Animation Auditor

Animation Auditor

Module: Animation · Category: AnimBP · Tool ID: AnimationAuditor

A three-tab audit suite for the heavy lifting of animation QA. Compression profiles every AnimSequence’s compression scheme and flags oversize or uncompressed clips. Curves finds flat/zero/unused curves wasting memory and lets you batch-strip them. Blueprint walks every Animation Blueprint for state-machine complexity, dead states, and transition rule issues.

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When to use it

• Pre-cook performance pass — find every uncompressed AnimSequence, every flat curve eating memory, every AnimBP with dead states
• Inheriting a project — get an objective view of animation budgets across a content set
• Onboarding a new platform target — compression that’s fine on PC may be too heavy on mobile
• AnimBP refactoring — the Blueprint tab surfaces unreachable states that are usually leftovers from past iterations

When not to use it

• Don’t use this for runtime debugging — it’s asset-side analysis, not a runtime profiler
• Don’t expect this to fix AnimBPs — Compression and Curves have batch fix actions; Blueprint is read-only

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Opening the tool

1. Open the EQLabs Hub and search for Animation Auditor (or browse to Animation → AnimBP)
2. Click the tool card
3. Use the tab bar to pick Compression, Curves, or Blueprint

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Tab 1 — Animation Compression Analyzer

Project-wide AnimSequence compression audit.

Interface

Section	What it does
Scan Path	Folder to scan recursively
Single Anim Path	Optional — scan a single AnimSequence instead of a folder
Search box	Filter by name
Problems Only checkbox	Hide healthy entries
Scan	Walks AnimSequences and computes compression metrics
Export CSV	Saves the result set to a CSV file
Apply Compression to Selected	Batch-applies compression settings to selected rows
Sortable column headers	Sort by size, ratio, or severity
Stats	Total animations, total size (KB), warning count, critical count
Results list	Per-anim row: name, scheme, duration, frames, bones, curves, compressed size, ratio, additive flag, severity, suggestion

Severity coding

Severity	Meaning
Good	Reasonable size, sensible compression scheme
Warning	Over the size threshold (512 KB by default), or compression ratio is suspiciously poor
Critical	Uncompressed or dramatically oversize

Workflow

1. Pick a scan path (or a single anim), click Scan
2. Sort by size or severity, walk the worst offenders
3. Select rows that share the same compression issue, click Apply Compression to Selected with the right scheme
4. Save All afterward

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Tab 2 — Animation Curve Auditor

Find unused or flat curves wasting memory.

Interface

Section	What it does
Scan button	Walks every AnimSequence and inspects every embedded curve
Search box	Filter by curve or animation name
Flat Only checkbox	Hide curves with real animation
Near-Zero Only checkbox	Hide curves above the near-zero threshold
Near-Zero Threshold	Amplitude below which a curve is “near zero”. Default 0.01.
Select All Flat button	Convenience — select every flat-curve row for batch removal
Remove Selected button	Strips selected curves from their source animations. Undoable.
Stats	Total curves, flat count, near-zero count, anims scanned
Results list	Per-curve row: anim name, curve name, key count, min/max value, amplitude, flat/near-zero flags

What gets flagged

Flag	Meaning
Flat	All keys have the same value — curve contributes nothing
Near Zero	Maximum absolute value is below the threshold — curve contributes effectively nothing

Workflow

1. Click Scan
2. Toggle Flat Only and click Select All Flat
3. Click Remove Selected, Save All
4. Re-scan to confirm the curve count dropped

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Tab 3 — Animation Blueprint Auditor

Walks every Animation Blueprint for state-machine and complexity issues.

Interface

Section	What it does	Default
Scan Path	Folder to scan	/Game
State Warning Threshold	State count at which a state machine is flagged	15
Node Warning Threshold	Total node count above which the AnimBP is flagged	100
Scan button	Walks every UAnimBlueprint and analyzes its graphs
Results list	Per-AnimBP row: name, state machine count, total states, transitions, total nodes, linked graphs, blend nodes, severity, suggestion

What gets flagged

• AnimBPs with state count above the threshold
• AnimBPs with total node count above the threshold
• Unreachable / unused states
• AnimBPs with deprecated nodes
• AnimBPs with tick enabled when not strictly needed

Severity coding

Severity	Meaning
OK	Within thresholds, no issues
Warning	Crossed at least one threshold
Critical	Multiple severe issues, or a count well past the threshold

Workflow

1. Pick a scan path, click Scan
2. Sort by total nodes — the heaviest AnimBPs appear at the top
3. For Warning/Critical entries, open the AnimBP in UE’s editor (double-click) and refactor

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Settings reference

Compression tab

Field	Default
Scan Path	/Game
Large Size Threshold (KB)	512
Problems Only	false

Curves tab

Field	Default
Near-Zero Threshold	0.01
Flat Only	false
Near-Zero Only	false

Blueprint tab

Field	Default
Scan Path	/Game
State Warning Threshold	15
Node Warning Threshold	100

Settings are persisted to [Project]/Saved/EQLabs/Settings/AnimationAuditor.json.

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Output

• Compression tab — CSV export, batch-apply Compression to selected (modifies AnimSequence assets, undoable)
• Curves tab — Remove Selected (modifies AnimSequence curve data, undoable)
• Blueprint tab — read-only audit, no edits
• Save All required to persist any modifications

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Tips & gotchas

• Compression schemes are per-skeleton-suitable — what works for a humanoid won’t work for a tiny prop. Don’t blanket-apply.
• A “flat” curve isn’t always removable — sometimes runtime code reads a curve by name and expects it to exist even with constant value. Spot-check before stripping.
• High AnimBP node count is sometimes legitimate — a Lyra-style AnimBP can have 500+ nodes for valid reasons. Use the threshold as a signal, not a hard rule.
• Single-click pings the asset; double-click opens the relevant editor (AnimSequence editor for Compression/Curves, AnimBP editor for Blueprint).

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Related tools

• Blend Space Visualizer — when AnimBPs reference blend spaces with their own issues
• Anim Notify Manager — notify-side analysis complements the compression/curve view
• Control Rig Inspector — when AnimBP complexity points to a Control Rig that’s the real culprit

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