Currently, S04R is set up to the rigging standards of the UE5 Mannequin, and uses a modular control rig. Current animations for locomotion and basic abilities are re-targeted from the UE5 Mannequin.
To make custom animations for any character with a control rig, determine whether you are animating from a specific pose or from a neutral pose.
If you are animating from a neutral pose, create a level sequence in any level, drag the control rig asset into the scene, zero out the location, rotation, and scale to make sure that the character is situated at 0,0,0 in the world in all transformations. Do all your animation (good luck big dog).
If you are animating from a current animation pose, whether it’s an idle pose, jog, ability, whatever. Open the desired level sequence. At the top, (expand toolbar with 3 horizontal lines if you can’t see this) click edit in sequencer. Select bake to control rig, select the control rig asset for the character. Dialogue box should pop, and you’ll click bake to control rig.
IMPORTANT Do not do any animation. Go back into the animation sequence asset you just had open. Go back to “edit in level sequencer” option, click “Unlink level sequence”. If you do not do this, you will overwrite the animation sequence with your new animations, and that would kinda suck.
Now do your animation. Ensure the asset’s world position never leaves 0,0,0. You can animate bones and whatnot. But do not move the actual control rig asset.
To save any of your animations: Right click on your skeletal mesh when finished, select bake animation sequence, choose a location and name it. All done. Make sure you remove anything left over in the level from the level sequence.
Basic locomotion is achieved through a blendspace graph, BSP_LocomotionWalkRun. This uses the retargeted jogging and walking animations from Manny. This graph controls the animations played for the character depending on current direction the character mesh is facing in relation to the camera, and their current velocity.
Horizontal axis = direction from -180 degrees to positive 180 degrees. Animations for backwards, left backwards, left, left forwards, forwards, right forwards, right, right backwards, and backwards are placed along this axis. These are blended between as the character shifts locations.
Vertical axis = speed. This blends from idle, to walking, to jog animations.
This means there are a total of 19 animation cycles required at minimum for full locomotion
9 jog animations in each key direction
9 walk animations in each key direction
1 idle animation