Set/Change default animation in Animation Blueprint?

I want to change the default animation from idle to something else. I am NOT following the YouTube tutorial shown on the right. I am only searching for a way to change my default animation. On the video on the right, in UE4, under edit defaults you can select an animation. That choice is not present in my project in UE5 on the left.

My animation will change to my entry selection, but only after a split second of showing the idle animation, and I am trying to eliminate that split second. I have entertained the idea that this will only happen in PIE, but I doubt it. Does the default animation choice exist somewhere else in UE5? Maybe under a different name? Do I not have the choice because of the way my state machine is set up?

Thanks for any help!

There is no such thing as a “default” animation. There’s only animations that are played by state machines, played by the event graph, and coming out of blend spaces and such, that get composed/blended by the animation graph.

So, if the first state in your state machine specifies an animation that is not “idle,” or of your animation graph sources an animation that is not “idle,” then you won’t be playing the “idle” animation.

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Hey there @WarbunnyOG1! As J was saying, your state machine determines which animation will play and when. Your Entry node there points to the logic it tries first. So if it points to whatever you want to be your new default, it will play that first. However you’ll still need transition rules to set it back to that default after playing an animation.

I see my misunderstanding now. The author of the video created a variable called “actions” and then set the default of that variable. Thanks you for your replies!

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