unravel-animation

name	unravel-animation
description	Works on UnravelEngine animation: skeletal animation, clips, blend spaces, animation components, and animation panel integration. Use for skeletal animation, blend trees, clip playback, or skinned mesh animation bugs.
disable-model-invocation	true

Unravel Animation

Start here

Purpose	Path
Animation core	engine/engine/animation/
Animation component	engine/engine/animation/ecs/components/animation_component.h
Bone component	engine/engine/ecs/components/ (bone hierarchy)
Animation system	engine/engine/animation/ecs/systems/animation_system.h
Clips	engine/engine/animation/animation.h
Meta	engine/engine/meta/ecs/components/animation_component.hpp
Editor panel	editor/editor/hub/panels/animation_panel/
Skinned rendering	engine/engine/rendering/ (skinned submeshes in pipeline_stats)

Architecture

• Skeletal animation drives bone transforms
• animation_component references clips via asset_handle<animation_clip>
• animation_system updates bone poses each frame
• Skinned meshes submitted in deferred pipeline (separate draw path from static)

Blend spaces

Blend space assets combine multiple clips by parameters (e.g. speed, direction). Defined in animation module — read existing blend space types before adding new ones.

ECS integration

• animation_component on animated entities
• bone_component / submesh_component for hierarchy
• model_component links mesh to skeleton

Pipeline stats

pipeline_stats tracks:

• drawn_skinned_models, drawn_skinned_submeshes
• Separate from static drawn_models counts

Editor

animation_panel/ — clip preview, blend editing. Changes may require asset reimport for clip data.

Verification checklist

• Clip plays correctly in play mode
• Bone transforms propagate to skinned mesh
• Blend space parameters interpolate smoothly
• Animation assets import and resolve via asset_handle
• No T-pose flash on play begin
• Performance acceptable (skinned draw count in stats)

Common mistakes

• Animating in edit mode when only play mode should run
• Missing bone hierarchy on skinned model
• Clip asset not loaded before playback start
• Forgetting meta registration for new animation fields