Although a State Machine serves as a convenient way to break down the flow of animation transitions in a Skeletal Mesh, the most important aspect of them is what actually happens within each node of a State Machine. With this in mind, it is important to remember the primary purposes of each of a State Machine's node types:
| Node | Purpose |
|---|---|
| State | Output a pose or animation result. |
| Transition Rule | Govern whether animation will flow from one state into another. Uses a Boolean value to determine if the transition will take place. |
| Conduit | Also governs the flow of animation, but with the ability to share the transition cause among many different states. Uses a Boolean value to determine if the transition will take place. |
Keeping this in mind will make it much easier to determine what types of nodes to place into each part of the State Machine.
Editing States
A State's job is to produce a final animation or pose. This can be a single AnimSequence, a BlendSpace, or any type of network so long as it produces a final animation or pose.
Above a single AnimSequence results in the Final Animation Pose.
Above a Blendspace is used to blend between different poses based on the value Speed.
Above a different AnimSequence is selected based on the value of the Boolean Is In Air?
Adding Animation Elements
To add an AnimSequence or BlendSpace into a State's graph, you can drag-and-drop it from the Asset Browser in the Animation Blueprint Editor:
Or use the Right-click context menu and select an animation:
Automatic State Creation
To automatically create a State in a State Machine, drag an AnimSequence or Blendspace asset into the graph.
Once dragged in, the State is automatically created and named after the asset.
Inside, you can see that the animation asset has been connected to the Final Animation Pose result automatically.
