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How-To Apply a Physical Animation Profile

This how-to will show you how to apply a Physical Animation Profile to a Skeletal Mesh Component using Blueprints.

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Prerequisite Topics

In order to understand and use the content on this page, make sure you are familiar with the following topics:

Below you will find the steps for creating a simple graph to enable a Physical Animation Profile on a Skeletal Mesh Component in a Pawn .

Steps

  1. Open or create a Blueprint with a Skeletal Mesh Component.

    • Or, if your Blueprint doesn't contain a Skeletal Mesh Component, add one using the Components Panel .

    addSkelMeshComp.png

  2. Adjust the Skeletal Mesh Component Collision settings.

    • The Collision Preset needs to be changed so that that Skeletal Mesh Component has Collision Enabled and so that it doesn't interact with Pawns:

      collisionSettings.png

      You'll notice in our example that the Object Type is set to Pawn and that we're ignoring Pawns in our collision channels. This fixes the issue of the Skeletal Mesh trying to eject itself from the collision capsule. However, if you want the Skeletal Mesh to collide with other Pawns you'll need to adjust what Object Type your Skeletal Mesh is and then change how the Capsule interacts with that Object Type. See: Add a Custom Object Type to Your Project , for more information on creating Custom Collision Channels .

  3. Add a Physical Animation Component to your Blueprint using the Components Panel .

    addPhysAnimComp.png

  4. Add a Name variable and call it Bone Name .

    variableName.png

  5. Compile so you can set the value of the Bone Name variable.

    compile.png

  6. Change the Bone Name Default Value to the desired target Bone , in this case spine_01 .

    boneName.png

  7. Switch to the Event Graph .

  8. Locate or create the Event BeginPlay event node.

    eventBP.png

  9. Add a reference to your Skeletal Mesh Component

    addSKMPref.png

  10. Add a Set Skeletal Mesh Component node connecting to Event Begin Play

    • The target is the Physical Animation Component you added above.

    • The Skeletal Mesh Component is either the one in your Blueprint or the one you added above.

    createSetSkel.png

  11. Add a Apply Physical Animation Profile Below node connecting to the Set Skeletal Mesh Component node.

    • Target is the Physical Animation Component .

    • Body Name will accept the Bone Name variable as input; in Physics Assets, Physics Bodies are named after their Bone.

    • Profile Name is the name of the Physical Animation Profile you wish to apply to the Skeletal Mesh .

    • Since you are using spine_01 as the desired bone so that just the upper body animates, Include Self should be checked.

    • Clear Not Found is optional, but enable it to clear any bones that are not found in the profile.

    applyPhysAnim.png

  12. Connect the Set All Bodies Below Simulate Physics node to the Apply Physcial Animation Profile Below node. This will complete our graph.

    • Target is your Skeletal Mesh Component .

    • In Bone Name will take the Bone Name variable as input.

    • New Simulate should be enabled.

    • Again, since you are using spine_01 as the target bone, Include Self should be enabled.

    Copy Node Graph

    ApplyPhysicialAnimProf_BP.png

    Hidden Graph Information

    Variable

    Value

    Description

    Bone Name

    spine_01

    The name of the Bone in the Skeletal Mesh to start applying the Physical Animation Profile. Also used in the Set All Bodies Below Simulate Physics node.

    Component

    Description

    Physical Animation Component

    This is the component that actually handles the Physical Animation of your Skeletal Mesh.

    Skeletal Mesh Component

    The component that will be physically animated using the profile. If working from an existing Blueprint that inherits from Character, it will be named Mesh .

Result

When finished, your Skeletal Mesh Component will be simulating physics using the Physical Animation Component while in runtime.

resultApplyPAP.png

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