Motion Design (Avalanche)

[junior wing]

So that's finally available.

https://github.com/EpicGames/UnrealEngine/tree/5.4/Engine/Plugins/Experimental/Avalanche

A motion design toolkit / editor partial-conversion adding a mountain of tools for the motion graphics and broadcast world. Everything from dynamic shapes to broadcast software.

Some Features:

• Parametric shapes: Dynamic 2D and 3D shapes with options to animate and personalize them.
• Actor Modifiers: Add modifiers to actors to perform a custom operation on its geometry, layout, rendering.
• Cloner Effector: Create geometry instances following a specific layout (grid, line, circle, cylinder, sphere, spline, ...) and transform them using effectors.
• System Font Integration: Much improved font integration, allowing you to use/import any font on your system.

And it's companion plugins:

• Advanced Renamer: A tool for renaming asset and actors using regex and a few other tools.
• Custom Details View: Provides easy to use customisable details panel style views without having to use the actual details panel (if you know, you know).
• Material Designer (DynamicMaterial): A new layer-based material designer.
• Floating Properties: Adds favourited details panel properties to the viewport for easy access.
• Operator Stack: Allows you to display linked objects in a container with an intuitive UI.
• Property Animator: Uses the operator stack to animate actor properties of objects in a level.
• SVG Importer: Import svg files and convert them into editable meshes.
• Storm Sync: An asset importer and exporter that produces spak files which can safely copy assets between projects (exports all required references, etc.)

All of them available in the experimental folder on Epic's git. And all still have ongoing development.

Unreal Fest 2023 talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nF4Xf7t0Hgg

WINBUSH video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLdq9m93FLI

This really excited guy (fastchaos): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGoMcXzf0x0

Motion Design (Avalanche) [Free]

Motion Design (Avalanche)

[kindred condor]

Has anyone managed to get something working with this? I've been playing around with it but struggling to get my head around how you should use the playback graph & play a sequence / animation

[junior wing]

Either with the rundown (previously playlist) editor or through a blueprint generally. I'm not too sure, I didn't write that bit 😦

If you don't want to just play it through sequencer in the editor, that is.

[kindred condor]

Yeah, I was able to play it through the sequencer in the editor, just trying to figure out how to grab the instance of that Sequence since it's not a standard level sequence so that I can play it either by Blueprint or via the remote control

[low storm]

You should prefer using the Playlist instead of the Playback Graph. Like how they showed in the EOY Livestream https://www.youtube.com/live/8lta0fcmT3I?si=UIsaVlUv0QP2buc-&t=3558.
Playback Graph is used as one of the foundation layers of the Playlist.

Also currently the Transition Tree is enabled by default so if there's no transition logic properly set up, it will just not play.
You can disable it by going into the 3 vertical dots next to the Transition Tree icon and setting checking it off. By disabling Transition Tree, the Playlist defaults to just playing all the sequences it finds in that Scene.

Transition Tree is of course another system that allows you to set which sequences to play (and how to play them) in different circumstances (whether transitioning to a specific scene for example).

If you do insist on trying out Playback Graph though, You can play animations by having something like this. Click on the Animation node > Details View and you can configure how each Animation is going to play (by default every anim is off).

[kindred condor]

Ah, the rundown is making much more sense now after that video!

[lilac ferry]

Wondering if anyone knows if Avalanche is basically only for motion graphics, or whether the tools shown in the videos are available to regular gamedev workflows as well? For example, could we bring in SVGs and use them as the basis of an in-game world map system, interfacing with Blueprint and other tools? or is it a bit of a walled garden, and Avalance stuff is limited to be used for broadcast, etc?

I realise it's not a replacement for UMG, but some of the stuff on show makes me wonder whether screens like end-game scorecards/leaderboards wouldn't be better built in Avalanche instead 😅

(Also eyeing up the new font/text components in Avalanche and wondering whether they can be used within blueprints, etc. as well 😅)

[junior wing]

You can use avalanche for whatever you like, including games.

I'd actually be super excited to see anyone using our tools for game ui elements!

[lilac ferry]

Awesome, thanks for clarifying! Definitely will be jumping on that once 5.4 launches 🙂

[limpid orchid]

Hola - I'm just checking to see if anyone is playing with this from the github source builds. I'm building from ue5-main (splash says 5.5) and I'm guessing that avalanche is the experimental "Motion Design" plugin? I got it up and running, but no idea how to work it yet.

that appears to be a demo level that's part of the plugin

[junior wing]

Open the motion designer outliner and sequencer stuff is a good start.

(in the window menu)

And where it says "selection mode" at hte top left, change that to "motion design mode"

And the viewport type to the motion design viewport

and such

There's a ton of features if you keep looking 🙂

[junior wing]

https://youtu.be/qhyu8eqBj5c?si=X1crS5X3zzKnWHro

[junior wing]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOgfmp_ot9E

[dark fulcrum]

Does anyone know if it's possible to control anything within the animator's operator stack besides these linked property presets?

also, are there more scenes available somewhere to look into other than these two levels in the plugins folder?
Would love to try out the Project which was used by Winbush and others

[serene ridge]

so, where is the Auto-Size modifier for the texts?

[serene ridge]

Found it! The item musb be a child of something and then it will appear the Auto-Size Modifier

[low storm]

Right-click on the property in the Details View to see options to animate

[serene ridge]

https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/motion-design-avalanche-opacity-mask-modifiers-not-working-on-rundown/1773155

just posted this problem, Opacity masks are bugged (I guess) on Rundown

[junior wing]

Thanks we'll pass it along 🙂

[junior wing]

https://youtu.be/KGbuKh6t02w

[junior wing]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJ4-tmfF5-A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osK99tICgso

[junior wing]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXQ2ICg6wG0

[toxic crystal]

@junior wing
Is there an option to have a project not open with motion design mode active? I'm using some of the cloners, effectors and other things during gameplay, but it's annoying to have to turn off the motion design viewport mode everytime i open the project up.

[junior wing]

The cloners and effects are their own module and shouldn't require motion design module to be on.. I think?

Their own plugin*

Also you can disable the motion design in the level and it will just turn off the motion design features.

(which doesn't include cloners and effectors)

Depends on "other things" 🙂

It'd be great to have a plugin setting to turn off automatically switching to it, though.

[toxic crystal]

yea, it's just the whole automatically changing to motion design viewport mode upon opening the level, and needing to turn it off every single time lol, would be nice if there was an option somewhere for that X_X and I do love the motion design view mode quite a lot, but don't want it to be default state now lol

[junior wing]

I'll get that in for 5.5 🙂

[toxic crystal]

ayyyyy

[junior wing]

Epic released an official guide: https://dev.epicgames.com/community/learning/courses/XRV/unreal-engine-your-first-graphic-with-motion-design/Vp00/unreal-engine-motion-design-getting-started

[white stirrup]

Would it be possible to use motion designer for a card game frontend ontop of a GAS system to run the effects? (e.g each card is an actor and motion designer animates each card?) I haven't fiddled around with this tool yet but would something like this be possible?

[junior wing]

Absolutely

Whether it's the best tool for it or not is another question - we'd need more info on exactly what the game does / requires (rpobably not best to discuss that here, though!)

[serene ridge]

Any news on this?
https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/motion-design-avalanche-opacity-mask-modifiers-not-working-on-rundown/1773155/4

5.4.1 is here and the problem still persists

[junior wing]

The hotfixes generally only fix critical bugs / crashes.

I doubt it'll be sorted before 5.5 😦

[grand crater]

Any insights on how to access the effector's meshes its changing? Either through blueprint or code? Have been digging through both BP and cpp files in the cloner and effector to see how the effector gets the reference of the static meshes the cloner 'cloned'

[toxic crystal]

Is there a way to use the motion design outliner while not in motion design mode? Really loving it.

[junior wing]

I don't think so.

[toxic crystal]

Booo lol

[junior wing]

There are initiatives happening.

But they're relying on an as-yet unfinished system.

[toxic crystal]

Ah I see I see

[junior wing]

The originals should be children of the cloner. The cloned ones will be niagara particles.

[grand crater]

Right, though I wondering more on how to call in code a way to access those cloned meshes in order to let say change the material of all meshes that the effector comes in contact (like begin overlap). I can't seem to find the correct way to call it :/

[junior wing]

I'm not even sure they support collision with things other than themselves right now. I'm not the niagara wizard on the team, sadly. 😛

[grand crater]

That's okay! Would you know how an effector gets access to the individual meshes it's affecting? The overlap was just an example but in the end I'd just like to be able to call the function(s) that it uses to do that

From what I saw in the cpp files, it bakes both the material and meshes for niagara but it mush somehow access the individual meshes with a (unique?) id of some sort?

[junior wing]

Not a clue. 😦

[junior wing]

If you use a source build and update git in a day or two, this change will be in.

[toxic crystal]

Ayyyyy fuck yea

[junior wing]

I ahve no idea how often git is updated, it was submitted to p4 literally just now 😛

If you've got any other QoL feedback, do share 😛

[toxic crystal]

Hmm I think my current wish list is: General separation of features to be used outside of motion design mode. Better spline source cloner source options, or I guess effectors rather, animating clones along a spline in a looped fashion. Fields modifying vertex color attribute data so shaders can easily take advantage of. Allow Null actors outside of motion design mode to allow for children attachment without having to go to MDM and attaching it there. Project launch has a large delay when MDM plugin is enabled, with sections of each editor module having a block of empty space at the tops while the editor is starting, crashing is prone during this.

[grand crater]

I'm all up for what he said. Especially the clones along a spline. Was a bit surprised that wasn't already built in

[grand crater]

Anyone ran into issue with the boolean modifier for text? Seems to work fine with geo but text is where it's unusable

[junior wing]

The large delay on load should be fixed in 5.4.2 I think.

[upbeat basin]

Please say it is so!

[toxic crystal]

#motion-design