Unreal Engine 4.26 Documentation

Unreal Engine 4.27 Documentation

Unreal Engine 5.0 Documentation

Unreal Engine 5.1 Documentation

Unreal Engine 5.2 Documentation

Unreal Engine 5.3 Documentation

> Animating Characters and Objects > Skeletal Mesh Animation System > Animation Editors > Animation Viewports

Light Theme

Dark Theme

Animation Viewports

Overview of the Viewports displayed in each of the Animation Tools.

Choose your operating system:

Windows

macOS

Linux

View Options Toolbar

The View Options Toolbar contains a series of buttons that hold options for what is displayed (and how it is displayed) in the viewport.

Scene Setup

The Scene Setup button provides the following options:


Option	Description
Scene Setup
Preview Scene Settings	Allows you to alter lighting and post processing for the viewport.
Floor Height Offset	A height offset for the floor mesh. This is stored per-mesh.
Auto Align Floor to Mesh	This auto-aligns the floor mesh to the bounds of the mesh.
Turn Table	Enables you to set up auto-rotation features.
Camera
Focus Selected	Moves the camera in front of the selection.
Camera Follow Mode	Sets various Camera Follow Modes.
Field of View	Adjust the viewport's field of view.
Default Camera
Jump to Default Camera	If a default camera is set, this will jump to its current position.
Save Camera as Default	Saves the current camera as the default for this mesh.
Clear Default Camera	Clears the default camera that is saved as default for this mesh.

You can use the Camera Follow Mode settings to set the camera to follow a specific bone or to Free Roam around the Viewport.

Perspective

The Perspective button provides the following options:


Option	Description
Perspective	Switches the viewport to perspective view (this is the default setting).
Top	Switches the viewport to top orthographic view.
Bottom	Switches the viewport to bottom orthographic view.
Left	Switches the viewport to left orthographic view.
Right	Switches the viewport to right orthographic view.
Front	Switches the viewport to front orthographic view.
Back	Switches the viewport to back orthographic view.

View Mode

The View Mode Button provides the following options:


Option	Description
Lit	Renders the scene with normal lighting (this is the default setting).
Unlit	Renders the scene with no lighting.
Wireframe	Renders the scene in brush wireframe.
Detail Lighting	Renders the scene with detail lighting only.
Lighting Only	Renders the scene with lights only, no textures.
Reflections	Renders the scene with reflections only.
Optimization View Modes	Allows you to select from different optimization visualizers.
Exposure	Use automatic exposure or set a fixed exposure value.

Show

The Show button provides the following options:


Option	Description
General Show Flags
Anti-Aliasing	Toggles whether anti-aliasing should be used in the viewport.
Collision	Toggles whether collision shapes are shown in the viewport.
Grid	Toggles whether the grid should be shown in the viewport.
Particle Sprites	Toggles whether particle sprites are shown in the viewport.
Translucency	Toggles whether translucent materials are shown in the viewport.
All Show Flags
Post Processing	Toggles some of the common Post Processing features in the viewport.
Lighting Components	Toggles common lighting components in the viewport, such as Ambient Occlusion, Bloom, and Eye Adaptation (Auto-Exposure).
Lighting Features	Toggles common lighting features in the viewport, such as reflections, light shafts, and screen space effects.
Developer	Toggles Developer features in the viewport, such as Refraction.
Advanced	Toggles advanced features in the viewport, such as bone selection, deferred lighting, and Temporal Anti-Aliasing.

Character

The Character button provides the following options to control character-related rendering options:


Option	Description
Mesh
Retarget Base Pose	Shows retaret Base post on preview mesh.
Bound	Shows bounds on the preview mesh.
In-game Bounds	Use in-game bounds on the preview mesh when Bounds is enabled. Otherwise, bounds will always be calculated from bones alone.
Fixed Bounds	Uses bounds from the Skeletal Mesh and not from the bounds, for speed, when Bounds is enabled.
Pre-skinned Bounds	Uses local space pre-skinned (Base Pose) bounds from the Skeletal Mesh when Bounds is enabled. This option overrides all other bounds preview settings.
Mesh	Shows the preview mesh in the viewport.
Morph Target	Displays applied morph targets of the mesh in the viewport.
Mesh Info	Displays selected mesh information in the viewport: Basic: Displays basic mesh information in the viewport. Detailed: Displays detailed mesh information in the viewport. Skeletal Controls: Displays selected skeletal control information in the viewport. None: Hides all display information in the viewport.
Mesh Overlay Drawing	None: Clears overlay display. Selected Bone Weight: Displays color overlay of the weight from selected bones in the viewport. Selected Morph Target: Displays color overlay with the change of selected morph target in the viewport.
Animation
Process Root Motion	Moves preview mesh based on animation's root motion.
Uncompressed Animation	Displays Skeleton with uncompressed animation data.
Non-Retargeted Animation	Displays Skeleton with non-retarged animation data.
Additive Base	Displays Skeleton in additive Base Pose.
Source Animation	Displays Skeleton in source raw animation if you have track curves modified.
Baked Animation	Displays Skeleton in baked raw animation if you have track curves modified.
Disable Post Process	Disables the evaluation of post process Animation Blueprints on the preview instance.
Skin Weight Profiles	Use the dropdown to assign available Skin Weight Profiles to the preview mesh.
Bones
Sockets	Displays socket hitpoints.
Bone Names	Displays bone names in the viewport.
Bone Drawing	All Hierarchy: Shows all hierarchy joints. Selected Only: Shows only selected bone. Selected and Parents: Shows the selected bone and its parents (up to the root). None: Hides all bone selection.
Clothing
Enable Cloth Simulation	Shows simulated cloth mesh.
Reset Cloth Simulation	Resets simulated cloth to its initial state.
Wind Strength	Change the gravity scale in the viewport for cloth meshes.
Gravity Scale	Change the wind strength in the viewport for cloth meshes.
Collide with Cloth Children	Enables collision detection between collision primitives in the base mesh and clothing on any attachments in the preview scene.
Pause with Animation	If enabled, the clothing simulation will pause when the animation is paused using the scrub panel.
Section Display Mode	Show All Sections: Displays all sections include cloth mapped sections. Show Only Cloth Sections: Displays only cloth mapped sections. Hide Only Cloth Sections: Displays all except cloth mapped sections.
Physical Mesh	Draws the current physical mesh result.
Simulation Normals	Draws the current Normals for the simulation mesh.
Collisions	Draws the collision bodies the simulation is currently using.
Backstops	Draws the backstop offset for each simulation particle.
Max Distances	Draws the current max distances for the simulation particles as a line along its Normal.
Self Collision Radii	Draws the self-collision radius for each particle if self collision is enabled.
Anim Drive	Draws the current skinned reference mesh for the simulation which animation drives will attempt to reach, if enabled.
Audio
Mute Audio	Mute audio from the preview.
Use Audio Attenuation	Use audio attenuation when playing back audio in the preview.
Advanced
UV Visualization	Select a UV to visualize.
CPU Skinning	Toggles display of CPU skinning in the viewport.
Vertex Normal Visualization	Normals: Toggles display of vertex normals in the viewport. Tangents: Toggles display of vertex tangents in the viewport. Binormals: Toggles display of vertext binormals (orthogonal vector to normal and tangent) in the viewport.
Hierarchy Local Axes	All: Shows all local hierarchy axes. Selected Only: Shows only the local axes of the selected bones. None: Hides all local hiearchy axes.

Physics

The Physics button provides the following options:


Option	Description
Anim
Physics Bend	Lets you manually control the physics and animation.
Update Joint from Animations	When enabled, any joints will update from its animations while simulating.
Physics Update Mode	Determines whether the simulations of the root body also updates the component transform.
Poke Pause Time	The time between poking the ragdoll and starting to blend back.
Poke Blend Time	The time that is taken to blend from physics to the animation.
Simulation
Grav Scale	Scale factor for the gravity used while simulating.
Gravity Override Z	Sets the gravity override used while simulating.
Max FPS	The max frames per second (FPS) for simulation in the Physics Asset Editor. This is helpful for targeting the same FPS as your game. A value of -1 will disable any value that is already set for Max FPS, whether that be in the Project Settings or Configuration (.ini) file.
Mouse Spring
Handle Linear Damping	Linear damping for mouse spring forces.
Handle Linear Stiffness	Linear stiffness for mouse spring forces.
Handle Angular Damping	Angular damping for mouse springs forces.
Handle Angular Stiffness	Angular stiffness for mouse spring forces.
Interpolation Speed	How quickly interpolation takes place for the physics target transform for mouse spring forces.
Poking
Poke Strength	The strength of the impulse used when poking with left mouse button.
Clothing
Reset Cloth when Simulating	When toggled, cloth with reset each time Simulation mode is used.

Preview LODs

The Preview LODs button provides the following options:


Option	Description
LOD Auto	Automatically selects the Level Of Detail (LOD) (this is the default setting).
LOD 0	Selects LOD 0 as the LOD.

Playback Speed

The Playback Speed button provides the following options:


Option	Description
x0.1	Sets the playback speed to 0.1.
x0.25	Sets the playback speed to 0.25.
x0.5	Sets the playback speed to 0.5.
x1.0	Sets the playback speed to 1.0 (this is the default setting).
x2.0	Sets the playback speed to 2.0.
x5.0	Sets the playback speed to 5.0.
x10.0	Sets the playback speed to 10.0.

Movement Toolbar

The Movement Toolbar contains a collection of tools for moving, rotating, or scaling bones as well as how they are moved, rotated, or scaled with Grid Snapping. This toolbar also has an option for setting the relative coordinate system for movement or rotation as well as an option to set the camera movement speed when moving around in the viewport.


Option	Description
	Translates skeletal bones.
	Rotates skeletal bones.
	The last option scales skeletal bones (if applicable).
	Sets the relative coordinate system for moving and rotating the mesh (World or Local).
	Enables or disables snapping to the grid when dragging objects around and the Position Grid Snap value.
	Enables or disables snapping to the grid when rotating objects around and the Rotation Grid Snap value.
	Enables or disables snapping to the grid when scaling objects and the Scale Grid Snap value.
	Adjust the speed of the camera while moving around in the viewport.

Viewport

The Viewport displays a preview of the Skeletal Mesh and any options set in the Viewport Options Toolbar.

Property Pinning

Inside the Viewport, the options under the View Options, Character, LOD Options and Playback Speed Options **can be pinned to the toolbar for easier access by shift-clicking on the desired option.