Development continues on the gameplay animation systems for Magickness™.

In Dev Log #13, I showcase the current AI-assisted animation workflow being integrated into the project using HY-Motion (HY Animotion), Blender, and Unreal Engine 5.

The goal of this pipeline is to streamline gameplay animation iteration while maintaining compatibility with the existing Mixamo-based character framework already established in the project.

Current Workflow

Generate animation in HY-Motion

Export FBX

Trim/refine in Blender if needed

Import into UE5 using the existing SMPLH skeleton

Retarget using a custom SMPLH → Mixamo retargeter

Export finalized gameplay animation

One important part of the workflow is that the retarget pose is stored directly inside the UE5 retargeter asset itself, meaning future animations can reuse the same pipeline without rebuilding the setup every time.

This allows future gameplay abilities and combat systems to iterate significantly faster while keeping the animation framework consistent…