Animation Beta

The Animation tab plays animations on a MetaHuman: body loops with the head and face riding them, and motions made from a sentence. The playback bar under the view plays, pauses and scrubs them.

BetaThe Animation tab is a beta feature. Without access its tab still opens and shows the real panel, dimmed and locked, with a card over the view: sign in, say in one line what you would use it for, and press Request early access. See Beta features.

TabAnimation, MetaHuman onlyLibrarythe right panel: body animations, kimodo, my animationsPlaybackthe bar under the view; Space plays and pauses

The Animation tab on the clay mannequin (New Mannequin): Body range of motion held mid-clip with Hold pose, Make a motion at the top, the body animations on the right and the playback bar under the view.

Usage

Open Animation on a MetaHuman with a body. With no body, only the head and neck follow the clip: press Add MetaHuman body.
Click an animation on the right. It plays at once.
Use the playback bar: play and pause, stop, scrub, loop. Click the clip's name to pick another, or A-Pose.
Press Hold pose to pause on a frame and sculpt it on the Sculpt tab.

The library

Control	What it does
Body animations	Body loops that play on the body with the head riding them. Some carry a face part too, marked body + face.
Kimodo	Motions made from a sentence and put on the MetaHuman body. Body only. The tile's tooltip shows the sentence.
My animations Beta	Motions you made with Make a motion. Hover a tile to rename (✎) or delete (×, press twice). See Make a motion.

The left panel

Control	What it does
Playing	The clip that plays, or nothing; held while paused.
Loop	Plays the clip over and over. Off, it holds on its last frame.
Speed	0.25 to 2 times.
Hold pose	Pauses on the frame on screen. Sculpt it on the Sculpt tab: the strokes go to the rest shape. The button then reads Play.
Stop and go back to rest	Stops the clip: the body, head and face back to rest.

The playback bar

The bar under the view, on the Animation and Garment tabs.

Control	What it does
▶, ❚❚	Play and pause (`Space`).
■	Stop: back to the start, the character at rest.
Clip name	Opens the clip list: A-Pose (the rest pose, no clip) first, then Body animations, Kimodo and My animations, each with its length. At its foot, Speed and, while a garment is on the body, Blend.
Track	Drag to scrub. A tick every second, a longer one every 5 seconds. With a garment, a thin line above it shows the cloth cache.
Time	Where you are and how long the clip is.
⟳	Loop.

NoteWhile the MetaHuman rig's dots are live (the Rig switch or expert mode), the playback bar waits.

Common problems

What you see	Why	What to do
Only the head moves	There is no body.	Press Add MetaHuman body.
The Animation tab is missing	The character is on the GNM head.	Animation needs a MetaHuman: convert first.