering something available in UE5?
Of course and has been in since 4.0 as the ability to layer animation is a basic requirement of any type of animation application.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dAzk2oeQoA
I did this using layers where I used layering to add lip sync to a moving character in UE4.
Done using blend per bone.
That should keep you busy for a while 
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