Traversal: Mantle, Climb, Hurdle, Vault and Catch

Traversal mode is added with the plus button of the Sections tab. It is also laid out as a table: the Any column plays traversals from any gait, and you can add one column per gait.

Mantle and notifies

The slots receive anim montages. For the Any column, prefer animations that open with a few running steps: this run-up syncs the distance between the obstacle and the moment the character reaches it. The link icon uses a single animation for both feet.

Each montage must contain two notifies:

• Traversal Contact: the moment the hands touch the obstacle.
• Traversal Recover: the moment the player gets control back.

Obstacle detection

When the player presses the jump key, the character casts a trace forward. If it detects no traversal, it jumps; in the air, it casts more traces to detect a Catch. To see them, enable Draw Debug in the Config tab, Traversal › General section.

Forward Trace Distance, in the Traces section, sets the length of this trace, in centimetres. The longer it is, the earlier the traversal triggers — hence the value of the run-up. The video uses 150.

Hand Contact Anchor and Warp Feet After Contact

• Use Hand Contact Anchor aligns the animation so the hands grab exactly the detected ledge, not just behind the capsule.
• Warp Feet After Contact also aligns the feet on top of the obstacle after the grab; disabled, they sink in slightly.

Climb and obstacle heights

Climb works like Mantle, for taller obstacles. Three settings in the Ledge, Mantle & Climb section decide which traversal plays:

• Max Ledge Height: the maximum height of a traversal. At 250, a taller obstacle is ignored; the video raises it to 400.
• Mantle Max Height: the boundary between the two. Up to 150, the character plays a Mantle; above that, a Climb.
• Min Stand Depth: the minimum depth for a Mantle. An obstacle shallower than 35 triggers a Hurdle.

Foot IK Wall

On the Climb, the feet go into the wall. Enable Foot IK Wall, in the Foot section, and adjust Foot IK Clearance to push the feet away from the wall.

Hurdle and Contact Offset

If the hand does not land on the obstacle, Contact Offset shifts the contact point. Since the character’s front is the Y axis here, a value of -50 moves the contact back when the hand lands too far forward.

Vault

Same principle, with a single animation for both feet thanks to the link icon. If the animation is a walking animation, the character slows down just before: you fix this by setting up one animation per gait.

Catch and detection zones

Catch grabs the character onto the ledge when it is in the air. Three variants: Low, where it catches itself with its foot; Mid, at pelvis level; High, up high. The choice depends on where the feet are at the moment of detection.

Draw Tier Bands, in the Catch section, shows the zones: green for Low, yellow for Mid, red for High. Catch Forward Trace Distance sets the length of the trace cast in the air (70 in the video), and each zone’s Min and Max values set its height.

Hand IK and curves

Hand IK pins the hands to the obstacle whatever the character’s facing: without it, when approaching the obstacle at an angle, the arms go into it.

For more precision, add curves to your montages named as defined in Hand IK Curve Left and Right. They go to 1 when the arm reaches towards the obstacle and back to 0 when it lets go. Without a curve, the plugin works it out on its own.

Traversals per gait

• Leave the Idle column empty: the plugin then plays the walking animation, the closest one. Hence the importance of the run-up.
• Set up a Sprint column if you want to traverse while sprinting: the character does not fall back on the run. You can reuse the run animations there.
• The link icon on each row uses the same animation for every gait.

Falling row without Jump

If Jump mode is not enabled, a Falling row appears in the table: it defines the falling animation after a Vault. With Jump enabled, it disappears and the Jump fall takes over.