Animation Blueprint

Universal Monster comes with an Animation Blueprint that works for any skeleton. You are not required to use this Animation Blueprint and it is suggested you use your own for better animation blending. If you wish to quickly setup monsters and do not want to spend countless hours making a custom Animation Blueprint, then you will want to continue reading below to setup the default Animation Blueprint provided with UM.

Create a Duplicate of ABP_UniversalMonster

You can also use the hotkey Ctrl+W to create a duplicate

After making a duplicate of ABP_UniversalMonster, you will want to move it to a folder that makes more sense, such as the same folder where you keep the other assets for the character that will be using the animation blueprint.

Change the Skeleton of your new Animation Blueprint

Click on Class Settings

Under Class Options, click the down arrow to show advanced settings

Change Target Skeleton to the skeleton of your new character

Compile and Save

After you compile and save your new animation blueprint, you will be required to close and reopen it to refresh it for the new skeleton.

Creating an UpperBody and LowerBody Slot

Open the Anim Slot Manager window

Click on Add Slot

Name the new slot UpperBody (case-sensitive) and then press enter

Click on Save

Repeat the same process above to create the LowerBody (case-sensitive) slot.

Configure your new Animation Blueprint

Use Direction: If using a blend space, does it require the rotation of the character? The alternative is to use the Forward/Backward, Left/Right and Up/Down velocity. Upper Body Blend: If attack montages should blend to the UpperBody slot, you can set how much to blend it here. You must add an UpperBody slot to your character's skeleton. Walk Rate: The % of max walk speed in which the animation blueprint will use the walk animation. Run Rate: The % of max walk speed in which the animation blueprint will use the run animation. Sprint Rate: The % of max walk speed in which the animation blueprint will use the sprint animation.

If your character does not need to use an UpperBody slot, you will want to set Upper Body Blend to 0.0 and you can skip to the next section "Choose your Animations".

In the AnimGraph, select the Layered Blend Per Bone node

In the Config settings of the selected node, change the Bone Name (case-sensitive) to the first bone that represents your character's upper body

Choose your Animations

Movement

If you are using blend spaces, then you only need to setup Blend Space, Jump Begin, Falling and Jump End. Blend spaces will have the best results, but if you are unfamiliar with how to set them up, then you can add the individual animations and the animation blueprint will do its best to simulate a blend space. If your character does not have certain animations, you can leave them empty and the animation blueprint will know how to handle it. For example, your character has no sprint animation, so the animation blueprint will default to using the run animation as twice its normal play rate.

Adding Movement Animations

To add a new movement type, click the +

Select the movement type, this should never be left as None and you should use Land if unsure

Select the blend space or animation

Play

Stuns can be simple single animations, that play for a specific amount of time, that can be triggered with a hit reaction animation, but there are also stuns that have no set duration and instead are setup similar to the jump. They will come with a beginning, looping middle, and an end. This allows for characters to be stunned for any duration.

Adding Stun Animations

To add a new movement type, click the +

For information on how to add animations, click the link below.

Animation Settings