Animation system

A USkeletalMeshComponent is animated by a UAnimInstance — the runtime behind an Animation Blueprint. The recommended architecture is a C++ UAnimInstance base that computes animation variables each frame, with the AnimBP's AnimGraph consuming those variables to produce the final pose.

When to use this skill

• Setting up a character's locomotion (idle, walk, run, jump) with state machines and blend spaces driven from C++.
• Playing one-off animations (attacks, reloads, hit reactions) via montages with section control and completion delegates.
• Firing gameplay events (footsteps, hit windows, VFX triggers) at precise animation frames using custom anim notifies.
• Switching animation sets at runtime with linked anim layers / LinkAnimClassLayers.
• Integrating the Pose Search (Motion Matching) or Motion Warping plugins.

Core mental model