Hello everyone
I'm Professor Ok-hue Cho from Sangmyung university
specializing in the use of Unreal Engine for immersive content creation
In this session, we'll take a look at animation and motion
Let's start this session by
thinking about one particular topic
Some of you may be familiar with
the character currently displayed on the screen
while others might be seeing it for the first time
These are characters from a Korean drama
showing their animation-related implementation and sources
Those who have watched the drama will be quite familiar with these characters
You can think of the animations shown here
as being created using Unreal Engine
This source material comes from the Unreal Summit
a major annual event related to Unreal Engine
As you all probably know
Unreal Engine is primarily a game development engine
Importantly, it's also widely used
to create various types of content beyond games
So, while it's commonly used for game development, it's also extensively used for creating animations
Because of its advanced features
it's widely utilized for implementing CG in movies as well
It's also used extensively for creating various music videos
Unreal Engine is becoming increasingly diverse in its ability to produce projects beyond games
Unreal Engine is also used for creating documentaries
and for virtual production concepts
especially for large-scale broadcasts and extensive shoots
The scope of Unreal Engine is expanding more and more
Let's take some time in this session to think about concepts related to animation
If I were to explain animation concepts
using software like 3ds Max, Maya, or Blender
I would discuss how to set up characters, animate them
applying rendering techniques, and so on
However, Unreal Engine is a game engine
Animation concepts are crucial
not only when creating games using Unreal Engine
but also when producing entirely animated works
The concept of animating assets, sometimes referred to as animating sources
involves bringing characters to life through movement
Animating a character involves incorporating the motion source itself
into the concept of animation
If I were talking about animation in relation to Unreal Engine
about 10 years ago
the focus would likely have been primarily on discussions
about dynamic sources related to character animation
These days, when discussing animation in relation to Unreal Engine
the focus has shifted towards
considering Unreal as a tool for creating actual animations
In the past, especially with software like 3ds Max or maya
a large number of people spent a long time
creating animations
due to the complexities of setting up and rendering
Typically, creating 3D graphic animations would take
at least 3 to 4 years as a standard
Even 2 years was considered short
That's because rendering times used to be quite lengthy
However, programs like Maya have significantly sped up over time
However, nowadays with Unreal Engine
rendering concepts are real-time
meaning you don't have to wait for rendering
You simply press play and see the final result immediately
So, because of the real-time rendering capabilities in Unreal Engine
the approach of pressing play and immediately seeing the animation in action is widely used
Therefore, when you see 3D graphic animations
especially those on Netflix
made using Unreal Engine
of course, the number of people involved can vary widely depending on the case
but with teams of several dozens
the ecosystem and system itself have evolved drastically compared to the past
Productions can now create one piece within a month or so
reflecting this change
It can be said that Unreal Engine has become indispensable
in the era of animation production today
Then let's delve into the content
There are three main structures
and the concepts we're discussing now are used in actual animation production as well
Rather than that, let's focus more on creating games
specifically animation sources and menus
so, if you right-click to see
when we examine, the material menu typically
appears as the main menu at the top, with many sub-menus appearing below it
Let's focus on exploring
animation-related menus during this session
Let's take a look at the Animation Blueprint Montage system first
and then explore the concept of animation blending
which is a very interesting concept
It's a concept I personally find it fascinating as well
With animation blending, you can mix animation together seamlessly, like mixing or blending them literally
You can blend animations A, B, and C together
overlapping them to create a blend where two animations are mixed
For example, if A is a sitting down animation
and B is a standing animation
where the character is moving slightly
blending them would seamlessly mix these actions
creating a natural transition between sitting and slight movement without interruption
It can be considered a very convenient concept
Blending these three animations
standing still, walking, and running
allows for smooth transitions between them
This means transitioning naturally from standing still to walking and then seamlessly into running
rather than abruptly switching from one to the other
It provides a convenient and natural way to create animations with fluid movements
Next, skeletal mesh structure and animation retargeting concepts
are really convenient features and widely used functionalities
let's take a look at each of these one by one
Animation Blueprint and Montage System
First, the animation-related menu in Unreal Engine with detailed options
with detailed options appearing when you right click
You'll see various elements and components that you can create
That also includes materials among its options
When it comes to animation-related options
right-clicking brings up a list like this
with animation elements appearing there
If you look at the sub-menu again
you'll see various options like this
Animation Blueprint appears, and above that, you'll see the cinematic menu
Usually, the cinematic menu is heavily used
when creating animations
Setting up cameras, rendering out reels
and such tasks are found in the Cinematics-related menus
There are many interesting concepts like various tech recorders
I'll focus on aspects
closely related to games
which are also applicable in animation productions
Mirror Data Table, Blend Spaces, Animation Layer Interface, Animation Montages, Composites
and many other diverse elements appear
The most commonly used one is the Animation Blueprint
Of course, among the various options that appear when you right-click
at the top is the Blueprint Class
Another way is to create a blueprint
and select animations from there
If you go into the animation menu itself
you'll see a list of animation blueprints
Therefore, the difference between other graphics programs and Unreal Engine is that
other graphics programs have a lot of icons visible on the screen
Unreal Engine, on the other hand has
a hierarchical menu structure when you right-click
As you go down one level, a lot more options appear
and the same happens when you go further into those options
I think the advantage of this is that
when you're working in Unreal, there are specific fields you might specialize in
You can choose menus as needed
whether you're focused on animation, effects, coding
or character setup
which makes it convenient for your specific tasks in Unreal
So whether I work with Unreal Engine for three or five years
there will still be menus that I never end up touching
You don't need to look at those menus then
This type of menu structure seems very convenient
In Unreal Engine, the Animation Blueprint is
a very powerful tool that allows you
to visually program the animation states and logic for characters or objects
In Unreal Engine, everything is implemented using Blueprints
Of course, it can be simple
There's nothing you can't do with Blueprints
From interactions to effects
through this, developers and designers can implement
and manage complex animation systems
The Animation Blueprint
consists of two main parts: the animation graph and the event graph
First, when looking at the animation graph part
it's somewhat similar to what you've seen when editing materials
This part also consists of nodes, just like in the case of material editing
It involves nodes that you connect one by one
And usually when students study, they view it with just one laptop
When working on multiple windows
and then playing in Unreal
you often have to set aside what you were working on, like materials, etc.
and then resume the work in that manner
If you're using dual monitors
you can work on Blueprints without having to minimize them
by moving them to the right or left monitor
And when you play to preview
you can see in real-time how any Blueprint
regardless of which part
is being executed
and where errors might occur
However, it can be challenging to view all those different screen on just a laptop
So, one of the major components of an Animation Blueprint is the animation graph
which consists of animation nodes
Animation files, let me explain those first
We refer to animation sources
as the detailed movement of characters
such as how they walk, run, move their faces, jump, and even soar into the sky
after jumping up and standing
among other actions
So typically, these animation sources are obtained from marketplaces
created in software like 3ds Max or Maya, or made in Blender
Characters have bones embedded in them, which perform various movements
In most cases, these animations are imported and used in the form of FBX files
With updates to Unreal Engine
and as Unreal continues to update
now you can create detailed movements directly within Unreal itself
if you have set up the character skeleton
When importing and FBX file containing external animations
after importing
and checking the folder
you'll find a skeletal mesh, which contains the foundation
and then separate animation sequences
for each specific animation movement within Unreal Engine
If characters share the same skeleton
for example, there are characters A and B
with different appearances, but they share the same skeleton structure
so they can perform the same movements
However, even if the bone structure differs by just one bone
there might be some difficulty in performing movements smoothly
Anyway, how you set up and use animation motion data in games
whether for gameplay or specific animations
is crucial concepts to study
when learning about animations
in Unreal Engine
The animation graph defines the animation states and transitions of a character
Within this graph
developers can create various animation states and set conditions for transitioning between each state
For example, a character can have various animation states
such as walking, running, jumping, and so on
These states can change
based on the character's speed and user input
Next is the event graph
The animation graph we discussed earlier
is where specific movements are organized
sequenced and structured
This part of the setup is referred to as
the animation graph
The event graph, on the other hand, involves programming related to game logic
So, for example
when a certain key is pressed, specific actions occur
or as soon as the game starts, certain actions are triggered
Alternatively, a character might remain idle
until a specific situation arises, prompting a specific action
This kind of setup is often used in game scenarios
For example, when a character picks up a specific item, they can perform certain actions
when holding a specific weapon, they can perform different actions
Pressing certain keys might trigger or disable actions, and so on
These scenarios and actions are orchestrated through events
which are essentially individual occurrences or incidents
The Blueprint process of setting up these actions is referred to as the event graph
You can set variables to control animations
and implement logic
to update animations in response to gameplay events
For example, changing the animation when a character collides with a specific object
or triggering animations
for fatigue
pain, or injury
when the character's health drops below a certain level
these types of logic are implemented
in the event graph
Let's take a closer look at the Animation Blueprint in more detail
We can divide it into
state machines, blend spaces, and animation montages
And one of the important aspects here is the state machine
in games, animations typically require careful setup
especially when it comes to cinematic animations and the logic
for transitioning between different states
In games, there can be all sorts of situations
There are various scenarios in games
such as when a character dies, gets injured, wears a specific item
enters a certain area, carries a pet, climbs, etc.
The concept that handles how different animation states transition based on various situations is
precisely what a state machine addresses
In the past, before game engines existed
complex animation logic would have been entirely coded manually
However, with game engines, especially when using the concept of Blueprints
it's like designing a blueprint where you just need to connect nodes together effectively
Next, there's the blend space
Blend spaces allow for
smooth mixing of two ore more animations
essentially like putting them in a mixer and smoothly blend movements
which is a fantastic feature
If this feature didn't exist, the character would abruptly switch from performing action A
to suddenly performing action B without any smooth transition
Instead, with a blend space, you can smoothly transition to action B in a natural way
and you can even control how quickly or gradually the blending occurs
It's indeed a remarkable feature
This concept can be applied not only when creating animations
but also when developing games, using blend space concepts
to implement these functionalities very effectively
It allows for creating very natural character movements
For example, as mentioned earlier
you can blend walking and running animations to achieve smooth transitions
based on the character's speed, creating natural movements
For instance, using the blende space concept, you can implement that holding up the arrow key for a certain duration
gradually transitions from walking to running
Furthermore, holding it longer could increase the running speed
allowing for dynamic control over character movements based on input duration
Next, there's the concept of animation montages
Animation montages are useful for managing complex animation sequences systematically
They allow for playing, stopping, and blending specific animations as needed
making them highly versatile for use in different situations
Through animation montages, you can efficiently control specific animations
such as attack animations or skill usage animations for characters
It provides a convenient system for managing and executing these animations
Let's take a closer look at the animation montage system in more detail
Using animation montages allows
direct control over animation assets
via Blueprints or C++ code
I should explain the difference between Blueprints and C++ here
When you first launch Unreal Engine
from the Epic Games Launcher and select a version
you can create a new project after starting Unreal Engine
At that point, when creating a project
you have the option to choose
between Blueprint and C++ development methods
An important aspect here is that
choosing the C++ option means you'll develop all content using C++
whereas selecting Blueprint means you'll develop everything using Blueprints
When Blueprints were first introduced
many professional programmers were initially skeptical or hesitant about them
Because professional programmers are accustomed to continuous coding
adding comments, and working with text-based scripting, which they find more comfortable
Blueprints were first introduced
to allow non-programmers, artists, and graphic designers
to implement a certain level of interaction themselves
I think the biggest advantage of Blueprints is
the node-based visual scripting
where you connect nodes together
It's the concept of coding without having to open Visual Studio
Working with Blueprints allow you
to gain a deep understanding of various Unreal Engine development structures
Even though you're coding with Blueprints
the fundamental coding concepts remain the same
Many students who start coding with Blueprints eventually transition smoothly to traditional coding methods
as the underlying concepts remain consistent
despite the visual nature of Blueprints
And they find it useful especially for simple interactions or basic implementations
Then it's possible to achieve almost complete implementations
without having to open Microsoft Visual Studio, just using Blueprints
It's a highly beneficial system
There's a similar concept in Unity 3D game engine called PlayMaker
where you connect nodes without opening Visual Studio
which is a very innovative and convenient concept
From a learner's perspective, and even for professionals
visual scripting like Blueprints often offers more effective learning outcomes
compared to text-based coding
So, the concept of Animation Montage allows you to combine
multiple animation sequences
into a single entity or essence
divided into sections for partial or combined playback
Within Animation Montages
you can trigger events to perform various local or replicated actions
You can use Animation Montages to conveniently integrate various functionalities
such as playing sound cues or particle effects
modifying player values like token counts
and even replicating root motion replay
in networked games
when the root motion of animations is enabled
These are advantages that can be highlighted
Sometimes you need Animation Blueprints
other times you need Animation Montages
and sometimes Blend Spaces, each situation requires different needs
Ideally, all you need are
animation files
and various FBX files
You don't necessarily need to worry about extracting just the video
interaction isn't required
You don't need to know anything about it at all
but again, I want to emphasize that the concepts I'm explaining right now are related to games
Of course, you can also use it for animations
I'll take a closer look at the Montage system interface in more detail
These can be divided into three concepts
sections, slots, and group slots
Since the graphics may vary slightly between versions
it's good to keep that in mind as a reference
But that's there
The interface between 4.27 and 5.0 is of course different visually, but the concepts are mostly similar
It's not completely different like entirely different programs
Similarly, between 5.0 and 5.1, and between 5.1 and 5.2, the differences are minimal
However, there's quite a gap between 4.27 and 5.3
But they're not completely different programs
So, with each version update
like all these programs, large 3D graphics software, for instance
typically releases a new version about once a year
With versions like 2021 and 2022
in the case of Unity, updates can be frequent, sometimes even twice a month
Unreal Engine, on the other hand,, has seen rapid releases from 5.0 to 5.3 in a short span
And even within the same version number like 5.x
updates can vary from time to time
Each time, elements might be added or removed
and various features might be merged into one
Especially, the graphical UI tends to change slightly with each update
You need to pay close attention to these changes
Sections, slots, and group slots
can be displayed in the interface like this
It's like there are several empty slots
There are several empty slots where you can store accessories or office supplies
and you can set up drawers in them as you like
Think of it like managing drawers
here it repeats, here it starts, here it ends, and let's repeat this once more
This drawer concept will help you better understand the montage system
So now, let's take a closer look those three concepts we discussed earlier
First, let's take a look at sections in the montage system
When you create sections, you can divide a slot into various parts of the animation
Think of it like organizing drawers, as I mentioned earlier
and I think you'll find it easier to understand
Each section contains names and positions within the timeline of slots
I can also jump directly to this action from one action
in a specific section using these names
If the current section ends
you can also enqueue it to play next
So, you'll need to do these operations in Blueprint
where you can query the current section
jump to a specific section
or set the next section to play directly
But when it comes to coding
Blueprint operates on a fundamentally different conceptual level compared to traditional coding
Blueprint allow you to visually organize your coding tasks
by placing nodes and connecting them
making it much more intuitive
and convenient to work with
Think of sections as songs in a music playlist
Slots are like albums that can contain music
Inside each album, there are multiple songs
Think of it that way, and it should make things clearer
While playing one section
when it ends, you can immediately jump to another section in the slot
like listening to this, then that, then this music
If you think of it in that concept, it should make sense
Thinking of it as a drawer concept where you open one and see what's inside
each drawer being a slot
is a good analogy to understand it
When making games, this is very important
Because with animations
I just need to arrange the desired actions on a timeline
and display them sequentially
However, in games
the actions a character needs to perform can change depending on the situation
When using this approach in development
it becomes very convenient to set up actions for characters to make movements
Next slot
The concept of montage encompasses everything within this
And while listening to this explanation
I think it would be more effective if you try creating an animation montage with Unreal open
and look at the interface while following along with the explanation
Think of slots within a montage as tracks
that can hold as many animations as you want
You can name the slots randomly
You can use specific alphabets if you want
In my case, I often use the alphabetical order
or fruit names to make it easier to remember
You can use those names
to blend different animations within them
So, you can neatly place each animation into the montage
or separate slots
In the animation graph of the animation blueprint
you can use the Slot node
so that character can be standing or lying down
The character will perform various actions when it appears in the game
Accordingly, you can easily decide which set of animations to use
through the slots
The next is the group slot, which is a very simple concept
It's a collection of slots
You can think of it as a group slot
After animation blending, skeletal mesh structure, and animation retargeting
the next powerful feature is the blend space, which is highly related animations
You can mix and blend motions freely
You can mix sitting motions with fancy dancing
blend jumping with standing at attention
or combine walking with running
It automatically mixes them, which is really impressive and convenient
In Unreal Engine, blend spaces smoothly mix multiple animations
Think of it like putting various ingredients into a blender to make a mixed dish
It allows you to express character movements more naturally and diversely
This feature is most commonly used in animations
where there needs to be smooth transitions between walking, running, and sprinting motions
You can blend animations very naturally based on various input variables
such as character speed, direction, incline, and more
Let's take a look at the main components of blend spaces
The axes and animation samples
The axes refer to what you might think
representing variables like speed and direction
The animation samples - each axis has specific conditions
The most commonly used concept is, for example
placing animation samples
corresponding to minimum speed and maximum speed on each axis
You can say that within the blend space
the samples are automatically blended as described earlier
It's fundamentally present in many games and is one of the most commonly used features
because characters need to move
I have captured the screen
showing the most commonly used blend space samples
related to movement and put it on the screen now
Usually, when a character is idle
as you may have experienced in games
they're not standing still but rather standing at attention
or doing something else
Like slight shoulder movements, shifting weight between legs
or even breathing subtly
there's always some form of idle animation
They move ever so slightly, just a little bit
Then there's the walking animation
and when the character picks up a specific key or item
there's running animation
Whether it's an MMORPG, shooting game, or adventure game
since characters inevitably move
we can say that blend space is a concept that appears most frequently and is essential
In the blend space workspace
of course, there are sometimes pop-up windows that explain things a bit
Most programs that have timelines
exist in general video editing or 2D programs
3D graphic programs like 3ds Max, Maya, and Blender have timelines
In these programs, when you click back and forth on the timeline
it recognizes that specific point
However, in the case of Blend Space in Unreal
To see the action at a specific timing
You have to press the control key and move the mouse cursor
Sometimes, this explanation doesn't appear automatically
in certain versions
So, in some versions, even clicking doesn't work
and if you want to preview this action
remember that pressing the Control key is essential in blend spaces
It would be helpful to remember this
When you hold down the Control key and move the mouse cursor back and forth
you'll notice that instead of abruptly transitioning from idle to walking
or suddenly jumping to running
the character moves naturally from idle to walking and then smoothly transitions into runnign
It is really impressive
Therefore, to give another example
scenes where characters draw a knife from their pocket and attack someone
are very common in games
Even in these moments, the action of drawing the knife
not every swing of the knife will be the same
it depends on the situation
but the action of drawing the knife is usually the same
These actions, like drawing and swinging the knife
are blended naturally to be used in games
Anyway, within a large content project
there may be various animation motion files
but there's no need to import the same action multiple times
Even in those cases, these features are incredibly useful
Here, to emphasize the most important point once again
let's say there's a motion source A
To perform this motion source
only characters with a skeletal structure that matches 100% of this motions source
can execute this action
If the number of vertebrae or the number of fingers differ
the leg structure could have an extra bone in the knee or not
and the ankle could have a bone from under the knee to the bottom or go straight out
and you could tie a few bones in the peach bone here
Because each bone in such a structure has a different name
when performing this animation file
it can be said that the skeleton structure is really important
So, earlier, I showed the interface along with the character for each action
The content I'm going to show now is an expanded view of the submenu within the previous interface
Each point represents a separate action
The X marks you see, if you look closely, are small green X marks
I've clicked and held down Ctrl on that area
The screen displays what action is being performed in that area
Whether to continue playing or pause
there's a play and stop button below
and you can watch and pause it, and it's a concept like that
On the right side, you can see a list of various actions
The long list you see there is the list of actions
that the skeleton I've set up can perform
You understand the concept now, right?
These actions that the skeleton can perform appear
and what's convenient about them is that
they don't necessarily need to be in the same folder
The important thing is that
as long as these actions are somewhere in the entire folder of the project I'm currently working on and developing
the list of actions that this skeleton can perform will automatically appear
You could say that's another advantage
I was thinking about he actions in this folder
but hey, this action can also be perform, and I can double-click to check
You can see that white dots are added
when you click and drag to place them
Press the control key and move the mouse cursor back and forth to check
When I mix this action with that, it feels a bit awkward
Then I'll delete it and bring in another action instead
It doesn't matter how many there are
You could say that
being able to mix all actions in such a convenient way
is one of Unreal Engine's most powerful features
The next is the skeletal mesh
which is also one of my favorite features in Unreal Engine
Generally speaking, compared to similar programs
programs like Unity import FBX files
When you import a file, it's imported as a single file
Then, there are menus like the detail menu
where you need to make some adjustments to it
You need to extract the materials
make adjustments, and so on
However, in Unreal Engine, options appear when you import the file
Instead of adjusting the materials after importing
when importing, you can choose options like
whether to import animations, which skeleton use, and so on
By selecting these options, the character is automatically adjusted accordingly
The skeletal mesh, a properly formed character with a skeleton
physics-related components, and even just the skeleton itself
are all automatically organized into a single folder
It's very convenient to use
The properly formed character with a skeleton is called a skeletal mesh
Unreal Engine also has a great feature
where if you hover over an item and wait for about 2-3 seconds
a popup appears showing whether it's a skeletal mesh, physics asset, or just a skeleton
similar to the popup you're seeing now
What I"m looking at now is a skeletal mesh
In Unreal Engine projects, it typically represents the default appearance of a basic default character's skeletal mesh
Double-clicking switches to the skeletal mesh editing window
It would look like this
Earlier, there were various items within the folder
These elements combine
to form a single FBX character file
Just by opening the skeletal mesh editing window
you can see options at the top right to switch to different views such as physics assets
directly view animation assets
or just see the skeleton, all divided accordingly
You can say it's a very convenient feature
that just by opening one file, you can interactively see the connected elements
like the popup window switching back and forth
The skeleton is skinned
and the result is the skeletal mesh
On the left side, Max and Maya also provide similar features
You can see the hierarchical structure of the skeleton
including the spine, skull, pelvis, legs, bones, and finger bones
listed out on the left side
This is the skeleton, the bone structure you're referring to
However, it's crucial that
for something to be recognized as the same skeleton
not only the structure
but also the names of the bones are 100% identical
This can vary slightly between different programs
Especially, the pelvis is both the center and the highest-level concept among all bones
Some programs refer to the pelvic bone as "hip"
while other use "pelvis"
Since you can rename bones yourself
some programs choose "center" around this flexibility
The arrangement and structure are important
but remember that for bones
their names are also crucial
The relationship between skeletal mesh and skeleton
Skeletal mesh refers to the character itself, combining bones and skin
while skeleton specifically refers to just the bones
That concept of each individual bone structure having modeling attached to it
like skin is referred to as being "skinned"
Alright, skeletal mesh is the primary source
for most of the animations
Animals also need a skeleton in order to move
Whether walking, running, or attacking, all monsters require a skeleton to move
Even moving reeds can be represented as effects
but they can also be animated by planting a skeleton to move like this
You can think of implementing complex object animations, blend shapes
morph targets, and character animations using skeletal meshes
The biggest advantage and reason for using these techniques are
efficient memory usage and dynamic animation control
Because with just one skeleton-based character
you can change animations
or create games by simply swapping behaviors
In real-time environments, swapping high-quality movements is straightforward
making the use of skeletal meshes fundamental for various tasks
Even though I haven't used motion capture for this exchange
it's a concept that can also be applied to skeletal meshes
Let's take a look at animation retargeting
In animation retargeting, we first need to understand retargeting
The "target" refers to the subject we are selecting or aiming for
Retargeting involves slightly altering or resetting the target
so you can think of it in those terms
Just looking at this screen should make it immediately understandable
In retargeting, you select one character on the left
and another character on the right
The important thing is that the two skeletal structure must be identical
On the left, the character you see
named "Manny_Simple"
On the right, the character you see
named "Quinn," if you retarget them
all the animations and movements
that were available to the character on the left
the right character, named "Quinn"
will be able to perform them
This feature is convenient both for creating animations and developing games
Setting up the skeleton and bone mapping
executing animation retargeting
you're going to do animation retargeting
And using this
you can also expand your library
By utilizing this system, when creating animations or games
you don't have to create each movement separately
Retargeting and duplicating movements
allow for significant time and cost savings in development, which are the main advantages
Moreover, high-quality animations can be maintained consistently in terms of their quality
One important consideration here is the compatibility of the skeleton
The most important aspect is ensuring compatibility
when one character needs to replicate the movements of another through retargeting
This involves both the structure and naming consistency of the skeleton
collectively referred to as compatibility
If one character has one spine bone and another has five
there can be confusion in retargeting
potentially causing animations to become distorted or incorrect
Therefore, the compatibility of the skeleton is crucial
Next, to elaborate in more detail
an example would be the neck bone, which can vary significantly between characters
The number of neck bones may be the same
but their sizes can vary greatly between characters
leading to the potential differences in how they behave
In such cases, you might need to adjust the structure slightly to accommodate these variations
Considering the quality of the animation and other factors
it would be beneficial to perform retargeting with careful consideration
Animation retargeting is one of the most powerful features
provided by Unreal Engine
In the game development process, animation retargeting is crucial and highly effective in terms of efficiency and compatilbity
ensuring both efficiency in animation workflows and reusability
It's a remarkable feature in these asepcts
Animation Blueprint and Montage System What is Animation Blueprint? Tool for visually programming the animation states and logic of characters or objects
Animation graph: Defines character animation states and transitions by connecting nodes
Event graph: Implements logic to set animation variables and update animations in response to gameplay events
What is Animation Montage? Combines multiple animation sequences into a single asset, which can be divided into sections for partial or combined playback A development approach useful for games where actions change continuously depending on the situation
Animation blending, skeletal mesh structure, animation retargeting What is Animation blending? Smoothly blending multiple animations to create more natural and diverse character movements
Objects with the same skeletal structure in motion sources can perform the same actions You can blend motions without a limit on the number of actions and set blending durations as needed
What is Skeletal Mesh? The shape of a character with a skeleton The source of all moving objects uses skeletal mesh
Advantages: Efficient memory usage, dynamic animation control, high quality animation in real time
What is Animation retargeting? Retarget: The concept of resetting by changing the target A retarget with the same skeletal structure as the target copies all of the target's movements
Advantages: Saving development time and costs when expanding animation libraries, and maintaining consistent animation quality