Montage Section Builder

Montage Section Builder

Module: Animation · Category: Montage · Tool ID: MontageSectionBuilder

Loads any AnimMontage asset and surfaces the structure that gameplay code actually depends on: every section’s start/end time, the next-section link chain, slot/group routing, blend-in/out settings, and notify events per section. Flags broken links, overlapping sections, and sections that can never be reached from the start.

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When to use it

• Building combo or multi-stage ability montages — verifying the chain actually loops/branches the way you wrote it
• Debugging “a section never plays” bugs — usually a typo in Next Section
• Reviewing montages from a teammate before they merge to main
• Spot-checking blend-in/out times for consistency across an animation set

When not to use it

• Don’t use this to edit montages — it’s read-only; section editing lives in UE’s Montage editor
• Don’t expect playback — the tool inspects the data, it doesn’t preview playback

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Opening the tool

1. Open the EQLabs Hub and search for Montage (or browse to Animation → Montage)
2. Click the tool card
3. Drop an AnimMontage asset into the picker field

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Interface tour

Section	What it does
Montage Asset picker	Load any UAnimMontage
Info block	Slot, Group, Blend In, Blend Out, total duration, total notify count
Section Chain block	Linear text rendering of the link chain — e.g., Start → Loop → End
Issues block	Broken links, overlapping sections, unreachable sections
Section list	Per-section row: name, start/end time, next-section link, notify count, reachability

What gets flagged

Flag	Meaning
Broken Link	A section’s Next Section points to a name that doesn’t exist on the montage
Unreachable	Section is not connected to any chain starting from the entry section
Overlap	Two sections occupy overlapping time ranges (rarely intentional)

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Workflow

Step 1 — Load the montage

Drop the AnimMontage into the picker. Sections list populates automatically.

Step 2 — Read the chain

The Section Chain block renders the link order as plain text. Confirm the flow matches what you intended (e.g., a 3-hit combo should chain Hit1 → Hit2 → Hit3 with Hit3 not chaining anywhere).

Step 3 — Spot the flags

Walk the Issues block first. Broken links are almost always bugs; unreachable sections are usually leftovers from refactoring.

Step 4 — Inspect notifies

The notify count column tells you which sections have events. A section with no notifies driving gameplay events may be missing its trigger.

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Settings reference

No persisted settings — operates on whichever montage you load.

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Output

• In-panel display only — read-only against the source asset
• No clipboard export in V1 — copy chain manually if needed

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Tips & gotchas

• The chain is computed from Next Section properties — if you author montages by hand-editing properties (rare), make sure the names match exactly (case-sensitive).
• An “unreachable” section can be intentional — sometimes you want a manual-only section that gameplay code triggers via name. Read the warning, decide.
• Section overlap is almost never intentional — overlapping sections cause undefined playback behavior.

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Related tools

• Anim Notify Manager — broader notify analysis across all montages and sequences
• Animation Auditor — Blueprint tab catches the AnimBP that triggers the montage

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