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Version: Reality 5.4

Reversing Animation

In this section, we'll demonstrate how to animate a cube actor moving in the +Z direction, and then reverse the animation in the most efficient way possible.

Process​

  • Prepare a node tree consisting of UserTrack, UE5, and Sink nodes, and activate the APM.
  • Spawn a Cube actor.
  • Select the UE5 node, then go to the Node Details Panel and expand Reality Actors.
  • Choose the Cube actor and expand its Properties panel.
  • In the Transform property group, click on the Pin Switch button of the Relative Location property.
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Alternatively, right-click on the Relative Location property and select Show as Input from the Property Context Menu.

  • Create a Cast vec3 to vec3d node and connect its vec3d output to the Cube.RelativeLocation input pin of the UE5 node.
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For better readability, optionally you can rename input and output pins by right-clicking on them or change the unique node name by using the Node Context Menu.

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Cast vec3 to vec3d node added to extract X, Y, and Z property values to have absolute control over them.

  • Create a new Action, optionally renaming it to something like First Animation.
  • Select the Cast vec3 to vec3d node, then go to the vec3 property and click on the Add Timeline button.
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Alternatively, right-click on the vec3 property and select the Timeline option from the Property Context Menu.

  • Right-click on the property circle, add a keyframe, move the playhead to a different timestamp, and change the Z property from 0 to 200.
  • Add another keyframe and change its interpolation to EaseInOut. Save the Action.
  • Create another Action, optionally renaming it to something like Reverse Animation.
  • Follow the same steps to add a timeline for the vec3 property.
  • Go to the First Animation action, select the second keyframe, and copy it using ^ CTRL + C.
  • Rectangle select the first keyframe to move the playhead to its exact timestamp.
  • Switch to the Reverse Animation action and paste the copied keyframe at the beginning using ^ CTRL + V.
  • Switch back to the First Animation action, select the first keyframe, and copy it.
  • Rectangle select the first keyframe.
  • Switch to the Reverse Animation action again and paste the copied keyframe as the first keyframe.
  • Adjust the interpolation and save the Reverse Animation form.