Animation Viewports

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

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Each of the Animation Tools contains a Viewport window which allows you to preview playback of your animation assets.

viewport01.png

The Viewport consists of a View Options toolbar (1), a Movement toolbar (2), and a 3D perspective viewport of your currently selected Skeletal Mesh asset (3).

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:

SceneSetup.png

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:

perspectivemode.png

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:

viewmodebutton.png

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:

showmenu.png

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:

PhysicsMenu.png

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:

lodmenu.png

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:

playbackspeed.png

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

Persona_Translate.png

Translates skeletal bones.

Persona_Rotate.png

Rotates skeletal bones.

Persona_Scale.png

The last option scales skeletal bones (if applicable).

Persona_World.png button_Persona_Local.png

Sets the relative coordinate system for moving and rotating the mesh ( World or Local ).

Persona_GridSnap.png

Enables or disables snapping to the grid when dragging objects around and the Position Grid Snap value.

Persona_RotationSnap.png

Enables or disables snapping to the grid when rotating objects around and the Rotation Grid Snap value.

Persona_ScaleSnapping.png

Enables or disables snapping to the grid when scaling objects and the Scale Grid Snap value.

Persona_CameraMoveSpeed.png

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.

Viewport Panel

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.

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