Configuring your character to use your AnimTree

This recipe shows how to set up the environment of UDK to allow our character to use an AnimTree we have been working on. While in the editor we can preview the AnimTree performance, that isn't the same as seeing it in action during gameplay. To deploy our AnimTree requires us to create a custom pawn class derived from the default pawn UDK includes. To do so, we first need to adjust some of UDK's configuration so it will accept the adjustments we're going to make.

Getting ready

The configuration steps are not very difficult, it is just that all the changes are made outside of the editor, an approach which may feel unfamiliar to designers used to working totally inside a software environment to produce content. In short, we just edit a few UnrealScript files to alert UDK to use our AnimTree when it loads. I am going to use a tool called ConTEXT for this example. This is a text editor which sits in the middle ground between Notepad and Microsoft...