Hybrid Animation in Unreal Engine 5

In this course you will learn how to combine keyframed animations with procedural animation techniques in Unreal Engine.

We will be covering a variety of approaches for creating hybrid animation systems.

We start off by creating a simple system to make a character look towards a target, and then we will layer this with an animation blend, which is driven directly from within Control Rig, to add additional style and realism.

You will then be shown my approach for dynamically modifying animations during gameplay, with a technique that works for object pickups, attacks, and any environment interactions.

Next, we will create a system where your character will crouch based on the environment procedurally, whilst driving an additive animation overlay.

I'll then be showing how animation playback speeds can be changed dynamically, with an example of scaling a run cycle to work for various speeds whilst preserving the underlying animation.

Then we'll make a system which transitions between any animation states or poses, automatically and live during gameplay.

And finally, you will be shown how to combine keyframed animations with a completely procedural locomotion system, which is included as a download in the project files.

You will taken through every step of the process, from learning the basics of Control Rig for procedural techniques, creating keyframed animations in the editor, dynamic modifications to animations, and technical animation setups in the animation blueprint.

Everything shown is my own unique approach which you won't find anywhere else, with a variety of applications to discover in every future game that you work on.

This course is suitable for any level of experience, although some familiarity with Unreal Engine 5 is preferred. The course uses Unreal Engine 5.7 but should be applicable for both older (eg. 5.4+) and future engine versions. Optional project file download is built in 5.7.

I look forward to seeing how you will explore and apply these skills in your own projects, and I hope to see you on the course.