The Profiles tab
The Profiles tab opens from the Window menu. It is a table in which each column is a locomotion profile — for example Crouch, for the crouched character.
Enabling the Crouch profile
Right-clicking the Crouch cell of the Unarmed row enables it. The Sections tab updates: you set up Crouch’s Forward mode exactly like the standing character’s, starting with the crouched Idle.
Switching profiles in Blueprint
Profile switching happens in the character’s Blueprint. With the Character Factory, the Crouch action is already set up, on the C key: it calls the Set Axis State function, which defines the profile to enable.
- 1Copy the profile name, Crouch, and paste it into the Value of the first Set Axis State node.
- 2To add this node elsewhere, drag off the Locomotion Component and search for Set Axis State.
- 3A None value returns to the default profile. With the Flip Flop, a first press switches to Crouch, a second one returns to the default profile.
Unreal’s native Crouch and the capsule
You also need to call Unreal’s native Crouch and Un Crouch functions on the character, and set the crouched capsule’s half-height (Crouched Half Height) in the Blueprint: 60 centimetres for the character in the video.
Crouched movement
With only the Idle, the character crouches but cannot move. So you set up the crouched run, with its forward starts (Start Position at 0.1) and its stops. In the Movement Settings, Use Data Asset then Autofill update speed, acceleration and deceleration.
Enter state and transition animations
Since version 1.4, the Enter row defines how a profile is entered. Its value is an interpolation time: at 1, the character takes one second to switch to Crouch.
You can also leave it at 0 and place a transition animation in the Enter cell: here, from standing to crouched. In the Default column, an Enter cell with the reverse animation handles the way back.
Multiplayer fix
The On Start Crouch and On End Crouch events call Notify Native Crouch Height Changed. Without them, in multiplayer, another player’s character sinks into the ground when crouching and floats when standing up.
Call this node once from On Start Crouch and once from On End Crouch, with Starting disabled. It has no effect on your own character: only on the ones you see without controlling them.
Vehicles and other profiles
A profile can also be used for vehicles: right-clicking the column header sets its type to Vehicle, and the Sections tab then offers a Drive mode, with a Blend Space or clips. You can create as many profiles as you need: swimming, flying, paragliding…