Core Concepts

The Mental Model

Pose Overlay is easiest to understand as a non-destructive animation adaptation layer. You author reusable intent once, then add smaller corrections only where gameplay context or a specific source animation requires them.

Pose Overlay Set
└─ State: Rifle
   ├─ Context Override: Crouching
   │  └─ Animation Override: Crouch Mantle
   └─ Animation Override: Standing Mantle

Pose Overlay Set

One Set targets one Skeleton and stores both editor authoring data and the synchronized runtime snapshot.

Neutral Pose

A Neutral is the baseline used to calculate authored differences. It is not activated at runtime. A State selects one Neutral; a Context can inherit it or select a different Neutral when the source family has a materially different baseline.

State

A State is the reusable semantic intent: Rifle, Pistol, Injured, Carrying, Exhausted, Backpack, and similar conditions. Gameplay activates States by Gameplay Tag and weight.

Context Override

A Context Override is a gameplay-condition-specific correction inside an active State. Its Gameplay Tag Query decides when it is eligible. Contexts can be nested, and one sibling wins at each hierarchy level according to the authored priority rules.

Animation Override

An Animation Override is a source-specific correction. It is selected when a source reporter identifies one of its bound animations. Timed correction curves use normalized source phase.

Local Ownership And Inheritance

Children store only their local difference. An empty child is the parent result. Clearing the child’s local layer restores inheritance. This is the central rule that keeps a large dataset maintainable.

Composition

Each bone can independently control Overlay Weight, Source Motion, and Space Blend. These channels decide how strongly the authored result contributes, how much prior/source motion remains, and how rotation composition behaves.

Runtime Request

The request does not contain authored poses. It describes what the character wants now: Sets, States, weights, order offsets, and Context tags.

Synchronization

Synchronization validates and compiles authoring data into deterministic runtime data. Packaged runtime does not execute the authoring Control Rig and does not modify source Animation Sequences.

Decision Rule