Animation Blueprint Intermediate

Animation Blueprints are the backbone of MetaHuman animation in Unreal Engine. They define how your character transitions between states, blends animations, and responds to gameplay input. In this lesson, you will build a complete animation system for a MetaHuman character.

MetaHuman Animation Architecture

MetaHumans use a dual-skeleton system: a body skeleton for locomotion and a face skeleton with a Control Rig for facial animation. The Animation Blueprint drives both through separate animation layers that are composited at runtime.

State Machine Setup

1. Create the Animation Blueprint

   Right-click your MetaHuman skeleton → Create → Animation Blueprint. Set the parent class to AnimInstance.

2. Add a State Machine

   In the AnimGraph, add a new State Machine node called "Locomotion". Create states for Idle, Walk, Run, and Jump.

3. Define Transitions

   Connect states with transition rules based on variables like Speed and IsInAir. Use blend durations of 0.15-0.25 seconds for smooth transitions.

Blend Spaces

Use 1D Blend Spaces for simple speed-based blending and 2D Blend Spaces for directional movement. MetaHuman's skeleton supports all standard Unreal animation features including additive animations and aim offsets.

Facial Animation Layer

MetaHumans include a Face Control Rig with over 700 controls. The facial animation layer runs on a separate track in the Animation Blueprint, allowing you to drive body and face independently.