Hybrid Animation in Unreal Engine 5

Name: Hybrid Animation in Unreal Engine 5
Rating: 4.7 (89 reviews)

Learn to combine animations with procedural techniques

Created byLincoln Margison

Last updated 4/2026

English

English [Auto],

What you'll learn

Combine procedural animation with keyframed animation
Learn the basics of Control Rig for procedural animation techniques
Drive animation blends from Control Rig
Modify animations for dynamic environment interaction
Scale animation playback rates dynamically
Create custom procedural runtime transitions of any poses
Create basic keyframed animations in the editor
Understand the basics of technical animation in the Animation Blueprint

Course content

6 sections • 32 lectures • 6h 11m total length

Introduction and course overview (Resources here)5:40
Explore hybrid animation workflows in Unreal Engine 5 by blending procedural locomotion with keyframed animation, dynamically modifying grabs, crouches, and transitions, and integrating a spider rig with locomotion.
Initial setup of animation blueprint and Control Rig10:22
Set up an animation blueprint and hybrid control rig in Unreal Engine 5. Create a look at target to rotate the head and blend head and body motion using Sequencer.
Make the head rotate towards a target point6:46
Use the aim node to make the head bone point toward a target, with primary y-axis alignment and secondary x-axis, using a look at control to feed the translation.
Use a look-at target from in-game13:32
Create a look-at target and update the character’s lookAtLocation each tick. Convert world target to rig-space via animation blueprint and control rig to drive head and upper body look.
Creating a Left->Right look animation15:17
Create a left to right look animation in Unreal Engine 5 with Sequencer, bake idle to a control rig, keyframe a left–center–right blend, and export the final animation.
Apply the Left->Right look animation additively7:41
Apply the left-right look additively in Unreal Engine 5 using frame 15 as base pose, local-space additive settings, and a curve-driven left-right blend controlled by control rig and anim graph.
Control the underlying animation blend from within Control Rig12:27
Limit the head rotation to realistic angles18:21
Limit head rotation in Unreal Engine 5 by computing the rotation difference, converting to Euler, clamping axes, and applying a constrained set transform with additive animation and IK.

Creating the base grab animation15:38
Create a grab animation using the pause sequence, switch the right arm to IK to reach and grab, then apply it in the animation graph for world position driven grabbing.
Animation montage & curves11:18
Convert a grab animation to an animation montage, assign it to a custom hand grab animations slot, and add a hand grab curve to drive the control rig.
Explanation of dynamic modification & FBIK9:56
Offset the hand toward a world target using full body IK and sub-chains, with chain depth and sub-iterations, preserving the underlying animation while keeping the pelvis fixed.
Applying the hand offset7:51
Apply the hand offset in control rig by comparing the real grab target with the animation grab target, offsetting the hand translation through the full body IK and curve-driven scale.
Randomised object target14:30
Randomise the target by offsetting a billboard in front of the character, convert world-space target to rig space for body ik, and drive head aim with a control rig.

Making the standing->crouch blend5:47
Procedural pelvis crouching from Control Rig15:47
Learn procedural pelvis crouching in Unreal Engine 5 using Control Rig, with sphere traces to detect ceilings and drive a full body IK pelvis offset while feet stay planted.
Crouch driving an additive animation overlay directly from Control Rig14:35
Apply the crouch blend additively and drive it with a crouch amount curve in control rig. Use remap and spring interp to smooth preemptive crouching via FBIK.

Making the base example poses13:11
Explore procedural animation blending in Unreal Engine 5 using Control Rig, spring interpolation, and IK for feet to smoothly transition between character pauses.
A simplified implementation of blending from one pose to the next13:04
Setting up the Animation Blueprint ready for a more complex system13:52
Create an animation blueprint with a state transition control rig and a pause selector state machine that blends between multiple pauses based on timing and transition rules.
Adding a custom blend graph for custom transitions between states8:53
Transitioning between any two poses in Control Rig14:15
Use transition time elapsed as a ratio in control rig to blend poses. Save pauses, then interpolate between them to guide feet placement with FBIK or IK.
Smart foot transitions8:54
Master smart foot transitions in Unreal Engine 5 by saving old foot poses, interpolating to new targets with ik, curve-driven timing, and sequential foot movement for smooth, stable poses.
Pelvis weight shifting from one foot to the other15:08
Apply FBIK-driven poses to shift weight between feet in Unreal Engine 5, using pelvis offset, full-body IK, subchains, and spring interpolation for natural transitions.
Setting up to work with multiple poses in a more complex state machine11:57
Explore hybrid animation in Unreal Engine 5 by building a multi-pose state machine with custom blend graphs, transitions, and FBIK-driven pelvis control to smoothly cycle through poses.
Polishing and tweaking the transitions13:24
Polish transitions in Unreal Engine 5 by reapplying the destination pose with a curve-driven weight and pose cache to prevent snapping.
Finalising7:01
Adjusts the random pauses sequence to refine arm bending and leg transitions, tests different pauses, exports updated bake animations, and explores swapping foot order for a procedural locomotion concept.

Creating the animation rig13:10
Create a basic animation rig for a spider character and blend a keyframed attack with a procedural system using full body IK, subchains, and pelvis controls in Unreal Engine 5.
Animating the attack11:18
Use the proc spider anim rig to link the abdomen to the pelvis for an attack, create a level sequence, set 0 and 90 keyframes, and bake the spider attack.
Using animation slots and adding control curves10:00
Blend procedural leg motion with an attack animation by adding control curves and a front leg attacks slot, using an animation montage and control rig in Unreal Engine 5.
Overruling the procedural animation system for the animating bones4:50
Blend procedural full-body ik with keyframe animation by using curve values to control front-leg strength, via an inverted curve in control rig and curve container for selective bones.
Finalising and improvements6:00

Requirements

Beginner-to-advanced friendly, but general familiarity with Unreal Engine would be ideal

Description

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.

Who this course is for:

Unreal Engine developers looking to improve their character animations using procedural techniques

Hybrid Animation in Unreal Engine 5

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

Introduction & Hybrid "Look At" Animation8 lectures • 1hr 30min

Dynamic Animations (object pickup, attack, environment interactions)5 lectures • 59min

Dynamic Procedural Crouch3 lectures • 36min

Procedural Animation Speed1 lecture • 21min

Procedural State-to-State Transitions10 lectures • 2hr

Keyframed Animation with Procedural Locomotion System5 lectures • 45min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: