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Play Animation

The Play Animation ability is the runtime bridge between the interaction's State Tree and the character's animation system.

It is typically granted to the Interaction Source by default so that, when the accompanying State Tree task fires its animation event, this ability activates, collects data from the current interaction and determines the best Animation Montage to play.

While running, it will apply an Interaction Effect to the owner. You can use this to achieve behaviors such as:

  • Apply Gameplay Tags that may affect the character in other ways, for example, affecting equipment visibility.

  • Apply Gameplay Tags that will block player input to avoid movement during the interaction.

  • Add Gameplay Cues for sounds, effects or other cosmetic effects on the character.

  • Grant Gameplay Abilities to trigger additional behaviors.

Properties

These properties will determine how this Gameplay Ability operates.

Property

Description

AnimationChooserTable

Chooser table used to resolve the animation.

InterruptAnimationOnInteractionCancelled

If set to true, interrupts the animation if the interaction is cancelled.

bInterruptAnimationOnInteractionFinished

If set to true, interrupts the animation if the interaction is cancelled.

InteractionEffectClass

Gameplay effect applied while the ability is active.

InteractionEffectLevel

Level in which the Gameplay Effect will be applied.

Functions

You can extend these functions (Blueprint or C++) to hook into the animation lifecycle:

Function

Description

GetPlayRate

Dynamically adjusts the play rate for an animation/summary.

GetSectionName

Dynamically sets the section name for an animation/summary.

HandleMontageStarted

Called when the montage begins playing. Make sure to call parent/super when extending this function.

HandleMontageFinished

Called when the montage completes normally. Make sure to call parent/super when extending this function.

HandleMontageInterrupted

Called when the montage is interrupted or cancelled. Make sure to call parent/super when extending this function.

Last modified: 01 October 2025