Skip to content

Animation Subsystem#

AnimInstance is the runtime animation class that maintains runtime data & plays shit

  • This is the parent class of the animation blueprint

  • Get Bone Transforms from a specific time t:

  • Sequence->GetAnimationPose(Output.Pose, Output.Curve, FAnimExtractContext(CurrentTime, Sequence->bEnableRootMotion));

UAnimationAsset is the classes that contain the actual data and also calculates bones & curves

  • UAnimSequence

  • UAnimComposite

  • UAnimMontage

Two classes for each Anim Node; separated for optimization b/c node construction is expensive

  • UAnimGraphNode_Base: Anim Graph Node that's shown in editor

  • Only exist in editor

  • One way relationship with corresponding FAnimNode_Base counterpart

  • FAnimNode_Base: Anim Behavior node that is run time

  • Initialize: Called whenever need to initialize/reinitialize (e.g. changing mesh instance)

  • Update: Called to update current state (such as advancing playtime or updating blend weights)

    • Takes FAnimationUpdateContext that knows the delta time for the update & the current nodes blend weight

    • Might be where we hook in to do the forward time projection intersection

  • Evaluate/EvaluateComponentSpace: Generates a 'pose' i.e. list of bone transforms

  • FAnimationRuntime has lots of good functions to look at and utility/helper functions

Sequence:

Update Functions:

*[Should be called before RefreshBoneTransforms]*USkinnedMeshComponent::TickPose()

[Should be atomic & not rely on Tick()] USkinnedMeshComponent::RefreshBoneTransforms()

USkinnedMeshComponent::FinalizeBoneTransform()

USkeletalMeshComponent::InitAnim: Called when component needs to initialize or reinitialize eg InitializeComponent() or SetSkeletalMesh()

  • USkeletalMeshComponent::InitializeAnimScriptInstance

  • AnimInstance::InitializeAnimation

    • AnimInstance::NativeInitializeAnimation()

    • AnimInstance::BlueprintInitializeAnimation()

USkinnedMeshComponent::TickComponent()

  • USkinnedMeshComponent::TickPose()

  • USkeletalMeshComponent::TickAnimation

    • AnimInstance::UpdateAnimation

    • [Default does nothing] NativeUpdateAnimation: Only does something for UAnimSingleNodeInstance

    • BlueprintUpdateAnimation: Main AnimBP entry point

    • FAnimNode_Base::Update()

    • UAnimInstance::Montage_Advance()

    • UAnimInstance::TriggerAnimNotifies

    • UAnimInstance::TriggerQueuedMontageEvents

  • USkinnedMeshComponent::RefreshBoneTransforms()

  • USkinnedMeshComponent::PerformAnimationEvaluation()

    • [Evaluate Animation System] USkeletalMeshComponent::EvaluateAnimation()

    • AnimInstance::EvaluateAnimation()

      • [Default does nothing] UAnimInstance::NativeEvaluateAnimation() AnimInstance can override animgraph evaluation completely. Ex: AnimSingleNodeInstance() doesn't eval the animgraph

      • FAnimNode_Base::Evaluate(): This is the root of the anim graph. Called if NativeEvaluateAnimation returns false

  • USkeletalMeshComponent::PostAnimEvaluation

  • AnimInstance::UpdateCurves

  • USkinnedMeshComponent::FinalizeBoneTransform()

    • AnimInstance::PostEvaluateAnimation

    • [Does nothing by default but virtual] AnimInstance::NativePostEvaluateAnimation

    • BlueprintPostEvaluateAnimation

  • UpdateComponentToWorld()

  • UpdateOverlaps()

  • [If RefreshBoneTransforms() not called from Tick()] USkinnedMeshComponent::FinalizeBoneTransform

Useful CPU Skinning stuff:

bool USkinnedMeshComponent::ShouldCPUSkin()

USkinnedMeshComponent::ComputeSkinnedPositions

USkinnedMeshComponent::GetSkinnedVertexPosition

GetBoneNames

GetBoneTransform

Function to update physics data from animated data

C++
USkeletalMeshComponent::UpdateKinematicBonesToAnim(const TArray<FTransform>> **InSpaceBases**, ETeleportType **Teleport**, bool **bNeedsSkinning**)

USkeletalMeshComponent::PerformBlendPhysicsBones(const TArray<FBoneIndexType>> **InRequiredBones**, TArray<FTransform>> **InLocalAtoms**)