During the summer, I led the development of the animation system for a collaborative project with fellow students. I was responsible for all character blueprinting and the design and implementation of the animation systems.
The animations used in the project were either sourced from released Unreal Engine marketplace assets or custom-created by our team’s animators, whom I supervised throughout the summer.
The resulting system is highly flexible and serves as a robust foundation for any future third-person projects.
Multi-Layered State Machine
I implemented a multi-layered state machine to give the character enhanced control by independently managing the lower and upper body states. This setup allowed for precise adjustments with upper body montages, aim offsets, and even a separate upper body state machine that could be toggled as needed.
Weapon State Machine:
Locomotion State Machine:
Dynamic Fixed Locomotion System
Our designer really wanted to be able to see the character and have them move in 360 degrees, but we also knew the limitation of having to have the character locked so that they are always facing where they are pointing.
Our designer really wanted to be able to see the character and have them move in 360 degrees, but we also knew the limitation of having to have the character locked so that they are always facing where they are pointing.
Because of this, I implemented a dynamic locomotion system that locked into 8 directions when in combat (armed, taking damage, etc.), and automatically switches back to 360 degrees when the player leaves combat.
Mantling Via Animation Warping
Since mantling requires flexibility in landing positions, I used animation warping rather than root motion to drive the movement. This ensures that the character consistently ends up standing precisely on the ledge they mantled onto, regardless of the initial position.