Layered Blend Per Bone (Animations not propagating throughout the rest of the skeletal hierarchy)

Development Character & Animation
1

So I have this project with a few animations from Frank-RPG mixed with ALSV3. I think my code is simple enough (View Image 1)
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https://i.imgur.com/QdL3Pnb.png
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I think its all really quite simple. I didn’t follow any tutorials or anything like that (Except for Custom Movement Integration). So, if this looks incorrect for anyone more experienced than I am, please enlighten me on the issue! AFAIK, All of my Blend Weights are set correctly. There’s no need for alpha blending, because animations in these slots are either playing (true) or not (false).
I thought i might be able to do a Layered Blend by Bool , however i need the ability to blend multiple animations at once, so that’s kind of out of the picture.

Anyway, let me get to the problem at hand. I have an equip animation that I would like to play through the “Upper Body Slot”. You can see the settings for this slot in Picture 2 (View Image 2).
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https://i.imgur.com/Dln8lRV.png
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From what I understand about “Layered Blend per Bone”, (LBB for short), you can set one bone (say pelvis for example) and everything that is a subsidiary of pelvis should have the animation key frames applied to them. MY problem is that Blend Pose 0 on LBB only animates the single bone that is set. (See Image 2). Here are some GIF’s. Image 3 is the animation with no blending applied whatsoever.

*** Semi-NSFW content ahead ***

*There was an issue with Morph targets on the dress once i added cloth physics to it. So I can’t change the dress morph targets to cover her breasts in the photo’s. It’s really not that big of a deal for fellow adults. Its very non-sexual. If a mod doesn’t want it seen or if its just not plain allowed at all, please remove it. Or message me and I’ll remove it. *

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https://i.imgur.com/UJsqFzf.gif

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Image 4 , is the animation montage assigned to the “Upper Body” and blended into the base pose with LBB.
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https://i.imgur.com/TGfNNYB.gif

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Why are her arms stuck to the sides? Clearly in the Skeletal Hierarchy , these bones should be transforming with their parent. But for whatever reason , they are not. So there has to be something I’m missing. Or am not doing correctly. I have animation that uses the slot “RightArm+Neck”, which plays phenomenally well and looks great. Which makes it difficult to pinpoint the actual problem. So I’m reaching out the talented community here for unreal answers!

Thanks for your time. If you need more information , just ask! :smiley:

EDIT: Here’s a picture of my Skeletal Mesh’s Bone Hierarchy.
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https://i.imgur.com/MHarv7a.png

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Its not the whole hierarchy , but it should be enough to get the idea of what should be happening.

2

So just an update. Upon just scrolling through the Animation section here, I found the solution to my problem. It’s best explained by this user:

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Here’s my updated Animation Graph , based on his advice and knowledge:

1805×753 182 KB

3

yep, but thanks for 2 things:
1, actually looking, believe it or not we must all answer the same question a billion times.
and 2. putting together a post where the issue could actually be found by anyone even without any knowledge.

regarding your morph target issue, if I may suggest. cloth will almost always clip onto a character’s body. Generally I cut up the body so that a specific version of it - or in this case of the arms - is used in combination with the clothing.
IF there is no underlying geometry clipping just can’t happen.

Yes, this is labor intensive. Yes this is very complicated when working on a body with 500+ pieces of equipment / combinations. In those cases I have started to use Excel Sheets and cutting up every model the same modular way so that parts can be made to go away as needed.
It is a bit more performance un-friendly, but not game breaking considering the look I wish to have.