Using Sub Anim Instances

Showcases how you can use Sub Animation Blueprint Instances within other Animation Blueprints.

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As you start to create more and more complex Animation Blueprints for your characters, there may be times when you want to re-use portions of an Animation Blueprint within another Animation Blueprint. Rather than re-creating the node network, you can split that network off into its own Animation Blueprint and use a Sub Anim Instance to access the Animation Blueprint when it is needed.

In this how-to we create an Animation Blueprint with logic to affect our playable character, then use a Sub Anim Instance inside the template's Animation Blueprint to call that logic.

For this guide, we are using the Blueprint Third Person template with Starter Content enabled.

Steps

  1. In the Content/Mannequin/Animations folder, Right-click on and Duplicate the ThirdPerson_AnimBP and call it AltAnimBP .

    SubAnimBP01.png

    This AltAnimBP will be used as our Sub Anim Instance that will be called from the ThirdPerson_AnimBP.

    When creating an Animation Blueprint to use as a Sub Anim Instance, you must use the same Skeleton Asset as the one in the Animation Blueprint you plan to incorporate it in. In our example, we duplicated the template's Animation Blueprint, however, when creating Animation Blueprints from scratch you will need to select a Skeleton.

  2. In the AnimGraph of AltAnimBP , Right-click and add a Sub-Graph Input node.

    SubAnimBP02.png

    This will create an In Pose on the Sub Anim Instance, allowing us to pass through external pose data to this Animation Blueprint.

  3. Right-click again and add a FABRIK skeletal control node.

    SubAnimBP03.png

    For this example, we will use IK to push the character's arms up into the air as they run around during gameplay.

  4. Assign the following settings to the FABRIK node from the Details panel.

    • Uncheck the (As Pin) Effector Transform

    • Set Location to 100, 0, 200 .

    • Set Tip Bone to index_01_l .

    • Set Root Bone to clavicale_l .

    SubAnimBP04.png

  5. Copy the FABRIK node in the graph and make the following changes to it from the Details panel.

    • Set Location to -100, 0, 200 .

    • Set Tip Bone to index_01_r .

    • Set Root Bone to clavicale_r .

    SubAnimBP05.png

    This will ensure that both the Left and Right arms are affected.

  6. Right-click on the Alpha pin of a FABRIK node and Promote to Variable called Effect Alpha .

    SubAnimBP05b.png

  7. Recreate the node network shown below (the Local to Component and Component to Local nodes will be automatically created).

    SubAnimBP06.png

    If you Compile the Animation Blueprint, the character in the preview window will put their arms up.

    CompliedBlueprint.png

  8. Inside the Content Browser under Content/Mannequin/Animations , open the ThirdPerson_AnimBP .

  9. Inside the AnimGraph , Right-click and add the Sub Anim Instance node.

    SubAnimBP07.png

    This is the node that we use to gain access to our Animation Blueprint we created.

  10. In the Details panel for the Sub Anim Instance node, set the Instance Class to AltAnimBP .

    SubAnimBP08.png

  11. Click the Expose checkbox next to EffectAlpha to expose the property.

    SubAnimBP09.png

    By exposing properties, you can update those properties with data from the parent Animation Blueprint.

  12. From the MyBlueprint panel, drag in the Speed variable and divide it by 600 then plug that into the Effect Alpha .

    SubAnimBP10.png

    Here we divide the character's movement speed by a value to produce a blend between the amount of Skeletal Control applied.

  13. Compile then Play in the Editor .

End Result

Below, as our character's speed increases it is divided by the specified amount before being used to drive the amount of Skeletal Control applied inside our Sub Anim Instance network. In this example we used the Sub-Graph input node to determine the resulting pose data, however, you can create an Animation Blueprint with its own State Machine and logic to generate the resulting pose data as well.

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