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🏃 Character Animation

Ludus generates body-movement animations, adapts existing clips, and edits Animation Blueprints (ABP) and Control Rig assets from the Ludus chat in the plugin window inside the Unreal Editor. It creates motion from a text description, loops and blends clips, and retargets animations onto other characters. You preview every generated result before anything imports. To turn a static mesh into a skeletal mesh first, see Auto-Rigging.

Generate and adapt clips​

  1. Open the Ludus plugin window in the Unreal Editor (Unreal Engine 5.4 to 5.8).
  2. Type a description of the movement in the Ludus chat, or reference the clip to work on.
  3. Choose the operation: generate a movement, loop a clip, blend two clips, or retarget a clip.
  4. Review the animation in the in-chat preview card.
  5. Approve the import.

Example prompt: "Generate a walk-forward cycle for this character and make it loop cleanly." Expected result: Ludus generates the walk animation, loops it without a visible seam, shows it in the preview card, and stages the import.

Loop a clip​

Ludus loops a clip cleanly so start and end match.

Blend two clips (stitching)​

Ludus blends two clips into one continuous animation, stitching the end of one into the start of the next.

Retarget an animation​

Ludus retargets an animation onto a different character, including mismatched skeletons (for example Mixamo-to-Mannequin).

Animation Blueprints​

Ludus builds and edits Animation Blueprints, including Animation State Machines and related graph logic. For general Blueprint variables, functions, and Event Graph work that also applies to ABPs, see Blueprints.

  1. In the Content Browser, open the Animation Blueprint you want to change, or reference it by name in the chat.
  2. Type your request in the Ludus chat, naming the state machine, states, or transitions to change.
  3. Review the staged graph changes. Example prompt: "In ABP_Player, add an Idle to Run transition when Speed is above 10." Expected result: Ludus adds the transition on the state machine, wires the Speed condition, and stages the graph for approval.

Control Rig​

Ludus modifies Control Rig setups: bones, controls, and nulls; hierarchy parents and transforms; and control settings.

  1. In the Content Browser, open the Control Rig asset, or reference it by name in the chat.
  2. Type your request in the Ludus chat, naming the bones, controls, or nulls to change.
  3. Review the staged hierarchy and transform changes. Example prompt: "Add a control for the head bone and parent it under the neck control." Expected result: Ludus adds the control, sets its transform, parents it under the neck control, and stages the change for approval.

Options​

  • Generate: body-movement animations from a text description.
  • Loop: loop a clip cleanly.
  • Blend (stitching): combine two clips into one continuous animation.
  • Retarget: move an animation onto a different character, including mismatched skeletons (for example Mixamo-to-Mannequin).
  • Preview: you preview generated clips before anything imports.
  • Animation Blueprints: Animation State Machines and related graph logic; name states and transition conditions explicitly.
  • Control Rig: bones, controls, nulls, hierarchy parenting, transforms, and control settings.

Animations import onto skeletal meshes. See Auto-Rigging to prepare a mesh and Asset Library & Import for imported assets. For prompt guidance, see Effective Prompting and Examples of Usage. For selecting modes, see Modes.

Approvals​

Ludus will ask you for approval before making edits. See Approvals & Safety.