My first animation blueprint: Do I always need a Control Rig?

Development Character & Animation
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1

Hi!

I’m learning how to create an animation blueprint. To know how it works, I’m checking the `ABP_Unarmed` asset from the Third Person Template

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I’ve found a control rig.

Do I always need a Control Rig to create an animation blueprint?

Thanks!

2

No. Control rig can be used for procedural things like IK for reaching towards objects but are not required for Anim BP.

3

I think IK is Inverse Kinematics.

4

It is. The control rig used by ABP_Unarmed just has an inverse kinematic solver to keep Manny/Quinn’s feet on the ground (and shift pelvis up or down to match offset). It’s completely optional if you don’t mind your characters standing with a foot planted in the air when they’re near a ledge or something. Even if you’re not using the default Epic skeleton for your chars, it’s still nice to have, and only takes like 5 minutes to make a new control rig for your own skeleton and copy/paste the logic from Manny’s (renaming bones in the graph if needed).