How to animate/drive an Animation Control Rig at runtime (live pose edits while playing)?

Hi UDN,

I’m using Unreal Engine 5.5 and I have a Sequence Player setup with an Animation Control Rig. I’m trying to animate/drive Control Rig controls at runtime so I can see live pose changes while the game is running for example, dialing an upper-body pose offset (spine/chest/arms) and immediately seeing the impact on the character. I saw a keynote, I think it was during the lego showcase that the dev was showing that being a possibility. Right now, when I run in PIE, all my controllers (and the control rig itself is disappearing.

What I want:

  • While PIE / in-game, adjust a few Control Rig controls (or a “pose” variable) and have the character update live.

  • The goal is “artist-friendly live tuning,” similar to tweaking a pose slider and seeing it instantly on the character.

Questions:

  1. What is the recommended way to set Control Rig control values at runtime when the Control Rig is running inside an Animation Blueprint?

  2. Are there engine limitations (threading, animation worker threads, evaluation order) that prevent reliably driving Control Rig controls during runtime?

  3. If direct control access isn’t supported, what’s the best supported alternative to achieve live pose tuning?

Context: Character uses standard ABP pipeline (state machine + layered blend per bone for upper body).

Thanks!