AnimTree Editor User Guide

Overview

This document describes how to use the skeletal mesh and animation setup functionality in UnrealEd's AnimTree Editor. For more information on the Unreal Engine Animation System, see the Animation Overview page and the Importing Animations Tutorial page.

NOTE: Unless you are trying to do something very basic with the existing node types, the Animation Tree editor is a tool usually for a programmer or technical artist, as the nodes are very closely tied to the code that drives them.

Opening the AnimTree Editor

The AnimTree Editor can be opened by double-clicking any AnimTree asset or through the right-click context menu of a AnimTree asset in the Content Browser. Either of these will open up that particular AnimTree in the AnimTree Editor for editing.

AnimTree Editor Interface

The Anim Tree Editor is divided in to the following sections:

1. Menu Bar
2. Tool Bar
3. Preview Pane - Previews the animation on a skeletal mesh.
4. Graph Pane - Nodes that make up the Anim Tree.
5. Properties Pane - Properties of the mesh, animation set, or animation sequence.

Menu Bar

Window

• Preview - Toggle display of the Preview Pane.
• Properties - Toggles display of the Properties Pane.

Tool Bar

Icon	Description
	Pauses playback in the Preview Pane.
	Shows only the result of the currently selected node as the rendered output in the Preview Pane.
	Toggles display of node weights in the Graph Pane.
	Toggles display of the preview mesh's skeleton in the Preview Pane.
	Toggles display of the bone names of the preview mesh's skeleton in the Preview Pane.
	Toggles between the lit rendered view and a wireframe view in the Preview Pane.
	Toggles display of a preview ground mesh in the Preview Pane. Can be useful for previewing certain effects like foot placement.
	Selects the mesh to preview and allows you to add new preview meshes using the current selection as a basis.
	Selects the AnimSet to preview and allows you to add new preview AnimSets using the current selection as a basis.
	Selects the Socket to preview and allows you to add new preview Sockets using the current selection as a basis.

Preview Pane

The Preview Pane shows a rendered (or optionally wireframe) view of the AnimTree applied to a preview skeletal mesh. This allows you to get quick and accurate feedback to how the AnimTree will behave and look in-game right from inside of the AnimTree Editor.

Navigating the Preview Pane is similar to many of the other editor preview windows. Left-clicking and dragging the mouse will rotate orbit the camera around the preview mesh. Right-clicking and dragging will move the camera along its local X-axis, effectively zooming in or out. Middle-clicking and dragging will move the camera along its local YZ-plane.

Graph Pane

The Graph Pane is a node-based workspace similar to the Material Editor or Kismet. This is where you can add new nodes into the AnimTree, connecting them together or to the base AnimTree node to create new animation behaviors.

AnimTree Node

The AnimTree node is the root of the AnimTree. Initially, it has two inputs: Animation and Morph. These allow you to create networks to control the skeletal animation and morph targets applied to the mesh the AnimTree is assigned to. The AnimTree node can also have additional inputs added to allow the use of skeletal controllers to control the bones in the skeletal mesh. This can be accomplished by right-clicking on the AnimTree node and choosing Add SkelControl Chain. From there, a dialog will appear allowing you to choose the bone to control. Once a bone is chosen, a new input will appear on the AnimTree node with the name of the bone.

The Animation input will have a network consisting of various Animation and Animation Sequence nodes connected to it. The Morph input will have a network consisting of various Morph nodes connected to it. The various SkelControl bone inputs will have networks consisting of various Skeletal Control nodes connected to them. Each of these types of inputs and nodes are color-coded so you can quickly decipher what type you are dealing with. The Animation input and Animation nodes are orange, while the Animation Sequence nodes are a dark red. The Morph input and nodes are purple. The SkelControl inputs and Skeletal Control nodes are green.

AnimTree Properties:

• AnimGroups - List of animation groups used to synchronize animations.
  • Group Name - Unique name of the animation group.
  • Rate Scale - Playback speed multiplier for this animation group.
• Compose Pre Pass Bone Names -
• Compose Post Pass Bone Names -
• Preview Mesh List - List of skeletal meshes used with this AnimTree for previewing in the Preview Pane.
  • Display Name - Readable display name to show in the Preview Mesh list in the toolbar.
  • Preview Skel Mesh - Skeletal mesh asset for this preview mesh.
  • Preview Morph Sets - List of MorphTargetSets to use with this preview mesh.
• Preview Socket List - List of sockets belonging to the preview mesh to preview in the Preview Pane.
  • Display Name - Readable display name to show in the Preview Socket list in the toolbar.
  • Socket Name - Name of the socket on the preview mesh for this preview socket.
  • Preview Skel Mesh - Skeletal mesh asset to attach to this preview socket in the Preview Pane.
  • Preview Static Mesh - Static mesh asset to attach to this preview socket in the Preview Pane.
• Preview Anim Set List - List of AnimSets used with the preview mesh for previewing in the Preview Pane.
  • Display Name - Readable display name for this preview anim set.
  • Preview Anim Sets - List of AnimSet assets to use for this preview anim set.

Context Menu

The context menu of the Graph Pane contains functionality for adding new nodes of all types as well as copying, pasting, and duplicating selected nodes.

Properties Pane

The Properties Pane shows the properties for the currently selected node in the Graph Pane. It is identical to the properties windows used elsewhere in UnrealEd in terms of functionality.

Controls

Mouse Controls

Preview Pane

• LMB + Drag - Rotates the camera around the mesh.
• RMB + Drag - Moves the camera along its local X-axis, essentially zooming in and out..
• MMB + Drag - Moves the camera along its local YZ-plane.

Keyboard Controls

• L + Mouse Move - Rotates the preview light in the Preview Pane.

Hot Keys

• Ctrl + W - Duplicates the currently selected nodes in the Graph Pane.

Mesh Preview

To preview a mesh, click the AnimTree root node. The properties will then show up in the lower half of the window. All the preview meshes and animations are stored in the root node.

You can create multiple entries for the following categories: Preview Mesh and Morph Weights, AnimSets and Sockets. You can then quickly switch between those in the tool bar. Clicking the next to the listboxes, allows you to create a new entry by duplicating the current selection. This is useful when you have 10+ AnimSets, and you want to create a new entry by reusing all or part of those and adding a couple more.

Adding Nodes

New nodes can be added to the Animtree through the context menu of the Graph Pane. Right-clicking on an empty space in the Graph Pane will bring up the context menu where you will find a list of all the Animation, Morph, Skeletal Control, and Animation Sequence nodes. Selecting any of these will add a new node of that type in the Graph Pane. Once you have the new node in the graph Pane, you can change its properties and connect it into the tree in the same manner that all other node-based editors in UnrealEd work.

Vehicles

For more information on vehicles in the Unreal Engine, see the Setting Up Vehicles page and the Vehicles Technical Guide page.