UDK Animation with Kismet
and Matinee
Visual Scripting
Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill
Previously
• We know some of the basics of level
creation:
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BSP and CSG
Placing static mesh actors
Lighting
Sound
Several miscellaneous other things
• So far everything is static
– Lets do simple animations
Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill
Kismet
• High order animation editor
• Anything you can do with this you
can also do with Unrealscript
– In the same way that C++ is higher than
Assembly
– Anything you can do in C++ you could
also do in Assembly
• If you can do it with Kismet it will be
easier than UnrealScript
Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill
Classification
• The Unreal engine classifies actors
• A static mesh is unmovable
– That makes it easier to render
• What we want now is to convert a
static mesh into a Mover
– A Mover can be moved by the animator
• All that is needed is to reclassify the
item
• We do this with a right click
Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill
Pictures
• In the next screen shots I have
inserted a base and half of a blast
door
• I will select the base
• Right click and convert to Mover
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Base and Door
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Base Selected
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Right Click Menu
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Collision Type
• We now set the collision type
• Select the base
– If not already
• Use function F4 or Right Click and
show the properties
• Open up Collision properties
• Select COLLIDE_BlockAll from
Collision Type drop down
• This prevents player from walking
through the mover
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Block_All
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Kismet
• Select the item in question, the base
• Kismet may be started with:
– The K button on the toolbar
– View menu and Kismet submenu
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The K Button
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Kismet Has Started
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A new event
• Right click in the blank Kismet editor
• Choose the new event with the
Mover actor that was selected
• This gives the following two screens
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Choosing a New Event
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Resulting Graph
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Graph Explained
• This is a visual way to describe
events and their actions
• A pawn is the player or other active
agent
• To attach in this case is to stand
upon
• This triggers the play action
– Denoted by the arrow
• When this is done the Reverse
action is triggered
Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill
What Do We Want?
• We want two animations: elevator
moves up and elevator moves down
• This should be activated when the
player stands on the platform
• This should be dependent on where
the elevator is when we start
• Since the motion is straight line we
only need to show the beginning and
ending locations
Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill
Next
• We open Matinee and setup two key
frames
• We double click on the Matinee icon
in the graph
• We should get this:
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Matinee Opens With Kismet
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Display is Time
• The main display is the time the
animation will take
• You can drag this display left and
right and see more or less of the
times
• Notice the red triangles on the
bottom
• Drag the right one to change
animation length
• The black bar is the time for the
current keyframe
Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill
Time Bounds
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Selecting KeyFrame
• With Matinee in focus you hit enter
• This refers Matinee to the current
state of the perspective window
• You should set (in Red) the name of
the keyframe
– Numbered from zero
– It should also show a time
• On the first keyframe your
perspective frame should be fine
Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill
Next KeyFrame
• Move the black bar to the last
keyframe and again hit enter
• Then return to the perspective view
• Move the actor to its new location
Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill
Second KeyFrame Raised
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Commentary
• The yellow line in the previous
picture is the path that the Mover
will take
• We can now play our animation
• First hit the stop button and then the
play
Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill
Playing
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Triggers
• Under the Actor Class tab of the
content browser and common are
triggers
• A trigger can initiate an animation as
well
• Triggers may be:
– Hidden – they coincide with a static
mesh
– Not hidden – they appear as a switch
• One trigger may activate multiple
animations
Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill
Process
• Drag the trigger onto the level
• Set the properties, including sizing
and positioning
• With the trigger selected start
Kismet
• Select the trigger and then touch
• See next two slides
Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill
Trigger On Mesh Sphere
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Creating an Event
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This time
• Matinee does not automatically
appear as it did before
• What you see is just the trigger
• Right click to make Matinee appear
• Drag the event to the Matinee play
• Matinee proceeds as normal
• Multiple matinees are allowed to
animate multiple things
• The trigger and the animation do not
need to be close
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Two Matinee Events
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Finally on Triggers
• Like before the meshes must be
converted to movers
• They should have appropriate
positions
• Many things will already have the
collision type properly set
Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill
Problems
• I could not this to animate on my Win
7 machine (AMD processor)
– The metal base did not need a jump to
get on, so it may have been a position
problem
– Or something completely different
• Worked fine on this one
• Could see no differences
• Hope the demo goes well
Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill
Finally
• You are now ready to do a complete
level
• Lets do the demo
Copyright © 2015 Curt Hill